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The Journey Through the Ancient Egyptian Underworld, The Duat - Ep 06
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Embark on a journey following Ancient Egyptian funerary texts that guided souls through the Duat, the shadowy underworld filled with gods, monsters, and treacherous trials. From the sacred spells of the Pyramid Texts and the Book of the Dead to the perilous journey detailed in the Amduat and Books of the Netherworld, discover how Ancient Egyptians viewed the afterlife.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast Network
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
Welcome to 'The Past Macabre'
00:00:28
Speaker
Welcome to the past macabre, where we journey through history to explore how our relationship with death reflects the values, fears, and hopes that shape the way that people live. I'm your host, Stephanie Rice.
Exploring Ancient Egyptian Afterlife Beliefs
00:00:42
Speaker
Thank you for joining me for episode six on a journey through the ancient Egyptian underworld known as the Duop.
00:00:49
Speaker
In episodes one, two, and three, we saw the ways that funerary architecture evolved over time. Similarly, afterlife beliefs and the way that they were depicted evolved over time as well. There's no simple uniform answer for what the ancient Egyptian afterlife was like during the vast history of Egypt. For example, royals were believed to ascend to the stars with the gods if they were deemed worthy. Sometimes they were even deified into gods themselves.
00:01:19
Speaker
The Field of Reeds, or Sekhet Aru, is the afterlife for non-royals that shows up in later texts. The Duat is a vast underworld that the soul has to journey through in order to earn their place in either location, and that became more detailed over centuries with more and more funerary texts evolving.
00:01:39
Speaker
This began to include more places within the duod itself that began to have more and more names.
The Pyramid Texts and Royal Funerary Practices
00:01:46
Speaker
In this episode, we'll take a look at the various texts that Egyptologists have used to piece together what we know, and then we'll journey through the duod ourselves.
00:02:00
Speaker
The pyramid texts are what Egyptologists call the oldest collection of funerary texts that have been found in the world. They were found on the walls of the pyramid starting in the fifth dynasty at the very end and then continued onward. These texts were originally reserved for kings and queens, and they detailed the rituals that they would face in the afterlife and provided them with the knowledge necessary to pass those challenges.
00:02:23
Speaker
Afterlife beliefs still likely existed for everyone, but during this time the royals were the only ones considered worthy of the instructions to ensure the best outcome for them.
Expansion of Funerary Texts Beyond Royals
00:02:33
Speaker
The first of the pyramid texts comes from the Pyramid of Unas, who was the last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty. His pyramid was likely finished around 2300 BCE, and I highly recommend going inside of it for anyone who visits Saqqara.
00:02:48
Speaker
When I went to Egypt for the first time, that was the first pyramid that I went into, and I don't even have the words to fully describe how awesome it was to stand inside the burial chamber of Unus, surrounded by the very first funerary texts that became such an iconic part of Egypt's long history.
00:03:06
Speaker
Some archaeologists have theorized that the spells and rituals in the pyramid texts were originally part of the afterlife cult of the pharaoh. By now, enough generations had passed that the people had seen funerary cults of prior kings disappear. So Unas probably began this tradition to give himself a form of eternal protection that would survive even if his successors did not maintain his funerary cult.
00:03:30
Speaker
The pyramid texts were then in use for several generations after Unas through the dynasties of the Old Kingdom. And then the coffin texts, which began to show up in the first intermediate period, continued on through the Middle Kingdom. They were a collection of spells painted onto the coffins of elite individuals and not just royals.
00:03:50
Speaker
They provide instructions for navigating the afterlife and achieving transformation into an Akh, which is an immortal ascended spirit, which was previously reserved for royals only.
Accessibility of Rituals and Texts to Families
00:04:01
Speaker
This paralleled the larger shift in power that was happening during this period.
00:04:06
Speaker
Previously, the royal family held most of the power and siblings of the king were often the highest officials as well. However, towards the end of the Old Kingdom, others began to gain influence through administrative and religious positions, which led to Egypt's division back into upper and lower Egypt with separate rulers during the first intermediate period.
00:04:28
Speaker
Even when Egypt was reunited at the start of the 11th Dynasty into the Middle Kingdom, the local officials and priests maintained more power than they had held ever in the Old Kingdom.
00:04:39
Speaker
The shift in power continued and was reflected further in the access that people gained to funerary texts. The Book of the Dead was a more elaborate version of the coffin texts, and it appeared in the Middle Kingdom. These were the first funerary texts that actually were on papyrus scrolls, and they were also inscribed into tomb walls and other funerary objects. They offered spells and guidance for overcoming the challenges of the afterlife for even more people than previous texts had.
00:05:08
Speaker
They were still reserved for well-off Egyptians and not the average person, but the Book of the Dead became more commonplace. Instead of only high-ranking officials like the coffin texts were, these were found on the tombs of scribes and craftspeople who were successful. Papyrus workshops, like those still in operation today in Egypt's major tourist destinations, would produce large numbers of these with several variations.
00:05:34
Speaker
People could choose the version that they wanted, but these versions weren't always personalized to the individual the way that the previous versions of coffin texts and pyramid texts were. It wasn't only the texts that were more accessible, but the funerary rituals themselves became more accessible.
Ra's Journey and the Underworld
00:05:50
Speaker
The main text of the Book of the Dead was written in black ink, but they also provided instructions for how to perform the rituals involved in red ink.
00:05:59
Speaker
This allowed the family of the deceased to maintain their loved one's soul in the afterlife themselves without needing the services of a religious leader or someone to specifically maintain those rituals. The Book of the Dead also featured protective spells that were intended to shield the deceased from the dangers lurking within the doo-wop. One example of these spells that included instructions for a ritual was Spell 151. This gave instructions for making unbaked mud bricks.
00:06:27
Speaker
Then you inscribed them and then sealed them in niches all around the burial chamber to form a protective barrier around the deceased and their tomb. The next funerary text to appear was the amduot, which means that which is in the duot. It's a New Kingdom funerary text that describes the sun god Ra's journey through the 12 hours of night.
00:06:50
Speaker
It gets more detailed on the topography of the Duat and the creatures that were encountered and the dangers that were faced by the deceased as they traveled with Ra towards rebirth. One thing to note is that the importance of the gods varied over time and region in ancient Egypt.
00:07:06
Speaker
Ra was one of many sun gods and wasn't always the most prominent of them. During this period of the New Kingdom, he was the one most often associated with the funerary texts, though he wasn't always the only one specified. It truly did depend on the person, which gods they venerated the most, and which were most important to them.
00:07:27
Speaker
The amduat was primarily used in royal tombs, and then eventually, just like all of the others, it started appearing more and more in the tombs of elites, and then just successful craftspeople. In these texts, each hour of the night is mapped out with specific gods, monsters, and then the gateways that the deceased and raw must traverse on this path towards renewal.
00:07:50
Speaker
After the Mduat became more widespread, Books of the Netherworld began to appear in royal tombs, almost as if the royals were trying to keep up with some sort of special version of the afterlife that everyone else wasn't allowed access to. These texts include the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, and the Book of Earth. They're usually just referred to in one grouping as the Books of the Netherworld.
00:08:16
Speaker
they reveal the rich and multifaceted conceptions of the underworld, even further delving into the topography that could be faced there. Since the books of the netherworld can get very deep and detailed depending on the version, we'll take a look at the Duat as it was described in the Book of the Dead and the Amduat on a more broad scale instead of looking at a very specific papyrus or tomb.
00:08:45
Speaker
The initial phase of the soul's journey into the duod was marked by the rituals performed during the mummification process. One of the most important of these was the opening of the mouth ritual. This ceremony was meant to allow the deceased to receive nourishment from the food and the drink offerings that were left for them and allow them to speak in the afterlife.
Journey Through the Duat and Judgment
00:09:06
Speaker
Once their body is prepared, the ka or spirit of the deceased is led by a god, often wepwa'ut.
00:09:13
Speaker
He's a wolf-headed god of death and his name means opener of the ways. He leads the dead to join Ra at sunset as he prepares his solar boat for his nightly journey through the underworld. Together, Ra and the deceased cross the primordial waters of the god Nun on Ra's solar boat to reach Imhet, which is the barren underworld desert where the god Sokar dwells. Sokar is a hawk-headed god like Horus, and he's most often depicted as mummified, and so he's already dead, as a god of the underworld, similar to Osiris.
00:09:47
Speaker
This part of the journey will take the deceased so deep into the underworld that Ra's own light can no longer reach him. So while they're in the lands of Sokar, they're forced to continue in pitch black darkness through very deep, difficult sand. Here they encounter Kepri, the scarab beetle god, symbolizing the rising sun and transformation. He calls on other friendly otherworld creatures to help pull the solar boat through the darkness and the deep sand.
00:10:14
Speaker
One of these, the serpent Mehen, coils around Ra's body to protect him as he regenerates his solar energy. Then the god Apep, also known as Apophis, is attracted by the solar energy that Ra is gathering. So he swallows up all of the primordial waters around Sokar's desert to trap Ra and the deceased here. But with the proper spells provided to the deceased through their book of the dead, the forces of darkness are driven back and Ra is able to fully recharge.
00:10:46
Speaker
Within, Ra, the deity's loyal to him, and the soul who has joined Ra's journey, battle Aepep and his forces of darkness and chaos. The journey culminates with the rebirth of Ra, who rises victorious, fully charged as the morning sun. Now the deceased must proceed to their judgment.
00:11:07
Speaker
The Akhet, which is the place of becoming effective, is where the soul, having traversed the many trials of the underworld, is on the threshold of achieving its ultimate form.
00:11:19
Speaker
This auk, or effective form, is the ideal state of existence that combines purity, wisdom, and power, enabling the soul to live eternally among the gods or to pass into the blissful afterlife of the field of reeds. But before the deceased can reach this exalted state, they must face one final defining trial, the weighing of the heart.
00:11:43
Speaker
The weighing of the heart is probably the most famous of all of the rituals associated with the ancient Egyptian afterlife. It's one of the most popular images sold at modern papyrus workshops, and even Sesame Street did a special where Big Bird helps an ancient prince prepare for his heart to be weighed.
00:12:02
Speaker
It was called Donate the Pictures and I highly recommend it if you can find it. It was made in partnership with the Met in the 80s and it was very, very good. I'm pretty sure it was part of what sparked my interest in Egyptology because I had a VHS copy and I watched it several times when I was little. But back to the duot.
00:12:22
Speaker
in the Hall of Mott, who is the goddess of truth, justice, and cosmic balance. First, the soul must say a series of negative confessions in front of a host of 42 gods. These varied between the different papyri and wall art that was depicting the scene. These gods would be different depending on which gods were more important to the deceased and which gods were more important in the pantheon of the state at the time.
00:12:51
Speaker
The statements that were called these negative confessions were things like, I have not stolen, or I have not committed violence. There were several of these that were laid out and again, slightly different for each person who was buried. Once they were all said, it was time for the weighing of the heart ritual. Anubis, the jackal-headed god of embalming and mummification, carefully placed the heart of the deceased on one side of a giant scale.
00:13:21
Speaker
This heart was believed to be the seat of the soul's conscious. It carried the weight of the individual's deeds, intentions, and emotions that had accumulated over their lifetime.
00:13:32
Speaker
Part of the mummification preparations often included placing a scarab amulet over the heart of the dead within their mummy wrappings. The scarabs were inscribed with a spell that said, do not stand up against me as a witness, do not oppose me. And this was meant to clear the person of any minor transgressions they may have had that would make their statements before the gods untrue.
00:13:55
Speaker
Opposite of the heart, Anubis placed a single feather, the feather of Maat, which was a symbol of truth, justice, and harmony just as she was. To the ancient Egyptians, this balances what maintained the natural world and kept the cycle of Nile flooding going each year. A balanced heart was a heart unburdened by sin, untainted by dishonesty, cruelty, or selfishness.
00:14:19
Speaker
If the heart is lighter than the feather, the deceased is deemed to have lived a life of balance, truth, and honor, and is therefore worthy to continue onward. These souls, having achieved a balance with Maat, may pass beyond the Hall of Judgment to fulfill its destiny in the afterlife. Some of them would ascend to the stars, most especially royals, and join the gods, or others would enter the lush, idyllic fields of Sekhet Aru, which was the field of Reeds.
00:14:49
Speaker
The field of reeds is a land of abundance and peace, a mirror image of earthly existence but without any of the limitations or hardships. This paradise was imagined as a lush, fertile expanse where crops grew effortlessly and the deceased would enjoy an eternal life filled with happiness. For kings and queens, the souls could ascend to heaven and join the gods themselves, merging with the cosmos and partaking in the cycles of the sun and the stars.
00:15:17
Speaker
Some would even be intentionally deified themselves and then worshipped by later generations as gods. This journey to divine realms was an exalted destiny and a way to separate the royals from the non-royals, even in the afterlife. But if the heart outweighs the feather, this shows that the deceased lived in opposition to Mot, and they let a life weighed down by deceit, cruelty, or injustice.
00:15:45
Speaker
The consequences were dire and final. A fearsome creature lurks near the scales, awaiting these souls with relentless appetite. Known as the Devourer, a meat is a hybrid monster composed of the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.
00:16:06
Speaker
These were three of Egypt's most dangerous animals, and she embodied the most dangerous parts of them. She devours the hearts of the unworthy entirely, obliterating the soul's existence. This is what the ancient Egyptians saw as an irreversible second death. There would be no afterlife, no further journey, and no legacy.
Evolution of Funerary Texts
00:16:29
Speaker
The soul would be erased, forever lost to oblivion.
00:16:36
Speaker
Considering the stakes were so high, it's no wonder that funerary texts to aid a person's journey into the afterlife became so popular. Summarizing this complex, very personal journey through the Duat is difficult because ancient Egypt's afterlife was not a single unchanging place.
00:16:55
Speaker
It was a deeply layered, intricate realm that reflected the beliefs of an individual and even the socioeconomic environment of the time. The earliest form of roadmap through the afterlife was reserved for kings and queens through the pyramid texts. But as high-ranking officials gained more power, they were able to follow in the form of the coffin texts.
00:17:17
Speaker
Then the Book of the Dead on Papyrus became accessible to any well-off Egyptian who could afford it, and they could ensure their soul would have safe passage through the Duat as well. The Amduat and the Books of the Netherworld followed later with even more details on the dangers that may be encountered in the Duat, and then the ways that one could protect themselves. They started the same way where they were initially only accessible to royals, and then eventually became available to anyone who could pay for them.
00:17:46
Speaker
The details of the dangers presented to an individual and then the ways that they were given to protect themselves, show us what they feared and then the values that individual held in life as well.
Preview of Next Episode and Closing Remarks
00:17:57
Speaker
Thank you for joining me on this journey through the ancient Egyptian afterlife and its texts. For the next episode, we'll meet several of the gods and goddesses that are associated with death across different ancient cultures around the world. Until next time.
00:18:16
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to keep up with new releases. Please leave a rating and a comment that helps the show reach others who may be interested in the past macabre. For access to bonus content from all archaeology podcast network shows, become a member at arcpodnet dot com slash slash members.
00:18:43
Speaker
You can find show notes for this and other episodes at arcpodnet
00:19:22
Speaker
This episode was produced by Chris Webster from his ah RV traveling the United States, Tristan Boyle in Scotland, DigTech LLC, Culturo Media, and the Archaeology Podcast Network, and was edited by Chris Webster. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.