And yet how much an Egyptian could have wished to look behind the sealed walls of the sepulchral chamber and see what secret and mysterious things there befell the dead! For their existence had not terminated with death; their earthly being only had come to an end, but they themselves had entered on a new, a higher and an eternal life. The constituent parts, whose union in the man had made a human life possible, separated at the moment of his death into those which were immortal and those which were mortal. But while the latter formed a unity, and constituted the corruptible body only ([Illustration: {H}] KHA), on which the above-mentioned rites of embalmment were practised, each of the former were distinct even when in combination. These “living, indestructible” parts of a man, which together almost correspond to our idea of the soul, had found their common home in his living body; but on leaving it at his death each set out alone to find its own way to the gods. If all succeeded in doing so, and it was further proved that the deceased had been good and upright, they again became one with him, and so entered into the company of the blessed, or even of the gods. The most important of all these component parts[2] was the so-called [Illustration: {H}], KA, the divine counterpart of the deceased, holding the same relation to him as a word to the conception which it expresses, or a statue to the living man. It was his individuality as embodied in the man’s name; the picture of him which was, or might have been, called up in the minds of those who knew him at the mention of that name.[3] Among other races similar thoughts have given rise to higher ideas, and led to a philosophic explanation of the distinction between personalities and persons, such as that contained in the Platonic Ideas. But the Egyptian was incapable of abstract thought, and was reduced to forming a purely concrete conception of this individuality, which is strangely impressive by reason of its thorough sensuousness. He endowed it with a material form completely corresponding to that of the man, exactly resembling him, his second self, his Double, his _Doppelgänger_.[4] [Illustration: Fig. 1.—Hatshepsû, accompanied by her KA, making perfume-offerings. (_From the temple of Dêr el Bahri._)[5]] Many scenes, dating from the eighteenth century B.C. and onwards, represent different kings appearing before divinities, while behind the king stands his KA, as a little man with the king’s features (fig. 1), or as a staff with two hands (fig. 2),[6] and surmounted by certain symbols of royalty, or by the king’s head. In these scenes the Personality accompanies the Person, following him as a shadow follows a man. [Illustration: Fig. 2.—The KA of Rameses II., represented by the two-handed staff, standing behind the king while he slays his enemies before Rā Harmakhis. (_From Abû Simbel_.)[7]]