Egyptian Heaven and Hell

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Seker. Behind the serpent TEPAN is a lake of boiling water, from which project the heads of those who
are being boiled therein. This lake or stream is called NETU, and it is situated in the region of the
kingdom of Seker which is called AMMAHET, the unfortunate beings who are in the boiling water weep
when the Boat of AFU-RA has passed them by.
The gods who stand on the other side of the corridor through which AFU-RA passes are all invoked by
him, and they all are assumed to help him on his way, not because they are in duty bound to do so, but
because he acknowledged their power by asking their help. Some of them he appealed to because he had
created them, but others are manifestly the servants of Seker, and their duty it was to guard his kingdom.
A number of them are gods who were set over the waters which lay in the northern part of the
DIVISION, and it was all important for AFU-RA to have their friendly help when he left the back of the
serpent and rejoined his own boat. In one portion of the region to the left of AFU-RA
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we see the HETEP-NETERU, i.e., a company of eight prods, and the goddess QETET-TENT; the work of
these gods is to be present at the destruction of the dead in the Tuat, and to consume their bodies by the
flames which they emit from their mouths, and the goddess lives partly on the blood of the dead, and
partly on what the gods give her. These gods are provided with blocks on which they cut in pieces the
dead, and when they are not thus employed they sing hymns to their god, to the accompaniment of the
shaking of sistra; they exist by virtue of the word of power which they have received, and their souls have
been given to them (vol. i., p. 110). The dead who are here referred to are those who have succeeded in
entering the dread realm of Seker, but who, for want of the influence over the gods there, which could
only be obtained by sacrifices and offerings made upon earth, and by the knowledge of mighty words of
power, were unable to proceed to the abode of Seker.
When they arrived in the AMMAHET, some of them were cast into a lake of liquid fire, or of boiling
water, and others were first cut in pieces, and then consumed by fire. Thus there is no doubt that there
was a hell of fire in the kingdom of Seker, and that the tortures of mutilation and destruction by fire were
believed to be reserved for the wicked. Of the rewards of the righteous in this kingdom we have no
knowledge whatsoever, and it seems as if the scheme of the Other World of Seker made no provision for
the beatified
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dead; at all events, it provided for them no fertile fields like the Sekhet-Hetepet of Osiris, and no Boat of
Millions of Years wherein as beings of light they could travel in the company of the Sun-god for ever.
The religion of Seker proclaimed that the god lived in impenetrable darkness, in a region of sand, closely
guarded by terrible monster serpents, and it had little in it to induce the worshippers of the god to wish to
be with him after their departure from this world. The cult Of SEKER is one of the oldest in Egypt, and in
its earliest form it, no doubt, represents the belief as to the future life of some of the most primitive
inhabitants of the country; in fact, it must have originated at a period when some influential body of
priests taught that death was the end of all things, and when snakes and bulls were the commonest forms
under which the gods of the neighbourhood of Memphis were worshipped. The oldest presentment of
the Land of Seker which we have is, of course, not older than the XVIIIth or XIXth Dynasty, and it must
be remembered that it is the work of the priests of Thebes, who would be certain to remove any texts,
figures, or details which they found inconvenient for their views. It is tolerably certain that the form in
which they depicted it is much shorter than that in which it existed originally, and that the attributes and
duties of many of the gods have been changed to suit the necessities of the cults of Osiris and Amen-Ra.
Such changes have resulted in great confusion, and at the present time it is impossible
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to reduce these most interesting, but at the same time most difficult, scenes and texts to their original
forms. The priests of Amen-Ra found it to be impossible to ignore entirely SEKER and his Land, when
they were depicting the various Underworlds of Egypt, but it is very suggestive that they make the path of
AFU-RA to be over and not through his kingdom, and that AFU-RA had to go on his way without
entering the pyramid beneath which reposed the IMAGE of SEKER in the deepest darkness of night, in
fact without seeing SEKER at all. On the other hand, they attached the greatest importance to the
knowledge of the pictures of the FOURTH and FIFTH DIVISIONS, and they believed that it would
enable the body of a man to rejoin his soul, and prevent the goddess KHEMIT, from hacking it in pieces,
and would secure for the believer a share of the offerings made to Seker.
Next: Chapter IX. Fourth Division of the Tuat. II. The Kingdom of Khenti-Amenti-Osiris According to
the Book Of Gates
Sacred Texts Egypt EHH Index Index Previous Next
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CHAPTER IX.
FOURTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT.
II. THE KINGDOM OF KHENTI-AMENTI-OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK
OF GATES.
THE pictures and texts of this DIVISION, or HOUR, in the BOOK OF GATES vary considerably from
those in the BOOK-AM-TUAT. The god AFU-RA. appears in his Boat as before with SA and HEKAU,
and four gods tow him on his way; he has passed through the Gate which is called NEBT-TCHEFAU,
and its guardian serpent TCHETBI has in no way resisted his progress. The region now entered by
AFU-RA has no connexion with the Land of Seker, and it appears to be a continuation of the dominions
Of KHENTI-AMENTI. Immediately in front of the boat are nine sepulchres, each containing a god in
mummied form; these are the "gods who are in the following of Osiris, who dwell in their caves" (vol. ii.,
p. 123). Next come the twelve Hour-goddesses who stand in two groups; between the groups is the
monster serpent HERERET, which spawns twelve serpents to be consumed by the Twelve
Hour-goddesses. As AFU-RA goes on his way he adjures the Tuat gods to take
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him to the eastern part of heaven, so that he may visit the habitations of the god ARES, (or SAR), and
when he has come to them, he orders the doors to open, and raises up the beings therein whose "souls
are broken," and allots to them meat and drink. The Hour-goddesses are the daughters of RA, and their
work is to guide their father through the night; six of them represent the first six hours of the night, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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