Page "Ancient Egyptian religion" Paragraph 23

The Egyptians had elaborate beliefs about death and the afterlife.

They believed that humans possessed a ka, or life-force, which left the body at the point of death.

In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink, so it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume.

Each person also had a ba, the set of spiritual characteristics unique to each individual.

Unlike the ka, the ba remained attached to the body after death.

Egyptian funeral rituals were intended to release the ba from the body so that it could move freely, and to rejoin it with the ka so that it could live on as an akh.

However, it was also important that the body of the deceased be preserved, as the Egyptians believed that the ba returned to its body each night to receive new life, before emerging in the morning as an akh.