The ancient Egyptians believed that the hereafter was not a place totally devoid of hardship. Just as in life, many would be required to provide agricultural labour in the afterlife. From the late Middle Kingdom until the Graeco-Roman Period, those who could afford it would take to the grave one or more funerary statuettes to carry out the farming duties for them. Terms for them include - shabti, shawabti and ushabti. In the l8th Dynasty the statuettes started to combine the mummiform figure of the deceased with agricultural or other implements.

The inscriptions on the statuettes quote Chapter 6 from the Book of the Dead and direct the figure to carry out tasks for the deceased.

O shabti, allotted to me, if I be summoned or if I be detailed to do any work which has to be done in the realm of the dead; if indeed obstacles are implanted for you therewith as a man at his duties, you shall detail yourself for me on every occasion of making arable the fields, of flooding the banks or of conveying sand from east to west; "Here am I," you shall say.

An increase in the number of funerary statuettes can be detected in the Ramessid Period; in the Late Period there were often large numbers of them in the tomb of one person - sometimes one for each day of the year, plus another 36 overseers - making a total of 401. In fact, even much earlier, Tutankhamun's tomb was equipped with 413 shabti figures - the extra 12 were monthly overseers.

The appearance of shabtis gradually changed in some ways over time and the following are some of the features that help distinguish in what period the figures were manufactured:

Dark hard stone probably - Middle Kingdom or 25th Dynasty, not later than 26th Dynasty;

Wood if very crude, end of l7th and early l8th Dynasties; at any rate not later than New Kingdom; early wooden shabtis resemble wooden pegs;

Tools depicted on the figures began to appear from the mid-l8th Dynasty, although some figures were still made without tools as well;

Baskets were held in front in the l8th Dynasty and moved to the back from the l9th Dynasty;

Polychrome (red, blue/green, yellow, black) decoration on a white background was used on some shabtis around the end of l8th Dynasty and in the Ramessid Period;

Flat back and/or head fillet are found from the 3rd Intermediate Period;

Small pedestals and back pillars made their appearance from the mid-26th Dynasty.

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Copyright © 1996-2006 Mark T. Rigby.