Akh

Untranslated, just like the conceptsKa and Ba. The Akh is not only a part, but also the entire existence, seen from a certain perspective. During mummification and burial, every deceased person had to have certain rituals performed for him by a mortuary priest, called s-akh rituals, rituals creating Akh (a causative). This meant that the deceased was able to live on in the sky (the Pyramid Texts from theOld Kingdom already say 'the akh belongs to the sky, the body to the earth'). The numerous twinkling stars in the sky were perceived to be shining akhs. Texts inform us that the Akh was created when the Ka and the Ba were reunited and that it was then permanent and unchangeable. An unusual phenomenon from ancient Egypt are letters written to the dead. They were placed near the tomb and usually contain a request to the deceased to no longer pester the living. In one famous letter, now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the writer states that he had always been a good husband to his now deceased wife, that he prepared her for the afterlife according to the rules, and that since her death he has never looked at another woman; in exchange he asks her now to leave him in peace. Such 'ghost' appearances were attributed to the Akh