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Review
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were written to guide the king in the beyond. The secret names
of Ra were invoked for his protection and the twelve gates of the
hours of the night opened before his wandering soul. His images
were brought back to life with magical spells of Opening the
Mouth while the Heavenly Cow stood ready to carry him to the
sky on her back. The tomb itself became a living image of the
Underworld with all its secrets. During the funeral, the king was
laid to rest in the vast sarcophagus chamber under the vault of
the night sky in the embracing arms of the sky goddess and her
imperishable canopy of stars.
Sacred writings of the Books of the Afterlife were essential in
providing guidance and protection against the enemies of Ra,
the followers of the serpent. Every royal tomb in the Valley of the
Kings contained these texts in one form or another. In the tomb
ofTuthmosis III they were written out in the form of a large
papyrus covering the walls.The figures and letters were drawn in
shorthand; it was essential to have sacred writings, no matter how
simple, accompanying the royal mummy in order to ensure mag
ical protection for the king's soul.
The Books of the Afterlife were reserved for the tomb of the
king.6 These texts were esoteric writings: only the king as the
earthly sun could know the secrets connected with the sun's
course in the Underworld. The inclusion of all the Books of the
Afterlife in the tomb of Sety I reflected particular religious con
cerns of the time, a new preoccupation with unifying ancient
customs. The polytheistic aspect of ancient Egyptian religion was
a result of combining several creation myths that came from differ
ent sources. After Akhenaten's monotheism there was a need to
unite them into a single respectable religious system. To face this
challenge the priesthood was encouraged to probe more deeply
into ancient dogmas. The results of this rethinking were evident in
the effort to unite all the existing Books of the Afterlife and create a
single body of religious texts. Sety s tomb acquired a new impor
tance; it became an extension of the funerary temple where cer
emonies and rituals, once reserved for the temple precinct, now
transformed the tomb into a temple of rebirth. Having died, the
king "blended with him out of whom he had come."7 He became
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Osiris and Ra and took part with the sun in its cosmic movement.
"Blended with the All, he is one and many, he is god."8
The sheer size of the tomb and the use of all the available wall
surfaces for decoration made it possible to include all the Books
of the Afterlife: the Amduat, the Book of Gates, the Litany of the Sun,
the Book of the Heavenly Cow, the Ritual of Opening the Mouth
(chapter 12) and the fudgment ofOsiris.The sarcophagus was dec
orated with the complete version of the Book of Gates. It pro
vided the final completion of the sacred texts.
During the funeral ceremony the sacred texts were recited
and the mythical stories re-enacted. The funeral rites must have
resembled a medieval passion play with members of the king's
family and priests playing the parts of gods who were officiating
at the king's rites of rebirth. The combination of images, sacred
writings and ritual re-enactment constituted a proper religious
burial and ensured the king's everlasting life.
The texts describe the spirit of the deceased king following
the setting sun into the Netherworld. Seventy-five secret names
of Ra were spoken for his protection. Sailing deeper into the
night, the divine barge went past the cave of Sokkar, the guardian
of cemeteries and entered the realm of the gods. Following in
the retinue of Ra, the spirit of the king descended past the gates
of the hours of the night into the realm of Osiris. Here, Osiris,
the god of the Underworld, judged his soul. The ceremony of
Opening the Mouth was performed on Sety s statues to help
him merge with Osiris. In the golden shrine?the sarcophagus
chamber?the body of the king became one with the body of
Osiris. From here the king's soul descended still deeper into the
realm of the primeval ocean through the narrow shaft below the
sarcophagus. Having dissolved in the realm of chaos and darkness
before creation he became an unborn child. Only then was he
ready for new life. He was Osiris and Ra merged into one with
in the circle of eternal transformation. The sun could rise again
above the boundless waters at the beginning of creation. The
unfolding of life was ready to begin again. Ascending upwards,
the king's spirit left the Underworld and "stepped forth into day
light,"9 joining the eternal cosmic cycle.
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THE AMDUAT
The Book of What Is in the Duat?the Netherworld, firs
appeared in the New Kingdom. Unlike the older and alway
changing collection of spells, usually referred to as "The Book
the Dead," this text had a permanent content. The oldest frag
ments of the Amduat date to Queen Hatshepsut who employed
them in the decoration of the tomb of her father, Tuthmosis
Like the Book of Gates, the Amduat described the journey of th
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"You Will Go Forth from Darkness for the Love of Light; Go forth
from the Underworld for the Love of Soaring among Great Spirits"
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radiance arise from the darkness which devours me, which slays
both men and gods! May you who dwell in these regions have
breath, may you receive the light! I have decreed death and they
have slaughtered everything that exists. I have hidden you from
those upon the earth."
To the right of the solar bark we see twelve gods of the
Western hills who had come into being from the eye of Ra.
They had been sent to the hidden mountain to guard the door
way that consumed men, gods and everything created.
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Apophis, the first appearing from his head and the other eleven
from his back. The figures were described as "the adversaries of
his two-fold evil... whose duty is to seize the fiend when heads
come out of him." Ra said: "Turn your back, serpent, go back!
When the heads appear from you, may you perish!"
Above them the upright figure of a god had a rope twisted
around his neck. The two ends of the rope were held by twelve
star/men. The text says: "The enemy of Ra comes forth from the
Duat. Seize the rope and tie the mouth of the serpent! Let the
hours come forth! Let the rope enter into the mouth of the ser
pent and come to the place where the hours are born!" The
twelve starmen replied: "The serpent is tied up with the rope, the
hours of the gods are yours, O Ra, given to the eternal light!
Rest in your hidden body.. ."18
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NOTES
?Sety I ruled from 1306-1290 B.C. He ushered in a period of great pro
perity and was succeeded by his son Ramesses the Great.
2H. Carter in Annales de Service des Antiquites de V Egypte, 6 (1903-4), 112
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3E. Hornung, The Tomb of Pharaoh Seti 1/ Das Grab Sethos L, Photos H.
Burton (Zurich and Munich 1991, text English and German).
4Some texts and representations from the tomb of Sety I are discussed by
Hornung within the framework of other religious literature in Valley of the
Kings. Horizon of Eternity (Zurich and Munich 1982) and in The Ancient
Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (Ithaca and London, 1999).
5Akhenaten, originally Amenhotep IV, ruled from 1353-1335 B.C. He
closed the ancient temples and abolished the polytheistic worship of the old
gods instituting instead the faith in one god only?the solar disc Aten. His
policies caused a rift with the powerful priesthood of Amun and resulted in
political and social upheaval.
6Around 1000 B. C. the High Priests of Amun appropriated this royal priv
ilege for their own sarcophagi and burial papyri.
7A. Piankoff, The Litany of Re (New York, 1964), 50.
* Ibid, 51.
9"Stepping Forth into Daylight" is the ancient Egyptian title of the so
called "Book of the Dead."
10Another complete version is also found in the temple of Ramesses II at
Abydos.
1 Representations of the cave of Sokkar are always oriented north, as indi
cated in books for artists working in the tomb.
12Reflecting the seventy-five images of Ra that represented all the different
aspects needed to maintain Ma'at?Divine Harmony. Some of the seventy-five
scenes of Opening the Mouth were omitted.
13The text found on the "Stone of Shabaka," now in the British Museum,
seems to originate from Memphite theological teachings of the post-Amarna
period.
14The similarity of the shape of the adze of Anubis and the constellation
of Ursa Minor represented on the ceiling have been noted and related by
D. V. Etz, "A New Look at the Constellation Figures in the Celestial Dia
gram," JARCE XXXIV (1997), 150.
15Fragmentary texts from the Book of Gates were first included in the sar
cophagus chamber of Horemhab.
16The feather is the symbol of Ma'at?Truth or Divine Harmony.
17The tradition of the "Hwt Benben" dates to the Old Kingdom. The first
obelisk my have been a "Hwt Benben" stone that stood on a large alabaster
pedestal (still in situ) inside Ni-User-Ra's sun temple at Abusir (Dynasty V).
18On the subject of black holes mentioned in the Books of the Underworld
see Hornung, "Black holes viewed from within: hell in ancient Egyptian
thought," Diogenes 165, vol. 42/1 (Spring 1994), 133-156.
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