The Ka and the Ba
Understanding the pivotal concepts of Egyptian identity is a necessity to understand hieroglyphic writing. The Ka and the Ba are among the most important and complex hieroglyphic ideograms. "Ka" is a concept deeply rooted in the Ancient Egyptian Persona. In the simplest terms, it is the idea that each one of us has a soul consort mirroring our own souls, our spiritual double. This double takes after our own bodies "ghet" for it can only materialise with it to form us as a whole. This consort lives on even after our own death. Offerings to the Ka were a necessity since, like the person's physical body, the Ka needed nourishment. The idea is a bit similar to the Qareen in Islamic religion, however the nature of the Ka remains much more ambiguous. The phonetic biliteral sign with the predominant ideogram of the Ka represents the breast and outstretched arms of a person pictorially. Ka can also mean personality, individuality and even a man's fortune or his posi...
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