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The Amduat[pronunciation?] (Ancient Egyptian: jmj dwꜣt, literally "That Which Is In the Afterworld", also translated as "Text of the Hidden Chamber Which is in the Underworld" and "Book of What is in the Underworld"; Arabic: كتاب الآخرة, romanized: Kitab al-Akhira)[1] is an important ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Similar to previous funerary texts, such as the Old Kingdom's Pyramid Texts, or the First Intermediate Period's Coffin Texts, the Amduat was found carved on the internal walls of a pharaoh's tomb.[2] Unlike other funerary texts, however, it was reserved almost exclusively for pharaohs until the Twenty-first Dynasty, or very select nobility.[2]
The Amduat tells the story of Ra, the Egyptian sun god who makes a daily journey through the underworld, from the time when the sun sets in the west till it rises again in the east. This is associated with imagery of continual death and rebirth, as the sun 'dies' when it sets, and through the trials of rebirth in the underworld, it is once again 'reborn' at the beginning of a new day. It is said that the deceased Pharaoh will take this same journey through the underworld, ultimately to be reborn and become one with Ra, residing with him forever.[3] Many gods, goddesses, and deities help both Ra and the deceased soul on this journey in a variety of ways, such as Khepri, Isis, and Osiris being some of the main ones.[2] This is alongside many unnamed or unknown deities, which are often given reference to within the text of the Amduat itself.
As well as enumerating and naming the inhabitants of the Duat (Egyptian word for the underworld), both good and bad, the illustrations of the work show clearly the topography of the underworld. Early fragments of the Amduat can be found in the tombs of Hatshepsut & Thutmose I (KV20), as well as Thutmose I (KV38), but the earliest complete version is found in KV34, the tomb of Thutmose III in the Valley of the Kings.[4]
- ^ Forman and Quirke (1996), p. 117.
- ^ a b c Hornung, Erik; Lorton, David (1999). The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8014-3515-7.
- ^ Abt, Theodor; Hornung, Erik (2003). Knowledge for the afterlife: the Egyptian Amduat - a quest for immortality (First ed.). Zurich: Living Human Heritage Publications. p. 24. ISBN 978-3-9522608-0-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Richter, Barbara A. (2008). "The Amduat and Its Relationship to the Architecture of Early 18th Dynasty Royal Burial Chambers". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 44: 73–104. ISSN 0065-9991. JSTOR 27801622.