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Death as an Enemy 8
Dec. 19th, 2017 10:20 pmBit more on darkness. "In the tomb," writes Zandee, "darkness reigns." Hence the deceased's desire to go out by day. "In the tomb a candle is lighted in order to light the darkness. 'Going out into the day, returning in the night to your tomb falls to you. There a Horus-eye is lighted for you, till the sun rises beaming over your breast.' The passage from a funerary lamentation: 'Your night is beautiful to all eternity', concerns the night of death." (p 91)
The netherworld itself has multiple identities - the underworld; the West; the "domain of silence"; the primeval ocean. It may be identfied with 3kr / the 3kr.w, the earth god(s), or Geb.
The netherworld is chocka with snakes. They can symbolise the earth - such as the huge snake through whose body the sun is drawn in the Amduat. Various snakes are named, such as Neheb-kau, sometimes a friend of the dead, sometimes their enemy; Coffin Text spell 762 says he's the offspring of Geb and Renenutet, and that "There is no god whose k3 is not in you." Zandee notes, "Nhb k3w is the vital strength of all gods and the vital strength of the gods is in him. The dead is identified with this powerful primordial god." Elsewhere, Neheb-kau has to be destroyed, like other dangerous snakes. "This tallies with the double aspect of the earth: favourable, because the earth is the source of fertility and potential life; unfavourable as far as it is the dark netherworld." (p 100)
The tomb and the grave are the deceased person's "house", where they receive offerings, but also a place he or she wants to leave, "in order to be able to see the sun". The funeral is seen positively: "the totality of the rites which brings about his immortality"; Set is denied a funeral, and sinners are punished by the disturbance of their burials. At the approach of the sun-god, the mummy's bandages are loosened so the deceased can get up and see the sun.
The netherworld is full of frightening demons and gates, with names / titles like "mistress of fright", "great of terror", "wild of face". Some gates and guardians terrify the deceased with their loud roaring and shouting. The dead lament and weep.
Zandee, J. Death as an Enemy According to Ancient Egyptian Conceptions. (Studies in the Histories of Religions, Supplement to Numen, V). Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1960.
The netherworld itself has multiple identities - the underworld; the West; the "domain of silence"; the primeval ocean. It may be identfied with 3kr / the 3kr.w, the earth god(s), or Geb.
The netherworld is chocka with snakes. They can symbolise the earth - such as the huge snake through whose body the sun is drawn in the Amduat. Various snakes are named, such as Neheb-kau, sometimes a friend of the dead, sometimes their enemy; Coffin Text spell 762 says he's the offspring of Geb and Renenutet, and that "There is no god whose k3 is not in you." Zandee notes, "Nhb k3w is the vital strength of all gods and the vital strength of the gods is in him. The dead is identified with this powerful primordial god." Elsewhere, Neheb-kau has to be destroyed, like other dangerous snakes. "This tallies with the double aspect of the earth: favourable, because the earth is the source of fertility and potential life; unfavourable as far as it is the dark netherworld." (p 100)
The tomb and the grave are the deceased person's "house", where they receive offerings, but also a place he or she wants to leave, "in order to be able to see the sun". The funeral is seen positively: "the totality of the rites which brings about his immortality"; Set is denied a funeral, and sinners are punished by the disturbance of their burials. At the approach of the sun-god, the mummy's bandages are loosened so the deceased can get up and see the sun.
The netherworld is full of frightening demons and gates, with names / titles like "mistress of fright", "great of terror", "wild of face". Some gates and guardians terrify the deceased with their loud roaring and shouting. The dead lament and weep.
Zandee, J. Death as an Enemy According to Ancient Egyptian Conceptions. (Studies in the Histories of Religions, Supplement to Numen, V). Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1960.
