Stelae

Here are two 𓏻 beautifully 𓄤 decorated stelae from the British Museum. Nonno always loved looking at the various stelae 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸𓏪 in the museums. They were among his favorite artifacts – and he of course passed that love on to me!

In ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 were often used to commemorate the deceased 𓅓𓏏𓏱 and keep their memory alive. That is one of the things I am doing for my Nonno through this account – keeping his memory alive and sharing what an amazing person he was with the world 𓇾𓇾. In addition, I am also keeping his name 𓂋𓈖 alive because in Egyptian culture the name 𓂋𓈖 was one of the most important elements of a human. In order to exist, a person needed to have five 𓏾 essential elements: the body 𓎛𓂝𓄼, the shadow 𓆄𓏏𓅱𓋼, the Ba 𓅡𓏤, the Ka (soul/life force) 𓂓𓏤, and the name 𓂋𓈖.

On the stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 on the left, there is a Ba 𓅡𓏤 statue attached to the top, which was a very popular style during the Ptolemaic Period (c. 332–30 B.C.E.), so I am going to assume that stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 is Ptolemaic. The Ba 𓅡𓏤 is the impression that an individual makes on others – everything except the physical body 𓎛𓂝𓄼. The Ba 𓅡𓏤 can also be thought of as an individual’s personality. When a person died, the Ba 𓅡𓏤 was the only part of the person that would be able to travel out of the tomb 𓇋𓐫𓊃𓉐, but it did have to return eventually to be reunited with the mummy 𓇋𓁹𓅱𓀾.

I like the combination of the Ba 𓅡𓏤 and the stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 because they are connected – the stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 was meant to commemorate the deceased, while the Ba 𓅡𓏤 was part of their soul. It makes sense for the Egyptians 𓆎𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏪 to attach the two 𓏻 together!

I wish I had closer pictures 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 of both stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸, but it was probably difficult with the glass. On the stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 on the left, the deceased 𓅓𓏏𓏱 is making an offering 𓊵𓏏𓊪𓏏𓏔𓏦 to Osiris 𓁹𓊨𓀭. On the stela 𓎗𓅱𓆓𓉸 with the Ba 𓅡𓏤, there is so much happening! I would probably need to make three 𓏼 posts to interpret it all!