Would you believe me if I tell you the Ancient Egyptian who were rich and famous had their own brand of Magical Artificial Intelligence. They were originally referred to as USHABTI
OR ANSWERER. Tomb explorers shortened the name to Shabti.
So what were they? Any of you who have read right to the end of Book 3 may recall the funerary gifts brought by Monti and Nakht for Tut. They both provided about eight shabtis each with their name inscribed under the little statutes. Shabtis are funerary statutes, made in the image of the deceased, in this case Pharaoh Tut.
The purpose of these gifts was to do the work that the deceased king may be asked to do in the next life. The Ancients believed death was a journey to another life rather than an end of life.
Tut's shabtis wore the royal uraeui, the cobra and the vulture goddesses headdress, together with royal garments in an attempt to persuade the gods of the underworld to accept the figure as the person whose personage it represented. Shabtis were made of bronze, ebony, glass, marble, wood or granite depending on the wealth and preference of
the deceased. In Tut's time the workmanship in creating these little statutes were superb work of craftmanship which later deteriorated as more people took up the practice of providing shabtis in even everyday workers tombs.
Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead - modern translation - sets out the Spell for causing the shabtis to do the work for their master.
'O shabti, which has been made for Pharaoh Nebkeprure if this
Nebkeprure is detailed for his duty or an unpleasant task or obstacle is
imposed on him there as a man at his duties, here we are, you shall say.
If this Nebkeprure is detailed for that which is to be done there, to
cultivate the new fields, to irrigate the river banks, to convey the sand of the west to the east and vice-versa, here we are you shall say.'
I cannot now recollect the colour of Tut's shabtis, I saw them in Cairo museum in the 1980, but shabtis were usually painted white to simulate linin bandages which were swaithed around the deceased in his/her coffin.
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