The ba is part of the concept of the soul, broadly defined as personality, in the form of a man-headed bird. In ancient Egypt ba also sounds like the word for ram. The sacred ram is considered the ba of Osiris, personified by four-headed Ram God Ba-neb-djedet.
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In Egypt the cult of the sacred ram Ba-neb-djedet is ancient Djedet, called Mendes by the Greeks. The ram signifies power, authority or dominance, virility and strength. He's associated with kingship, wealth and abundance.
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During the Age of the Pyramids c. 2589 - 2504 BCE, only kings have bas. By c. 22nd century BCE everybody has one.
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The relationship of the ba with kingship and the sacred ram goes back an early Egyptian ruler, Ba, c. 2900 BCE. In hieroglyphs his name incorporates the glyph of the ram.
Egyptians use similar sounding words to impart meaning. Another example of this is the Chinese dislike of the number four because it sounds like the word for death.
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Thus is the Ram an emblem of royalty, and may have inspired the mummification and burial of 2000 rams' heads in part of the tomb of Ramesses II (c. 1213 BCE). The name Ramesses means 'beloved of Ra'.
Egyptians of the Late Period (c. 713 - 332 BCE.) don't distinguish specifically between sheep and goats. They're all called "small cattle". This might have caused the confusion of the Greeks, who invent the Goat of Mendes based on a story of Herakles and Zeus.
Herakles desires to see Zeus, whose divine form is indiscernible to mortals. Zeus refuses but Herakles pesters him until Zeus finds a solution. He beheads and skins a ram, and faces Herakles wearing the ram's head and fleece.
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This is why statues of Zeus in Lower Egypt may have heads or horns of rams. The ram is specifically a breed of Barbary sheep, Ovis longipes palaeo-aegyptiacus, with horizontal twisting horns. Ra takes a ram-headed form when he travels through the underworld at night.
Although the breed of sheep goes extinct in the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians continue to use the iconography. Later Christians typically associate the fictional Goat of Mendes with the devil.
Stories of satanic cult sacrifices motivate demonism of traditional deities. It facilitates closure of temples in the 6th century CE by Christian Roman Emperor Justinian, who believes it his divine duty to purge paganism from the known world.
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In ancient Egyptian religion Gods can have one or more ba, just as they can manifest multiple kas. The ba of creator god Atum-Ra (Atum-Re) is the African grey heron, Benu (Bennu). Also a representation of the Phoenix, Benu self-forms at the beginning of time.
Egyptian heron god Benu has no connection with Mesopotamian bennu or benu disease, epilepsy. His call enables and directs the creative powers of Atum-Ra.
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Atum is the first god of creation. As time goes by worship of Ra (Re) increases, and Atum combines with Ra. Deific synchronization is common in regions such as ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria and Hittite Anatolia.
The bꜣ (ba) is that which makes a person unique. It embodies the concept of personality. Bꜣw (baw), plural of bꜣ, relates to power, reputation and greatness, particularly of a god/dess. When a deity intervenes in human affairs, it's said the bꜣw of the deity are at work.
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Often pictured as a bird with a man's head, the ba is the only part of the soul able to leave the tomb. It must return at night to revitalize. As a bird the ba flies out of the tomb, a symbol of freedom and rebirth.
In this form the deceased connects with sights, scents and sounds of the living world. According to the Coffin Texts (c. 2130 -1938 BCE) the ba is the sensory, feeling aspect which can eat, drink and even have sex. Ba birds can also visit friends and family.
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In the world of the living the ba bird may be seen as the embodiment of the deceased. The ba bird can travel to the afterlife, transcending boundaries of life and death. Ba can exist in inanimate objects. Old Kingdom pyramids are often called the ba of their owners.
In the Egyptian Book of the Dead (c. 1550 - 50 BCE), the bꜣ of the deceased takes part in mortal life outside the tomb and returns to the mummy after dark. This cycle reflects the unification of Ra and Osiris every night.
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According to the Coffin Texts the united ba symbolizes union of the ba of Ra and the ba of Osiris. At Mendes they meet together and unite in one body represented by a ram-headed mummy, which called the ram of Mendes (Djedet).
The two bas create the United Ba. Ra can be shown as a solar disk, a ram-headed bird or ram-headed man. He's usually a falcon-headed deity with solar disk. God of the Dead Osiris appears as a mummy or phallic god. Life returns to him as the rays of Ra shine on his body.
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At first the two gods are seen separately. They meet at the Ram Cult town of Djedet (Mendes).
"Osiris, when he entered Mendes, he found the ba of Re. Then the one embraced the other. Then (they) became the one with two bas in Mendes"
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This ba is named in hieroglyphic ddt, referring to the continuation and eternity of this union. From the Book of the Dead comes the first description of the two gods in one form, in one body, speaking with one tongue.
Egyptian perception of the multiple aspects of the soul and afterlife makes it difficult for people of antiquity to comprehend the Christian concept of a single "soul". They use the Greek word psyche as the closest definition.
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The ka or life essence departs the body but can't leave the tomb. Sometimes special rooms with hidden doors are constructed to house the ka. The ka can live in a statue or image of the deceased.
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