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ba
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Ba hovering over a dead man, from a papyrus of the Book of the Dead; in the British Museum
At a Glance
Al-Jizah. Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Cairo, Egypt. Side view of Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background. The sides of all three of the Giza pyramids are astronomically oriented to be north-south, east-west (see notes)
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Ba hovering over a dead man, from a papyrus of the Book of the Dead; in the British Museum
Ba hovering over a dead man, from a papyrus of the Book of the Dead; in the British Museum

ba

Egyptian religion
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History

ba, in ancient Egyptian religion, with the ka and the akh, a principal aspect of the soul; the ba appears in bird form, thus expressing the mobility of the soul after death. Originally written with the sign of the jabiru bird and thought to be an attribute of only the god-king, the ba was later represented by a man-headed hawk, often depicted hovering over the mummies of kings and commoners alike.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Laura Etheredge.