We are going to be taking a (virtual) trip to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology today ๐๐๐๐ณ! As many of you know, I love ushabti ๐ท๐ฟ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฎ๐พ figures, so letโs take a closer look at this one!
The textย ๐๐๐ฅย on the ushabtiย ๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พย is a version of the โShabti Spellโ from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. This spellย ๐๐๐ย gives the ushabtiย ๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พย the power to complete tasks (farming, manual labor, etc) for the deceasedย ๐ ๐๐ฑย in the Field of Reedsย ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ ฑ๐ฐ๐. Many people (if they could afford it) were buried with at least 365 ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐พ ushabtiย ๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พย figures – one for each day of the year! Some were buried with even more!ย
The โShabti Spellโ usually starts off with the following phrase:
๐ด๐๐๐ถ – The Illuminated One
๐น๐จ๐ญ – The Osiris
(Look at the first line of text on the ushabti ๐ ฑ๐๐๐๐ญ๐พ and start reading from the right!)
However, my favorite part of this ushabti ๐ ฑ๐๐๐๐ญ๐พ figure is that the word โ๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พ shabtiโ appears very clearly on the piece! It is part of the spell ๐๐๐ that says: โO these shabtis, if you are counted, to do all the works to be done there in the realm of the dead.โ
Can you find โ๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พโ on the piece in the picture ๐๐ ฑ๐?
There are a bunch of different ways to write โushabtiโ in hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช! Just like in other languages, we can use the words โshabtiโ and โushabtiโ to denote the same figures!
๐ท๐ฟ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฎ๐พ
๐ท๐๐๐ฎ๐พ (shortened version)
๐
ฑ๐๐๐๐ญ๐พ