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The ancient Egyptians conceived of the human body as an amalgam of smaller parts including the limbs, organs, blood, bone, hair, et cetera and that this collection of parts constituted a whole, which was the earthly home for the three parts of the soul. These parts were known as the ka, the ba and the akh. The ka was the part of the soul that existed in the living realm and the akh was the part of the soul that existed in the land of the dead or the underworld. The ka and akh were each a kind of “double” of their host. The ba, which is often depicted as a bird with the head of the deceased, could travel between the two realms of the living and the dead.<ref>Riggs, Christina, “Body.” <i>UCLA Encyclopedia Of Egyptology</i>. 2010 ed. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. Web. 11 Nov. 2015, p. 4.</ref>
The ka, the ba and the akh relied upon the body to function effectively in the afterlife (.<ref>Ikram, 2)<ref> </ref> It was necessary for the body to remain whole throughout life and after death because of the function it served as a home for the parts of the soul.<ref>Ikram,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 2</ref> Without a physical meeting point, the parts of the soul would become lost from each other and the individual would cease to exist.
The Egyptians harbored a deep fear that their physical body would be damaged or disfigured after death. Tomb walls and religious texts feature prayers and spells for protecting the body and guiding the parts of the soul back to the person’s tomb should they get lost or become unable to recognize the body.<ref>Riggs,<i>UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology</i> p. 4. </ref> Essentially, the individual’s eternal afterlife depended on their body being preserved such that it could be recognized and reanimated by its soul.
