What is a Shabty?
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What did people need in order to reach the afterlife? One of the most interesting objects
is a Shabty,
one of these magical figures that people took with them in their tombs in order to do the
work when they arrived in the next world,
and this particular Shabty belonged to a man named Amunemhat. In the course of preparing
the exhibition, we had the opportunity to look at the Shabty under a microscope.
The writing of the name is on a surface which is actually a couple of millimeters lower
than the rest of the inscription and you can also see scratches
in the wood that are indications that an original name had been scratched out and the name of
Amunemhat had been added.
I'm not entirely sure now whether it is the famous Amunemhat or if it's another Amunemhat
or, even more interestingly, Amunemhat actually used a used Shabty in his own tomb.
