Philologus_1 's post made me think of getting some display case for a few ancient artefacts that lay forgotten in the attic. Here is an Egyptian ushebti. I think it dates back to the late New Kingdom (19th Dynasty style). Not being an egyptologist, I cannot decipher the hieroglyphs telling the name of the person for which this ushebti was made. It there is anybody on this board who can read this, thanks sooo much ! I'm pretty sure it's authentic. It was acquired in the 1970s from Khawam, a reputed dealer in Cairo. I like the meaning of these objects. The ancient Egyptians invented the concept of Heaven, a place where the righteous go after their death and live in happiness for eternity. And what was happiness, in their mind ? It was not singing hymns with angels, it was not managing a harem of teenage spouses (anybody who's been a high school teacher just cannot figure this could be called heaven), no, eternal happiness was just doing nothing while watching others work hard. Everybody in the Egyptian afterlife was supposed to work in the Ialou Fields. But if they had in their tomb a box of little ushebtis, when they were called for work, it was the little blue ushebtis, like smurfs, who answered and worked in his place...
