It might make us uncomfortable to think about death, but it gives us a space to connect with each other across the eons. Once we reach a certain age, the end of our lives is something every person considers. And that is exactly what the subject of this sculpture is doing.
We all know about the Ancient Egyptians’ fixation with existence beyond the grave, but a close-up perspective shows a nuanced and more human attitude towards death. We can get this from the art and poetry of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (2050-1652 BCE). The man seated in this photo is one such example. His knees are drawn up into his arms and his seated torso, as he watches and guards a funerary monument. This was an actual style from this era, and is called a “block statue.” For me, it matches perfectly with the internal thoughts of a man contemplating death in the poem “The Debate between a Man and His Soul” (1900 BCE).
In it, a man argues with his spirit, or “Ba,” about the merits of life and its ending. On the one hand, life has so many wonderful things about it — we cultivate the land, look at beauty, enjoy our repast, and gather with our communities. On the other, we suffer — we struggle with loneliness, we watch our loved ones die, and we retch from horrific smells and feelings of hurt. As the soul and the man debate, they switch sides, so the one starts defending death and the other favors putting it aside. Some of the most poignant lines come from repetitions of the phrase “Death is before me today,” but instead of being something frightening, it is compared to a homecoming – it smells like a sweet lotus, and feels like leaving the bedroom after sickness.
Ultimately, the spirit and the man compromise, deciding to “make the best of life, and wait for death until it comes.”
