DOPPIO. - With this term the Egyptologist G. Maspero designated an incorporeal entity, called ka by the ancient Egyptians, which accompanied a person from birth like a shadow perfectly identical to the body.
This kind of second personality is not, however, to be identified with the soul, also called ka (v.). Although the ka left a person at death, it was believed that at intervals it returned to the corpse or else became incorporated in the statues of the deceased; hence funerary offerings were given to the ka of the departed individual, while tombs were called "dwellings of the ka."
But the essence of the ka remained exceedingly complex, so that, after Maspero's theory of the ka, various interpretations arose that explained the ka now as an abstract conception of the vital energy supplied by food (Erman), now as a guardian genius (Steindorff, Breasted), now as an individual manifestation of the genius of the race (Moret), and finally as a personification of sexual energy (Jacobsohn). All concepts that can coexist in parallel, inasmuch as the idea of the ka took on, in the course of time, varied and often not clearly definable aspects.
Bibliography5 worksG. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'archéologie égyptiennes, I, Paris 1893, pp. 77-91; G. Steindorff, Der Ka und die Grabstatuen, in Zeits
BIBL.: G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'archéologie égyptiennes, I, Paris 1893, pp. 77-91; G. Steindorff, Der Ka und die Grabstatuen, in Zeitschr. f. égypt. Sprache und Altertumskunde, 48 (1910-11), pp. 152-59; J. H. Breasted, Development of the religion and thought in ancient Egypt, New York 1912, p. 52 ff.; A. Moret, Le Ka des Égyptiens est-il un ancien totem?, in Revue de l'Hist. des Religions, 67 (1913), pp. 181-91; J. Vandier, La religion égyptienne (Coll. Mana, 1) Paris 1944, pp. 123-24.
Bosticco, Sergio. “Doppio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, col. 1881. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/doppio.
MLA
Bosticco, Sergio. “Doppio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 1881. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/doppio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec4_doppio,
author = {Bosticco, Sergio},
title = {Doppio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IV},
pages = {1881},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/doppio}
}
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