The swallow

Ptolemaen era (3rd century B.C.) Since the Old Kingdom (approx. 2640) swallows have been associated with the stars and therefore with the souls of the dead. The Egyptian Book of the Dead (a collection of texts included in tombs) provides advice on how to incarnate into a swallow. The deceased should say: “I am a swallow. I am a swallow. I am a scorpion, the daughter of Re”. Then he will: “appear during the day and not be sent back to any of the underworld’s gates and will regularly and continuously apear as a swallow”. The continuous appearance is explained in the Pyramid texts (the oldest religious texts in existence): the swallows are the stars around the everlasting Pole star.