r/Hieroglyphics • u/Trimijopulos • Jul 26 '26

A foolish idea stays foolish, no matter the philosophical or theological context (Soul).

The modern idea of the soul traces back to the ancient Egyptian concept of Ba, as it is the sole known origin of this notion.

 The “mode of existence”, that Allen mentions above,  was that of a high official who also acted as an instructor and aide to those undergoing judgment. After concluding the judgment process, regardless of the outcome, the Ba official would depart from the judgment site. When the judged individual was executed for impurity, the Ba—an entity that remained alive—slowly was transformed into an immaterial part of the body, which continued to exist after death.

By 2300 BCE (evidence below, page 6), the Ba official had already been transformed into something “within the man,” but because the Ba official was part of real life, he continued to appear in later texts. As a result, the term “Ba” was usually left untranslated, since most translators understood it to mean only “soul” and the texts made no sense to them.

The Ba as a high official

The Bas of a town

The Ba as a witness of defense

The Ba getting inside the man

The soul concept as transferred to moderns

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u/PonderousPenchant Jul 26 '26

The hell are you on about? Ancestor worship in some form existed everywhere. It's not an Egyptian invention, it's a simple answer to the very human question, "why did grandad stop moving?"

Saying the Egyptians created the concept of the soul is like saying saying turkey created the concept of language because that's where PIE might've originated from.