Seventh Division of the Tuat

THE Boat of AFU-RA, having passed through the first five DIVISIONS of the Tuat, now, according to the BOOK OF GATES, arrives near the southern part of the Delta, and near the kingdom of Osiris, lord of Mendes and Busiris. Before, however, the god can enter it, he must pass through the Gate of the SIXTH DIVISION, which is called NEBT-AHA, and which is guarded by the monster serpent SET-EM-MAAT-F. In the Gate or close to it, is the JUDGMENT HALL of OSIRIS, and it is tolerably certain that no soul entered his kingdom without being weighed in the balance of the god. The scene in which the Hall is depicted is of great interest, for it is different in many important particulars from the representations of the Judgment which we find on papyri, even in those which belong to the period of the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties. All the texts which describe it are written in hieroglyphics, but in many of them the hieroglyphics have, as Champollion pointed

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Nebseni being weighed against his heart.

out, special and very unusual values, and the title "enigmatic writing" given to them by Goodwin is appropriate. In the ordinary Judgment Scenes we find that the heart of the deceased is weighed in the balance against the feather symbolic of Maat or righteousness, that the operation of weighing is carried out by Thoth and Anubis in the presence of the great gods, the owner of the heart himself sometimes looking on, that the gods accept and ratify the verdict of Thoth, and that the deceased is then led into the presence of Osiris by Horus. Sometimes the heart of the deceased is weighed against his whole body, as in the Papyrus of Nebseni, and at other times the pans of the scales only contain weights. In the scene before us the arrangement is quite different. Osiris is seated on a chair of state, and wears the crowns of the South and North united; in Nebseni being weighed against his heart.

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The Scales of Osiris, with weights.

his hands are the symbols of "life," and "rule,". His chair stands on a raised platform, on the nine steps of which stand the nine gods who form his company; beneath the feet of the god, perhaps under his platform, are the dead, i.e., the damned, or his enemies. The top of the Hall is protected with a row of spear beads, and from the ceiling hang four heads of gazelle, or oryges; according to a legend certain enemies of Osiris transformed themselves into these animals, and were slain by the god. On the platform, immediately in front of the god, stands THOTH, in the form of a mummy, and be serves as the standard of the balance; the object in the pan is being weighed against the symbol of "evil,", which it seems to counterbalance exactly. This being so, it seems that the wickedness of the deceased did not go beyond a recognized limit. ANUBIS, in the upper corner of the scene, addresses some words to THOTH, who bears the Balance on his shoulders. In the small boat near the Balance is a pig being beaten by an ape; 1 the name of the pig is AM-A, but neither his functions, nor those of the ape are clearly known. The ape may be the equivalent of the dog-headed ape which sits on the beam of the Balance in the pictures in the Theban papyri, and the pig may represent the Eater of the Dead; but at present these are matters of conjecture. With reference to the pig it is interesting to note that

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The Judgement Hall of Osiris according to the Book of Gates. (From Champollion, Monuments de l'Égypte, tom. iii, pl. cclxxii.)

in the Papyrus of Nekht the deceased is seen grasping a chain by which a serpent is fettered, and spearing a pig. The chief point of interest in the whole scene is the fact that the Judgment here depicted is of a more primitive character than that given in the Book of the Dead.

The Boat of AFU-RA, having passed through or by the Hall of Osiris, now enters the abode of the blessed, and the pictures of the SIXTH DIVISION are intended to show us the occupations of those who have been declared to be "right and true." The Boat is towed through this DIVISION by four gods of the Tuat and immediately in front of it is a series of jackal-headed sceptres of SEB, to each of which two enemies are tied; by the side of each sceptre is a god, who takes care that the punishments which have been decreed by Osiris are duly executed. It is noteworthy that the two eyes of Ra are placed between the first two sceptres (vol. ii., p. 172). The Egyptian text (vol. ii., p. 183) makes it quite clear that the enemies of Osiris are tied to the standards of SEB according to the god's decree, and preparatory to slaughter in the Hall of Ra.

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Nekht spearing the pig of evil.

To the right of the path of AFU-RA are twelve MAATI gods who carry MAAT, and twelve HETEPTIU

gods who carry provisions. These are they who offered up incense to the gods, and whose kau or "doubles have been washed clean, whose iniquities have been done away, and who were right in the judgement." Therefore has Osiris decreed them to be "Maat of Maat," i.e., most "righteous," and he has given them a place of abode in his own presence with peace and the food of Maat thereon to live (vol. ii., pp. 177, .186).

To the left of the path of AFU-Ra are twelve gods, each of whom is tending a colossal ear of wheat, and twelve gods provided with sickles, engaged in reaping. The ears of wheat here growing are the "members of Osiris," (hat Sar), that is, they are regarded as parts of the god's own body, 1 and the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Osiris and human beings on earth alike ate the body of the god when they ate bread of wheat. The wheat which grew in the kingdom of Osiris was, of course, larger, and finer in every respect than that which grew on earth, and it is expressly said that the "Khu," i.e., beatified spirits, feed upon the divine grain (NEPRA) in the land of the Light-god (vol. ii., p. 188). Therefore since the divine grain is here a form of Osiris, the Khu live upon the god himself, and eat him daily; this is exactly the kind of belief which we should expect the primitive Egyptians at one period to possess. The idea of a heaven wherein

wheat grew luxuriantly, and food made of the same could be had in abundance, was evolved in their mind after the introduction of wheat into Egypt from Asia, and after the Egyptians had settled down to agricultural pursuits. The god of such a heaven was naturally the Corn-god NEPRA, but it seems as if Osiris were identified with him at a very early period, and as if, finally, he absorbed all his attributes. The idea of a heaven of this simple character must of necessity be very old, and it presupposes the existence of beliefs concerning the future life which the later Egyptians must often in their secret hearts have repudiated. In the BOOK OF GATES we find NEB-AUT-AB, i.e., RA, decreeing that the wheat of this region should germinate, and that the plants should grow to a large size, and those who are tending the crops beseech him to shine upon them, for when he shines the grain sprouts and the plants grow.

Now, though Osiris was from a material point of view the Grain-god, or Corn-god, and the wheat was his members, which were eaten by his followers, he was also the lord of MAAT, i.e., "righteousness" and "integrity," and even the personification of those abstract qualities. When, addressing the MAATI gods, he declares they are "MAAT OF MAAT," he makes it clear that he considers them to be beings of like nature to himself, and that they will live upon MAAT; in other words, they have become Truth, and they will live upon Truth, and exist as Truth for ever. The MAATI

gods apparently represent the highest conception of spiritual beings which the Egyptians arrived at in the early period, and which is only paralleled by that of a later period, according to which the followers of the Sun-god, who travelled with him in the Boat of Millions of Years, eventually became beings consisting of nothing but light. It would be useless to contend that either conception was believed in throughout the country generally, for the Egyptians as a nation believed in a heaven wherein happiness of a very material character was to be found; still there must have been among the educated and priestly classes devout men and women whose yearnings for future happiness would not be satisfied with promises of cakes, and ale, and love-making, and to whom the idea of becoming the counterpart of the eternal god of the dead would afford consolation and hope.

Footnotes

160:1 The boat sometimes contains two apes (see Sharpe, Eg. Inscriptions, part ii., pl. 9), and in a tomb at Thebes one ape is in the boat and one outside it (see the illustration opposite).

164:1 Prof. Wiedemann has collected a number of important facts on this subject in his most interesting paper "OSIRIS VÉGÉTANT."

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SEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT.

II. KINGDOM OF OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES.

The SEVENTH DIVISION, or HOUR, is entered by the Gate PESTIT, which is guarded by a monster serpent called AKHA-EN-MAAT; the pictures and texts are incomplete on the sarcophagus of Seti I., and those which are given in vol. ii., p. 190 ff., are taken from M. E. Lefébure's Les Hypogées Royaux de Thèbes, tom. ii., part ii., pl. 11 ff. The Boat of AFU-RA is, as before,

towed by four gods of the Tuat. The procession of the ministers of the god consists of twenty-four gods, twelve of whom have their hands and arms hidden; these last "are invisible beings, but those who are in the Tuat and the dead can see them," and RA promises them that they shall be with him in Het-Benben, that is to say, in the heavenly counterpart of one of the temples of the Sun-god of Heliopolis (see vol. ii., p. 194 ff.).

To the right of the path of AFU-RA are twelve gods armed with clubs having forked ends; they are called KHERU-METAUH, and their duty is to repulse the serpent APEP. Immediately in front of them is the serpent SEBA, on the head and back of which twelve human heads are seen; these make their appearance (vol. ii., p. 206 fl.) at the coining of AFU-RA, and the twelve gods who grasp the monster's body are exhorted to destroy them. The serpent is called SEBA, and APEP, and HEFAU. Beyond these groups of gods are twelve star-gods, who hold in their hands a long rope which is twisted round the neck of a god in mummied form called QAN, or AQEN, or NAQ (vol. ii., pp. 208, 209). To the left of the Path of AFU-RA is the god of the Tuat, called TUATI, who leans on a staff, and is in charge of the twelve mummies which lie on the back of the serpent NEHEP; the serpent has twenty-four lions' legs arranged at intervals (vol. ii., p. 210), and a mummy rests over each pair of them. The mummies are described as "those who are in inertness," and "those who are in the body of Osiris asleep."

As AFU-RA passes them the god TUATI encourages them to loosen their bandages, to untie and take off their wigs, to collect their bones, to gather together their flesh and their members, to open their eyes and look at the light, to get up from their state of inertness, and to take possession of their fields in SEKHET-NEBT-HETEPET. Beyond these is another group of gods whose duty it is to live near the pool of a serpent, the water of which is of fire; its flames proceed from the serpent, and they are so fierce that the gods and souls of the earth dare not approach them. On the other hand, the gods of the pool are adjured to give water to KHENTI-AUKERT, i.e., the Governor of Aukert. Now Aukert is the name of the Other World, or Tuat, of HELIOPOLIS, and the mention of it and of HET-BENBEN suggests that the Kingdom of Osiris according to the BOOK OF GATES was made to include that of the god TEMU, a form of the Night-sun. The gods who sit round the lake of fire receive their bodies and souls from the serpent NEHEP, and then they journey into SEKHET-AARU, which apparently has not yet been reached.

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EIGHTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT.

II. KINGDOM OF OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES.

The Boat of AFU-RA next passes through the Gate of Bekhkhi, which is guarded by the monster serpent

[paragraph continues] SET-HRA, and is towed over this DIVISION, or HOUR, by the gods of the Tuat. The region is a remarkable one, and it certainly forms part of the Kingdom of the Sun-god of ANNU, or Heliopolis. At one end of the long Lake, or Pool, which represents the celestial waters of Nu (vol. ii., pp. 225, 226) stands the god "who dwelleth in Nu," and in the Lake itself we see four groups of beings in human forms who are called "Bathers" (Herpiu), "Floaters" (Akiu), "Swimmers" (Nubiu), and "Divers" (Khepau). The gods who tow the Boat call on the dwellers in this DIVISION to praise the soul of RA, which is in heaven, and his body, which is on earth; for heaven is made young again by his soul, and earth by his body. Then, addressing the god in the Boat, they declare that they will make his paths straight in AKERT, and that they will make his Boat to pass over the beings who are immersed in the waters of the Lake. The god "who dwelleth in Nu" then calls upon the beings in the water to pay homage to Ra, and he promises that they shall enjoy breath for their nostrils, and peace in their cisterns of water. Their souls, which are upon earth, shall enjoy offerings in abundance and shall never die, and shall be as fully provided with food as is Ra, whose body is on earth, but whose soul is in heaven.

On the left of the path of AFU-RA are twelve TCHATCHA, or "Great Chiefs," and nine SOULS, who are adoring a god (vol. ii., pp. 227, 231); before each Soul are a loaf of bread and some sekemu herbs. The TCHATCHA

perform a very important duty in this DIVISION, for they distribute to the SOULS who have been ordered by RA, to live by the fiery Lake SERSER the food which has been allotted to them; in other words, they give the SOULS the portion of food which it has been decreed they should receive daily, and no more and no less, and the SOULS receive their destined allowance, and have to be content therewith. Judging from the texts here and elsewhere in the BOOK OF GATES it seems that there was some power in the Tuat, probably KHENTI-AMENTI, or OSIRIS KHENTI-AMENTI, who decreed that the beings therein should receive a regular, fixed, and unalterable allowance of food-each day, and who appointed ministers, who are here called TCHATCHA, to see that each being received his "ration," without addition, and without diminution. The Sun-god in passing through the Tuat confirms the "ration," and orders its continuance to each being therein.

On the right of the path of AFU-RA is HORUS THE AGED, leaning on a staff, and addressing a company of twelve of the enemies of Osiris (vol. ii., pp. 232-234), who stand with their arms tied together behind their backs in very painful attitudes. Before these is a huge serpent called KHETI, belching fire into the faces of the enemies of Osiris; in each of the seven undulations of the serpent stands a god, who is adjured by Horus to aid in the work of destruction. From the text we learn that the chief offences with which these enemies are charged is the "putting of secret things behind

them, the dragging forth of the sacred object sekem from the secret place, or sanctuary, and the profanation of certain of the hidden things of the Tuat"; because of these things they are doomed to have their bodies first hacked in pieces, and then burned, and their souls utterly annihilated.

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