- Ka -

The Ka, represented by two raised arms, is one of the many spiritual components of gods and humans. The word "Ka" has regularly been translated as "life-force" for lack of a better translation. In ancient times it may have referred to the "male potency", but it soon must have come to mean intellectual and spiritual power.

There is a difference between the Ka of the gods and the kings on one hand, and the Ka of the common people on the other. Where the Ka of the gods and the kings represent some kind of individuality, the Ka of the common people relates the individual to his or her family. The Kas of common people are there ancestors which are passed on from generation to generation.

From the Old Kingdom on, the Ka is represented as a "double" of the human it is part of, which may be yet another example of the Egyptian dualism. In many reliefs, for instance in the temple of Luxor, the Ka of the king is represented as a small figure wearing the Ka-symbol and the Horus-name of the king on its head. Except for its size and the emblem it is wearing on its head, it can not be distinguished from the king.

Another representation of the Ka of the king is as a personified standard, composed of the Ka-arms and the Horus-name of the king on a pole. There seems to be a connection between the Ka of a king and his Horus-name. As with the Ka of the common-people, the Ka of the kings seems to be closely linked to the notion of "inheritance" and "succession".

The Ka of the kings was created at the same time as his or her body: in the scenes representing the divine birth of Hatshepsut in her temple at Deir el-Bahari, the god Khnum can be seen fashioning the body and the Ka of the Queen on a potter's wheel.

This, however, does not mean that the Ka and the body are inseparable. When the body died, the Ka left the body and joined its divine creator. The phrase "going to one's Ka" is a euphemism for "dying".

The continued existence of the Ka after the death of its body was to be ensured by offerings made by the deceased's descendants and by the magic of the offering-scenes in the tombs. The Ka travels between his own magical world and the world of the living through so-called false doors", funerary stelae shaped like portico's and provided with magical formulae that list the countless offerings the Ka receives every day.

The Ka-statue of king Hor (13th Dynasty). The two upraised arms symbolise the Ka of the king.