Title: The House of the Ka
Speaker: Victor Blunden
Victor Blunden gave a very interesting and stimulating talk to Horus at its last meeting.
Mastaba tombs of courtiers surround royal burials, and their wall paintings give a wealth of detail about the lives of the people, rather than, as in royal tombs, the gods and the rituals for transition to eternity. Victor suggested that it might be that the courtiers were recording their lifetime experiences so that in the tomb their spirits could enjoy remembering family, work and play in the afterlife.
Perhaps more important, if there was no one to make the essential offerings to the ka of the dead person, or the statue containing his ka was destroyed, the pictures could be activated to provide food for eternity. They may be strange ideas to the modern mind, but the wealth of illustrations that Victor provided were a delight, showing ancient Egyptians were very like ourselves after all..
by Mary Bonsall