A sarcophagus mask, made out of palm wood, with carved details showing a frontal view of an idealized face. The back is flat and was once attached to the sarcophagus.

The need to protect the body was tied to the belief that in the afterlife, a person would continue their life as they had lived it on Earth, and thus would require their body. From a religious standpoint, it was also necessary for the body to appear life-like. According to ancient Egyptian beliefs, a human being consisted of several aspects, one of which was the body, while another was the ba (often incorrectly translated as “soul”), the aspect associated with free movement. The ba would leave the tomb daily, typically in the form of a bird or a bird with a human head, to be “recharged” by the sunlight. In the evening, the ba would return to the mummy and rest upon it, thereby transferring the sun’s energy back to the body.

However, if the body were destroyed or if the ba could not recognize it, thus losing its connection and not being able to return to the body, the ba would not function properly. Therefore, both preserving the body and ensuring that it retained a life-like appearance were essential.