The Book of the Hidden Chamber (Amduat)
In the mid-18th Dynasty (c.1430 BCE), pharaohs were decorating their tombs with a beautiful and intricate set of religious images. These texts/scenes comprised the Amduat (“That Which is in the Underworld”), and they told the story of Re’s journey through the night-time hours. In twelve chapters, Re travelled deep into the Duat, met his own corpse, and was reborn on the eastern horizon, ready for a new day.
How did the Amduat play out? We explore…
Bibliography
- Erik Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, 1999
- Erik Hornung, Texte zum Amduat, 1987.
- Erik Hornung, Valley of the Kings: Horizon of Eternity, 1990.
- Emily Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt, 2011.
Great
Reblogged this on ReBirth: The Pursuit of Porsha.
very nice but the pictures from tomb or papyrus ?
thanks
Tomb, of Thutmose III
Fascinating episode,
The centrality of the role of the various serpents in this is particularly interesting, serpents feel like such a primeval cross ancient religious phenomenom, as sowers of discord, chaos, but also all encompassing creatures and protectors, interesting to see this was true of Egypt too