Shabtis

Patricia Podzorski on Shabtis

Shabtis were small human figures deposited in the tomb and required to stand in for the deceased if called to perform labor in the afterlife. Since shabti means answerer, the shabtis were expected to answer for the deceased in his place. These shabti figurines were sometimes represented in the shape of a mummy (cat. nos. 82a–d, 84a,b, 105a,b), and sometimes dressed as servants (cat. nos. 83 a,b). Some of the shabtis (as in cat. no. 83b) were inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead : "O shabti, if [name of deceased] be summoned to do any work which has to be done in the realm of the dead—to make arable the fields, to irrigate the land or to convey sand from east to west; ‘Here am I,’ you shall say, ‘I shall do it’" (cat. no. 83b).