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The Egyptian Heaven and Hell

By E. A. Wallis Budge

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The Ante-Chamber of the Tuat

IN THE FIRST DIVISION of the "Book of Gates of the Tuat," according to the sarcophagus of Seti I., we see the horizon of the west,  , or the mountain of the west, divided into two parts,  , and the boat of the sun is supposed to sail between them, and to enter by this passage into the Tuat. On the right hand is fixed a jackal-headed standard, and on each side of it kneels a bearded god; one god is called TAT, and is a personification of the region which is beyond the day, and the other SET,  , and represents the funeral mountain. On the left hand is a ram-headed standard, and on each side of it also kneels a bearded god; as before, one is called Tat and the other Set. The ram's head has the horizontal, wavy horns, which belong to the particular species of ram that was the symbol of the god Khnemu; this animal disappeared from Egypt before the XIIth Dynasty, but the tradition of him remained. In the middle of the scene sails the boat of the sun. The god is symbolized by a beetle within a disk, which is enveloped in the folds of a

 

Part of the horizon over which the Boat of the Sun passes to enter the Tuat at eventide.
In it are the Twelve Gods of the Funeral Mountain.

serpent having its tail in its mouth. In the bows stands the god of divine intelligence, whose name is SA, and in the stern, near the two paddles, stands HEKA, i.e., the personification of the word of power, or of magical utterance. The god who usually accompanies SA is HU. The text which refers to the Sun-god reads:--

"Ra saith unto the Mountain:--Send forth light, O Mountain! Let radiance arise from that which hath devoured me, and which hath slain men and is filled with the slaughter of the gods. Breath to you, O ye who dwell in the light in your habitations, my

 

Part of the horizon over which the Boat of the Sun passes to enter the Tuat at eventide.
In it are the twelve Gods of Set-Amentet.

splendours shall be to you. I have decreed their slaughter, and they have slaughtered everything which existeth. I have hidden you from those who are upon the earth, restoring the crown (or, tiara) to those who are on the Mountain. The gods say:--'Let this jackal-headed sceptre emit the words of this great god who joineth together his members. Come then unto us, O thou from whom we have come forth! Cries of joy are to thee, O thou who art in thy disk, thou great god whose forms (or transformations) are manifold.' Their provisions [consist] of bread-cakes and beer."

The paragraph below the above text is practically a duplicate of it, but it contains no mention of either the jackal-headed or the rain-headed sceptre, and it is unnecessary to give it here.

On the right of the boat stand twelve gods, who are called "gods of the mountain," and the text referring to them reads:--

"[These gods] have come into being from Ra, and from his substance, and have emerged from his eye. He hath decreed for them [as] a place (or, abode) the Hidden Mountain (Ament Set), which consumeth men, and gods, and all cattle, and all reptiles which are created by this great god. This great god hath decreed the plans (or, designs) thereof having made [them] to spring up in the earth which he created."

On the left of the boat stand twelve gods, who are called "gods of Set-Amentet," and the text referring to them reads:--

"The hidden place. [These are] those who have consumed the men, and the gods, and all the cattle, and all the reptiles which this great god hath created. 'This great god hath decreed plans for them after he made them to spring up in the land which he created, that is to say, in the Amentet which he made."