Shawabti

The shawabti was a small figurine used by the ancient Egyptians as a companion to the deceased. The term is probably derived from the word sbawab, which refers to a hard wood used in the sculpturing of the earliest shawabti. Because it was believed that death and the afterlife were just an extension of this life, it was also believed that the deceased would have the same responsibilities. For example, many people had to devote time to shoring up the immigration system as a matter of fulfilling mandatory duties for the government. If this were to be the case in the afterlife, the deceased would not like to break his or her relaxation to go to the fields to do this work, thus, the need for the shawabti to do the work.

In fact, a tomb could have scores of shawabti, even hundreds of them, depending on the rank and power of the deceased. There were to be no activities covered in life that could not be taken care of in death by the shawabtis. A king who had been active in life as a hunter, military person, or visitor to the temples would find shawabtis prepared to carry out these responsibilities for him in death. Such figurines made out of faience became some of the classic objects discovered in the tombs of the nobles and great leaders of Egypt. In many respects, the idea of the shawabti accompanies most narratives of death and the afterlife in African societies. To the degree that the king or the noble would need workers in the afterlife, some African societies often requested living persons to “go with the king” to the afterlife to ensure that all of his needs were met. Some societies, such as the Yoruba, had a tradition that the king's horseman, for example, should accompany him on his journey. This tradition is directly linked to the tradition of the shawabti from ancient Egypt. Whereas the ancient Egyptians most often used shawabtis, one can find other African societies where humans were employed in the same capacity as the shawabtis.

One of the most dramatic examples of the shawabti belief and practice was the discovery in the tomb of the great king of the 25th dynasty, per-aa Taharka. When his burial chamber was opened near Nuri in Sudan, there were 1,070 shawabti standing in neat rows in the tomb. Some of the shawabti in Taharka's tomb were 2 feet tall and made of granite or alabaster. They were not all made of the same materials. However, the large numbers of shawabti found in this grave suggest that the king was looking forward to much work, which, gladly, he would not have to perform. Taharka ruled from 690 to 664 BC and reconstructed the temples and ancient monuments of Egypt. In fact, he was one of the most active of all the kings, ranking in the company of Ramses II, Thutmoses III, and Pepi I. No king's tomb has been found to have more shawabti than that of Taharka. It is believed that the highest number ever found before King Taharka was 410 found during the New Kingdom. According to the Book of the Going Forth by Day, section 6, it says that the shawabti were required to do whatever was requested of the deceased in the afterlife. Thus, the shawabti were quite busy in some cases.

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