Shabtis and Statues

In the New Kingdom*, more than one shabti could be buried with
the deceased, gifts from others to ensure the name of the dead person
lived on. This evolved such that, by the late New Kingdom, most
shabtis were no longer representatives or doubles of the deceased, but

in Ancient Egypt rather servants or slaves, in groups led by an overseer shabti.

Most shabtis are formed as mummies, although with hands free to
hold implements. However, after Akhenaten (middle New Kingdom),
By Chris Wood shabtis began to be represented in fine worldly dress - indeed, rather
over-dressed for agricultural work! By the Third Intermediate Period*
only the overseer shabtis wore fine clothes, still holding whips and

S
habtis are enigmatic figurines that were placed with better-off
batons, with mummiform work teams., and even this died out in the
burials in ancient Egypt. Frequently seen in reproduction, the
Late Period*, when practically all shabtis were once again mummiform.
originals are readily found in many museums. They are
At the same time, shabtis were losing much of their original
interesting from a magical perspective in their own right, and have
meaning and their connections with their agricultural origins. They
significant overlaps with the esoteric use of statues in ancient Egypt.
assumed a more decorative function, although increasing mass
‘Shabti’ is the commonest name, probably deriving from the word
production also ensured that they become cruder. This may also reflect
for ‘stick’, and many of the earliest known examples are of wood. They
a change in the status of the god Osiris, whose image had become
are also called by the names ‘ushabti’, a Late Period* title meaning
popularised and whose cult was becoming a mystery path.
‘answerer’, ‘shewabti’, from the Second Intermediate Period through to
The commonest materials for shabtis were wood and stone to
the Third*, possibly a word for persea wood, and ‘shebti’, a late New
begin with, but as they spread into burials of comparatively lower social
Kingdom* word, possibly meaning ‘substitute’.
strata, they were more likely to be made of pottery, faience (a sand core
They seem to have evolved from mud or wax figures representing
fused with an alkaline binder, whose sodium forms a surface glaze
the deceased as Osiris, which have been found in tombs of the First
when fired) or sun-dried clay (as a cheap substitute for faience). Glass
Intermediate Period*. By the late Middle Kingdom* they were in mass
and bronze shabtis were rarer.
production and clearly identified as shabtis by the so-called Shabti
The wooden origin of shabtis appears to have left a legacy in the
Spell in ‘coffin texts’. This developed into what is known as chapter six
form of the cautionary tale of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, originally
of the Book of Coming Forth by Day (a.k.a. the Book of the Dead),
written down by a Syrian named Lucian in the second century CE. In
which calls on the shabti(s) to perform any work required of the
Lucian’s story, a companion of the magician overhears a spell and uses
deceased to be done in the afterworld.
it to transform either sticks or pestles into servants and command them,
Initially, just one shabti was placed in the tomb, to take the place
with unfortunate consequences.
of the deceased and perform their tasks. The chief amongst these were
As well as shabtis, other figurines were in widespread magical use
agricultural: of food production. That is why shabtis commonly
in ancient Egypt, particularly amulets in the shape of deities and wax
feature representations of hoes and flails in their hands.
models used in much the same ways as elsewhere.
* See the end of the article for dates. Quest, no. 179, September 2014, pp. 17-20
 Shabtis also have major overlaps with statues in ancient Egypt. light. This is another parallel with modern Hindu philosophy, where
Some shabtis were actually statues placed in temples (particularly that sight is an active, two-way process. This is ‘darshan’, seeing and being
of Osiris at Abydos), in life or after death, so that the person they seen by the deity, and it is the core of Hindu worship.
represented could be present at festivals in spirit once deceased. Breath has always been a symbol of spirit, and the use of the voice
Statues in tombs (which may have derived from the same crude was one of the ways the world was created in Egyptian thought, as well
wax or clay figures that gave rise to shabtis) were provided so that as in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Breathing can therefore be seen as
mourners and funeral priests could interact with the deceased. the hallmark of being alive, whilst seeing represents consciousness.
Statues of the dead, of Pharaohs and of deities were neither It is of course as valid to use modern Western ritual techniques to
decoration nor empty idols. They were made to provide physical enable the breathing and vision of a statue or image, so bringing it to
bodies for spiritual entities to manifest in, whether gods, dead nobles magical life, as to use those of the ancient world. It works just as well in
or the divine spirit of the living Pharaoh. Thus could the king be English with today’s affordable brass or resin figurines of deities (or
present everywhere in the land at the same time, dispensing his indeed hand-made poppets), as in Ancient Egyptian with solid gold
beneficence, as could deities. The statue of a king in a temple was statues … perhaps better for being closer to our modern understanding.
given a portion of the offerings provided for the gods in their statues,
and one is put in mind of the medieval practice of endowing chantry Sources
chapels and priests specifically to say mass for the souls of wealthy Budge, E. A. Wallis (1899) Egyptian Magic Kegan Paul, 1899 (Dover, 1971;
Arkana, 1988).
people in perpetuity.
Eck, Diana L. (1998) Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India Third Edition,
Another, modern parallel is the indwelling of deities in statues in
Columbia University Press.
Hindu temples. The statue is crafted and set in place, then the
Robins, Gay (2001) Egyptian Statues Shire Egyptology.
traditional sculptor performs the ceremony of the Opening of the Eye
Sthapati, V. Ganapati (2002) Indian Sculpture and Iconography: Forms and
of the image. This involves the final carving of eyes and other orifices
Measurements Sri Aurobindo Society / Mapin.
(including the mouth) with special chisels, followed by the careful
Stewart, Harry M. (1995) Egyptian Shabtis Shire Egyptology.
showing of specific things to the newly opened eyes of the image,
starting with a cow in some traditions, with the reflection of itself in a
Dates
mirror in others.
Old Kingdom 2686-2181 BCE
In ancient Egypt, the corresponding ceremony, also used on the
First Intermediate Period 2181-2040 BCE.
mummy in funeral rites, was that of the Opening of the Mouth. Here a
Middle Kingdom 2040-1782 BCE
priest used an adze (made of iron, a material rare in ancient Egypt) to
Second Intermediate Period 1782-1570 BCE
open the mouth and eyes of the statue or mummy symbolically, whilst
New Kingdom 1570-1070 BCE
it was honoured as the spiritual entity that it was to house.
Third Intermediate Period 1070-713 BCE
The eyes and mouth are key points of entry and egress for the
Late Period 713-332 BCE
body. Vision is the sense of which humans are most conscious, and
Ptolomaic Period 332-30 BCE
seeing was conceived of as an active phenomenon, rather than the
(Taken from Stewart, 1995.)
simple scientific fact of passively analysing the quality of incoming