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Ancient Egyptian funerary text

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) 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. Unlike other funerary texts, however, it was reserved almost exclusively for pharaohs until the Twenty first Dynasty, or very select nobility. 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.

The underworld is divided into twelve hours of the night, each representing different allies and enemies for the Pharaoh/sun god to encounter. The Amduat names all of these gods and monsters, such as the serpent of Mehen or the 'World Encircler' which play a variety of roles to either help or harm Ra and the deceased soul. The main purpose of the Amduat is to give information about the geography of the underworld, as well as the names and descriptions of these gods and monsters to the Ba (or soul) of the dead Pharaoh, so he can call upon them for help or use their name to defeat them. Visually, the Amduat is typically broken into 3 continuous horizontal registers, with vertical registers of text separating each of the 12 hours. Each of the vertical textual registers contain information about the title of the hour, name of the gateway (either a pylon, door, or gate that is guarded by a deity) that connects them, as well as the name of the region of the underworld in order to distinguish the progression of Ra's daily journey. Additionally, at the end of each hour is a textual explanation of what happened within that region of the underworld. Each of the top middle registers contains creatures and items typical of the Egyptian underworld, while the bottom registers contain additional information or details represented pictorially regarding the specific hour. Here, it can be seen that life and death are meeting within the underworld, creating a chaos that only the influence of Maat can control. Maat is the deity of truth, order, and most importantly control, so she is often seen alongside the deceased pharaoh or Ra as they continue the normal order of the suns path daily, depicted most often as her signature feather. Maat is also an important goddess for the pharaoh due to her representing order, as it was expected for the pharaoh to invoke Maat to keep order over the kingdom of Egypt, thereby also pushing away chaos and disorder. Her inclusion on the journey of the sun's setting and eventual rebirth once more may suggest that this is the order of the world and that is therefore overseen by her. Hour 2: This is when Ra officially enters the underworld on his barque along with four other boats beside him, leaving the transition between life & death or between day & night. This region of the underworld is categorized by its representation of the primeval waters of Nun as a body of water called 'Wernes'. There are still four boats just as there were in the second hour, but there is no clear depiction of the god Ra on any of them, with the text of the Amduat stating that Ra was split between them. There is a narrow passage way that it is attempting to get through, resulting in all of the friendly beings of this regions (including the scarab representation of Khepri) helping to pull the boat. An oval representing the 'Cavern of Sokar' is present on the bottom register with the god himself being contained by a lake of fire surrounding the cavern. Once again, Ra's solar barque travels the waters of Nun as regenerative power flows, helping to revitalize the Ba of Ra as it is reunited with his body in the form of Osiris. The goddess Isis places a magic spell upon the barque in order to allow it to continue traveling through the regions without the need for water. On the upper register, the enemies of Osiris are punished for their intent to cause him harm, and the lower register contains humanized depictions of the stars following Ra's path to the end of the underworld. The unnamed gods on the upper and lower registers are seen creating new clothing, again associated with ideas of rebirth and renewal. The solar barque is pulled along by 8 unnamed gods to help Ra reach the surface once more. Hour 10: Ra continues his journey, being protected by his 12 oarsmen who now carry weapons to protect against any enemies, but especially against Apep. On the lower register is an image of those who drowned in water being pulled to shore by Horus, the god of the sky (in addition to many other things). This is a comforting image as it was believed in Ancient Egypt that those who did not receive a proper burial could never reach the underworld or eternal life, and so this hour of the Amduat shows that this isn't the case however, and not all hope is lost for these lost souls. Horus calls upon a monstrous serpent with the unquenchable fire to destroy the enemies of his father, Osiris, by burning their corpses and cooking their souls. Once the deceased finished their journey through the underworld, they arrived at the Hall of Maat. Here they would undergo the Weighing of the Heart ceremony where their purity would be the determining factor in whether they would be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Osiris.

Understanding Amduat tombs can be just as important as understanding the hours of the Amduat as there are instructions at the end of the Amduat text on how it should be presented within a tomb. This implies that the physical representation of it is just as important as the pictorial representation in guiding the deceased to the afterlife alongside Ra. Amduat tombs are associated with the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and became popular with the construction of the Tomb of Thutmose III, who ruled halfway through the Eighteenth Dynasty. Being found in the Valley of the Kings, his tomb follows the architectural tradition of being a subterranean monument, shaped in what Egyptologist Josh Roberson calls a “curved and bent axe” style. Following that style, it can be seen in the corresponding image that Thutmose III's tomb contained his burial chamber which was connected to four storage rooms, an antechamber, a well shaft, and three connected corridors leading out to the entrance. There are many possible reasons for this style growing in popularity, likely tied to the various symbolic interpretations of the rooms found within the tomb. There are no agreed upon descriptions for the purposes of these rooms and what was contained inside of them, with historians like Erik Hornung and Friedrich Abitz attempting to explain them in their respective academic pursuits.

As discussed by Historians Catherine Roehrig and Barbara Richter, the architecture of Thutmose III's tomb is likely meant to mirror the structure of the underworld as the Amduat displays it. Found within the burial chamber of the pharaoh, the Amduat was a guide for him to follow through the underworld, as well as a way to achieve rebirth for himself after death. This may be why the structure of the tomb itself slopes downwards and winds around, to form that bent shape, as historians theorize that it may reflect the confusing and labyrinthian structure of the underworld itself. It begins by starting on the west side of the room, and ending to the east side of the room in order to mirror the cycle of the sun. The Amduat ending on the east side of the room lines up with the sun rising in the east, representing the rebirth and renewal that the pharaoh hoped to achieve at the end of his journey. The hours are out of order on the walls however, with hours 5 and 6 being placed between hours 1 and 12. This may be a representation of a spiral design, as someone who views the Amduat in numerical order will have to complete an irregular circle throughout the room, again being associated with ideas of a continual cycle. Additionally, the rounded corners of the room create an oval shape which has many interpretations: it may represent the continual, circular life cycle of the sun's journey, or may line up with the rounded corner edge of the actual illustrated Amduat present on the walls. Connections to the oval (or cartouche shaped) cavern of Sokar in the 6th hour may also be present in the oval burial chamber and sarcophagus of Thutmose III and connect to ideas of rebirth or renewal that the pharaoh wished to achieve for himself. His sarcophagus, found in the center of the burial chamber, is similarly oval shaped as well, including his name which is within a royal cartouche.

The vizier to Thutmose III, Useramun, was a rare example of someone not of royal birth having their tomb in the Amduat style. This may be due to many reasons, but shows how exclusive royal tombs were to the pharaoh and his immediate family. It is notable that Useramun's tomb only contained the images of hours 3 and 4, not the whole journey of the sun which only adds to the exclusivity of the Amduat to royalty in Ancient Egyptian funerary traditions. Amenhotep II (KV 35) and Amenhotep III (KV 22) both have examples of completed Amduat texts within their burial tombs as well, following many of the conventions that Thutmose III began within his tomb. Later Eighteenth Dynasty tombs strayed away from this approach to follow a more linear design style, being arranged by a single long corridor and straightening out the previously ‘bent axe’ style of earlier pharaohs. The Amduat was still present in these tombs, though was not only reserved for the burial chambers, as it was depicted throughout the various parts of the tomb. Additionally, with the rise of the Ramesside Period in the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, the Amduat began to appear alongside other funerary texts like The Book of Gates and The Book of Caverns as expansions of the mythos of the Egyptian Underworld. At the end of the New Kingdom, the Amduat seems to have lost its exclusivity, appearing on both coffins and papyri for deceased people of a lower class than royalty or nobility.