The sacred ancestral bau ‘souls’ of the Lower Egyptian city of Pe (Buto) and the Upper Egyptian city of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) symbolized the predynastic rulers of the two regions and were regarded as powerful spirits or deities who served the deceased king and who also assisted the living king. In the Pyramid Texts the souls of Pe mourn the death of Osiris - the symbolic father of the king
- and urge the vengeance of Horus - the living king
- against Osiris’ murderer (FF 1004-07); and the
Harnesses I depicted between a falcon-headed ‘soul’ of Pe and a jackal-headed ‘soul’ of Nekhen. The hau or souls celebrate the regeneration of the king who has also become a ba Tomb of Harnesses I, Valley of the Kings, western Thebes.
Souls of both areas are likened to stars (FT 904) who provide a gilded ‘ladder’ for the deceased king to climb into the sky (PT 478-79,1253).
The souls of Fe are represented as falcon-headed and those of Nekhen as jackal-headed gods. They are both often depicted in the kneeling hem or ‘jubilation’ position as they salute the rising sun or participate in other celebratory rituals. In the tomb of Ramesses I in the Valley of the Kings they are shown flanking the king in this position, celebrating the rejuvenation of the king’s ba or soul, as they themselves are bau or souls. In this particular representation, the written henu hieroglyph is visible in the inscription above the figures of the gods which are, in fact, simply hieroglyphs made large. In a similar representation from the 18th-dynasty temple at Buhen in Nubia, the falcon-headed gods of Fe are accompanied by an insaiption which states ‘May they give all life and power...[and] all stability which they have...’ showing that the gesturing figures could also be symbolic of divine gifts. In temple scenes the souls of Nekhen and Fe (or masked priests) may carry the barque shrine of the god on poles placed upon their shoulders, or, as in the temple of Homs at Edfu, they may carry the enthroned god himself by means of carrying beneath his chair.
World History
