Duat - wikipedia Duat This article is about the Egyptian underworld. For the evergreen tree, see Jambul. For the aviation weather service, see DUATS. Part of a series on Ancient Egyptian religion Beliefs Duat Ma'at Mythology Numerology Philosophy Soul Practices Funerals Offering formula Temples Deities Amun Amunet Anhur Anubis Anuket Apep Apis Aten Atum Bastet Bat Bes Four sons of Horus Geb Hapy Hathor Heka Hemsut Heqet Horus Isis Kek Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maahes Ma'at Mafdet Mehit Menhit Meretseger Meskhenet Monthu Min Mnevis Mut Neith Nekhbet Nephthys Nu Nut Osiris Pakhet Ptah Qebui Ra Ra - Horakhty Raet - Tawy Reshep Satis Sekhmet Seker Selket Sobek Sopdu Set Seshat Shu Tatenen Taweret Tefnut Thoth Wadjet Wadj - wer Wepwawet Wosret Texts Amduat Books of Breathing Book of Caverns Book of the Dead Book of the Earth Book of Gates Book of the Netherworld Related religions Atenism Hermeticism Kemeticism Ancient Egypt portal Duat ( pronounced `` do - aht '' ) ( also Tuat and Tuaut or Akert, Amenthes, Amenti, or Neter - khertet ) was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. The deity Osiris was believed to be the lord of the underworld since he personified rebirth and life after death, being the first mummy as depicted in the Osiris myth. The underworld was also the residence of various other gods along with Osiris. The Duat was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east each night, and it was where he battled Apep, who embodied the primordial chaos which the sun had to defeat in order to rise each morning and bring order back to the earth. It was also the place where people 's souls went after death for judgement, though that was not the full extent of the afterlife. Burial chambers formed touching - points between the mundane world and the Duat, and the akh, the effectiveness of the dead, could use tombs to travel back and forth from the Duat. Each night through the Duat the sun god Ra travelled, signifying revivification as the main goal of the dead. Ra travelled under the world upon his Atet barge from west to east, and was transformed from its aged Atum form into Khepri, the new dawning sun. The dead king, worshiped as a god, was also central to the mythology surrounding the concept of Duat, often depicted as being one with Ra. Along with the sun god the dead king had to travel through the Kingdom of Osiris, the Duat, using the special knowledge he was supposed to possess, which was recorded in the Coffin Texts, that served as a guide to the hereafter not just for the king but for all deceased. According to the Amduat, the underworld consists of twelve regions signifying the twelve hours of the sun god 's journey through it, battling Apep in order to bring order back to the earth in the morning ; as his rays illuminated the Duat throughout the journey, they revived the dead who occupied the underworld and let them enjoy life after death in that hour of the night when they were in the presence of the sun god, after which they went back to their sleep waiting for the god 's return the following night. Just like the dead king, the rest of the dead journeyed through the various parts of the Duat, not to be unified with the sun god but to be judged. If the deceased was successfully able to pass various demons and challenges, then he or she would reach the weighing of the heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis against the feather of Ma'at, which represents truth and justice. Any heart that is heavier than the feather was rejected and eaten by Ammit - the devourer of souls, as these people were denied existence after death in the Duat. The souls that were lighter than the feather would pass this most important test, and would be allowed to travel toward Aaru - the field of reeds, an ideal version of the world they knew of, in which they would plough, sow, and harvest abundant crops. What is known of the Duat derives principally from funerary texts such as the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns, the Coffin Texts, the Amduat, and the Book of the Dead. Each of these documents fulfilled a different purpose and give a different conception of the Duat, and different texts could be inconsistent with one another. This did not have mean, in the Egyptian understanding, that one who believed in one interpertation should have denied the other, as there was an understanding of multiplicity of approaches. Surviving texts differ in age and origin, and there likely was never a single uniform conception of the Duat, as is the case of many theological concepts in Ancient Egypt. A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the Weighing of the Heart in Duat where Anubis can be seen on the far right, the scales are shown with the feather balance, and Ammit awaits hearts that she must devour -- the presence of Osiris at the gateway to the paradise of Aaru dates the papyrus to a late tradition of the myth. The geography of Duat is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew. There are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, however, there were also fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron and trees of turquoise. In the Book of Two Ways, one of the Coffin Texts, there is even a map - like image of the Duat. The Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts were intended to guide people who had recently died through the Duat 's dangerous landscape and to a life as an akh or an effective spirit in the netherworld. Emphasized in some these texts are mounds and caverns, inhabited by gods, demons or supernatural animals, which threatened the deceased along their journey. The purpose of the books is not to lay out a geography, but to describe a succession of rites of passage which the dead would have to pass to reach eternal life. In spite of the many demon - like inhabitants of the Duat, it is not equivalent to the Abrahamic conceptions of Hell in which souls are condemned with fiery torment ; the absolute punishment for the wicked, in Ancient Egyptian thought, was the denial of an afterlife to the deceased, ceasing to exist in akh form. The grotesque spirits of the underworld were not evil, but under the control of the gods, being present as various ordeals that the deceased had to face. The Duat was also a residence for various gods, including Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor, and Ma'at, who all appear to the dead soul as it makes its way toward judgement. References Citations Jump up ^ Faulkner, p. 143 Jump up ^ Pinch, pp. 33 -- 5 Jump up ^ Weigal, Arthur Edward Pearse Brome. A guide to the antiquities of Upper Egypt from Abydos to the Sudan Frontier. Taylor & Francis. p. 199. ISBN 9780710310026. Jump up ^ Taylor, John H. Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. The University of Chicago Press. p. 33. ISBN 0226791645. Jump up ^ Taylor, John H. Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. The University of Chicago Press. p. 34. ISBN 0226791645. Jump up ^ Taylor, p. 134 Jump up ^ Taylor, p. 133 Jump up ^ Taylor, pp. 138 -- 140 Jump up ^ Pinch, p. 34 Bibliography Faulkner, R. ( translator ) : `` The Egyptian Book of the Dead : The Book of Going Forth by Day ''. Chronicle Books, 2000 Pinch, G. : `` Magic in Ancient Egypt ''. British Museum Press, 1994 Taylor, John ( editor ) : `` Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead ''. British Museum Press, 2010. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duat. Egypt Legends -- Apophis in the Duat Ancient Egyptian religion Mythology Paganism Pantheism Polytheism Emanationism Soul Neter - khertet Aaru Duat Isfet Numerology Deities Aker Akhty Ammit Amun Amunet Am - heh Anat Andjety Anhur Anput Anti Anubis Anuket Apedemak Apep Apis Apt Aqen Arensnuphis Ash Astarte Aten Atum Babi Banebdjedet Bastet Bat Bata Ba - Pef Bes Buchis Dedun Four sons of Horus Duamutef Hapi Imset Qebehsenuef Geb Ha Hapi Hathor Hatmehit Hedetet Heh Heka Hemen Hemsut Heqet Hermanubis Hesat Horus Heryshaf Hu Iabet Iah Iat Ihy Imentet Imhotep Isis Iunit Iusaaset Kebechet Kek Khensit Khenti - Amentiu Khenti - kheti Khepri Kherty Khnum Khonsu Kothar - wa - Khasis Maahes Ma'at Mandulis Medjed Mafdet Mehen Mehet - Weret Mehit Menhit Meret Meretseger Meskhenet Min Mnevis Montu Mut Nebethetepet Nebtuwi Nefertem Nehebkau Nehmetawy Neith Nekhbet Neper Nephthys Nu Nut Osiris Pakhet Petbe Ptah Qebui Qetesh Ra Raet - Tawy Rem Renenutet Renpet Repyt Resheph Sah Satis Sekhmet Seker Serapis Serket Seshat Set Shai Shed Shesmetet Shezmu Shu Sia Sobek Sopdet Sopdu Souls of Pe and Nekhen Tatenen Taweret Ta - Bitjet Tefnut Tenenet Thoth Hermes Trismegistus Tjenenyet Tutu Unut Wadjet Wadj - wer Weneg Wepset Wepwawet Werethekau Wosret Creatures Aani Abtu Bennu Griffin Hieracosphinx Medjed El Naddaha Serpopard Sha Sphinx Uraeus Symbols Ankh Atef Atet Benben Book of Thoth Cartouche Crook and flail Deshret Djed Egyptian obelisk Egyptian pool Ennead Eye of Horus Eye of Ra Flooding of the Nile Hedjet Heku Hemhem crown Hennu Imiut fetish Khepresh Kneph Land of Manu Maat Kheru Matet boat Menat Mortuary temple Nebu Nemes Neshmet Ogdoad Ouroboros Pschent Pyramid power Scarab Seqtet boat Serekh Shen ring The Indestructibles Tyet Ushabti Was - sceptre Winged sun Writings Amduat Books of Breathing Book of Caverns Book of the Dead Book of the Earth Book of Gates Coffin Texts Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld Litany of the Eye of Horus Litany of Re Pyramid Texts Beliefs Atenism Curse of the Pharaohs Funerals Offering formula Philosophy Temples Book Ancient Egypt portal Underworlds / Hells Aztec mythology Mictlan Buddhism Naraka Chinese mythology Diyu Persian mythology Duzakh Christianity Lake of fire Outer darkness Purgatory Limbo Hades Hell Ancient Egyptian religion Duat Germanic and Norse paganism Hel ( heim ) Náströnd Niflheim Niflhel Greek and Roman mythology Asphodel Meadows Elysium Erebus Fortunate Isles Hades Orcus Tartarus Hinduism Naraka Patala Islam Barzakh Jahannam Irish mythology Tech Duinn Tír na nÓg Jainism Naraka Judaism Abaddon Azazel Dudael Gehenna Sheol Tehom Tophet Tzoah Rotachat Maya mythology Xibalba Mesopotamian mythology Irkalla Slavic mythology Nav Shinto Yomi Sumerian mythology Kur Turkic - Mongolian Erlik Welsh mythology Annwn Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duat&oldid=807267590 '' Categories : Egyptian mythology Afterlife places Talk About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Български Català Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto Euskara Français 한국어 Hrvatski Italiano Latina Lietuvių 日本 語 Norsk Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Suomi Türkçe Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 26 October 2017, at 23 : 08. 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Question: what was the egyptian guide to the afterlife called
Answer: Coffin Texts