A “Ushabti Army”

I refer to this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 as the “Ushabti Army” – it’s no secret how much I absolutely love ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 (all thanks to how much my Nonno loved them)! 

My Nonno took this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 when we were at the Vatican Museum together 𓈖𓊗! Sometimes it takes me a while to want to share my Nonno’s pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 because I’m selfish and want to keep them to myself, but I also want to share his pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 with everyone so we can all remember him together 𓈖𓊗. I guess it’s all a balance. Plus, his birthday is this week, so I am very sad about that because I miss my Nonno so much. 

So why did a deceased 𓅓𓏏𓏱 person have a “Ushabti Army?” People who could afford it were buried with over 400 𓏲𓏲𓏲𓏲 ushabtis  𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪! Usually there were 365 𓏲𓏲𓏲𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓏾 worker ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 (one for each day of the year) and then overseer ushabtis! The overseers ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 were there to make sure all of the others were doing their work! 

The ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 in this picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 are made of clay 𓊪𓈖𓋴𓈇/terracotta. During the 3rd Intermediate Period, these materials replaced the popular stone 𓇋𓈖𓂋𓊪 or faience 𓋣𓈖𓏏𓏸𓏼 ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪. So many ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 have been found from this time period that many of them were sold or given to museums around the world 𓇾𓇾. Did you know that there were so many that the Egyptian Museum in Cairo even sold authentic ushabtis 𓅱𓈙𓃀𓏏𓏭𓀾𓏪 to tourists at one point?! 

Fun Fact: the ancient Egyptians 𓆎𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏪 had originally calculated the year to be 365 𓏲𓏲𓏲𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓎆𓏾 days, and then they revised it to 365.25 days – which is the actual length modern scientists calculated based on the Earth’s 𓇾𓇾 revolution around the Sun 𓇳𓏺! How incredible is that?!