thumb|513x513px|The '[[Weighing of the Heart' from the Book of the Dead from the Papyrus of Hunefer, dated to the 19th Dynasty around 1275 BCE. The deceased Hunefer is taken into the judgment hall by the deity Anubis, who weighs a portion of Hunefer's soul, represented by his heart. This ritual is completed with Ammit the Devourer awaiting the result, and Thoth recording. Next, the triumphant Hunefer, having passed the test, is presented by the falcon-headed Horus to Osiris, seated in his shrine with Isis, Nephthys and the four sons of Horus. Common deities depicted in these texts are Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, and Maat in various forms. While all of these documents involve the Duat, each of them fulfilled a different purpose and depict the Duat in a variety of unique ways.

Overview

This realm is most often depicted as a setting for a variety of rituals and mythological events, especially the journey and judgment of the soul after death and the nightly rebirth of the sun god Ra. The Duat is divided into sections by twelve guarded gates that represent each hour of the night and are closely associated with the journey of Ra and prominently feature Osiris, god of the Duat and personification of rebirth.

left|thumb|The Book of Two Ways, a [[Coffin Texts|Coffin Text, depicts a map like image of the Duat, seen as two pathways in the right middle of this coffin.]]

Geography

To connect this realm to the material world, burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the Duat. To further this connection, the Duat is often described as having many realistic features such as rivers, islands, fields, paths, and lakes. Although, texts also describe fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron, and trees of turquoise. It is described as a paradise where the dead could live their former life with their loved ones without pain or suffering. Harvest of crops is often featured in depictions of A'aru as it was believed that the harvests were never poor and the land in eternal spring.

  • Anubis, son of Osiris and Nephthys, who weighs the heart of the deceased. His domains also cover the embalming and mummification process as well as acting to guide souls to the Duat upon death. He is depicted with the black head of a canine, most often assumed to be a jackal.
  • Thoth, who records the verdict of the 'Weighing of the Heart'. He is most often depicted as an Ibis headed man with a stylus and tablet. After confirming that they were sinless, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis against the feather of Maat, which represents truth and justice. Any heart that is heavier than the feather failed the test, and 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 to Aaru.

The Duat is not equivalent to the conceptions of Hell in the Abrahamic religions, 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 the intellectual form seen through the devouring of the heart by Ammit. Therefore, the conceptions of the Duat found in this text are considered to be the most commonly referenced canon when discussing ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs. The Book of the Dead and Coffin Texts were collections of spells and prayers to protect the dead from the Duats dangerous landscape. None of the available sources that discuss the Duat are to lay out a geography or coherent setting, but to describe a succession of rites of passage which the dead would have to pass to reach eternal life.

  • In seminal Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs' work The Western Lands, the time travelling, anti hero gunslinger, Kim Carsons explores the Duat and confronts its inhabitants.

See also

  • Gate deities of Duat
  • Assessors of Ma'at
  • Weighing of Souls
  • Ennead

References

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