Mythology Book

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duly consumed the lettuce,

unaware that it contained his

rival’s potent semen.

Still pursuing his quest for the

throne, Seth dragged Horus before

the Ennead and claimed that he—

Seth—must be made ruler, because

he had taken the male role in his

intercourse with Horus. The

horrified gods spat in Horus’s face.

Horus categorically denied the

charge and demanded that his

semen and that of Seth should be

called before the Ennead as

witnesses. When summoned, the

semen of Seth cried out from the

water where Isis had thrown it, but

the semen of Horus called out from

the body of Seth. The judgment

was clear. The gods declared in

favor of Horus, which infuriated

Seth. He demanded a further

contest with Horus, calling for

them to race each other down the

Nile in stone boats. Seth built a

huge boat from the solid stone of a

mountain peak. Horus’s boat was of

cedar wood, which he disguised to

look like stone by coating it with

gypsum. His boat floated, but

Seth’s sank. In fury, Seth turned

himself back into a hippopotamus

and scuttled Horus’s boat.

The gods were no nearer a final

decision, so they asked Thoth to

write to Osiris in the Underworld.

Osiris asked why his son should be

cheated of his rightful inheritance,

and Horus was at last installed as

king of Egypt. Seth went with Ra to

thunder in the skies, as the god of

storms, violence, and the desert.

A fearsome Underworld

Osiris ruled as the Lord of the

Dead. The Egyptians thought of

Duat, the Underworld, as a narrow

valley with a river running through

it. It was separated from the land of

the living by a mountain range; the

sun rose from the eastern end each

morning and sank into the western

end at night. The path to the

Underworld was fraught with

OSIRIS AND THE UNDERWORLD

The Weighing of the Heart,

illustrated here in the Book of the Dead,

was one of a series of trials the

deceased were thought to undergo in

the immediate afterlife.

dangers. There were occasional

respites, such as when the goddess

Hathor met the deceased at the end

of the desert kingdom of the falcon

god, Seker, and offered rest in the

shade of her sacred sycamore tree,

and fruit and water for refreshment.

In the main, however, the path from

this world to the next was beset

with terrifying creatures, such as a

nameless dog-headed beast; it tore

out hearts, swallowed shadows,

and dwelled by the Lake of Fire.

The deceased used spells, many

of which appear in the Egyptian

Book of the Dead, to negotiate this

terrifying obstacle course. They

had to pass through as many as

seven gates, each with its own

grotesque guardian. Then they

were led by Anubis into the Hall of

the Two Truths, where their heart

was weighed in a balance against

the feather of Maat, the goddess of

truth and justice. Anubis checked

the balance, and Thoth, the scribe

of the gods, recorded the result on

leaves from the tree of life.

If the heart was so weighed

down with the guilt of evil thoughts

and acts that it outweighed the

feather of truth, it would be cast

down to be gobbled up by the

O my heart of my

different forms! Do not stand

up as a witness against me ...

do not be hostile to me in

the presence of the

Keeper of the Balance.

Book of the Dead

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283

she-monster Ammut. This devourer

of the dead had the head of a

crocodile, the foreparts of a lion,

and the rear of a hippopotamus.

Final judgment

If the heart did not outweigh the

feather of truth, the deceased could

continue on their journey. Horus—

now in the Underworld with his

father and the other gods—took the

deceased by the hand and led them

into the presence of Osiris. The

Lord of the Dead was seated in his

shrine with Isis and Nepthys

standing behind him, and the four

sons of Horus before him on a lotus

flower. Forty-two judges of the

Underworld assisted Osiris in his

deliberations. Those who pleased

ANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA

Osiris might hope for eternal life in

the Field of Reeds (a perfect version

of Egypt); to sail as stars across the

night sky; or to join the throng in

Ra’s great barque to be reborn

anew each morning with the sun.

When he put Osiris in charge of

the Underworld, Ra promised that

his reign would last for millions of

years, but would end. Ra said, “I

will destroy all creation. The land

will fold into endless water ... I will

remain there with Osiris, after I

have changed myself back into a

serpent.” This serpent, the original

true form of Ra, contained the

forces of creation and chaos. The

serpent would sleep in the cosmic

ocean, its tail in its mouth, until it

awoke to re-create the world. ■

Books of the dead

In the era of the Old Kingdom,

only Egyptian kings could

secure for themselves or

others a new existence in the

afterlife. During the Middle

Kingdom years, nonroyal

individuals started to make

funerary arrangements, in

imitation of the king. The Old

Kingdom prayers and spells—

the Pyramid Texts from the

royal pyramids—were adapted

in the Middle Kingdom for use

by private individuals as the

Coffin Texts, and codified in

the New Kingdom into the

Book of the Dead (sometimes

translated as “Spells for

Coming Forth by Day”). The

Pyramid Texts show that the

pharaoh believed that in death

he would be embodied as

Osiris; Nut and Geb would

claim him as their son, and he

would become a ruler in the

Underworld. In one spell, the

king hunts and eats the other

gods, “feeds on the lungs of

the wise ones, and is satisfied

with living on hearts and their

magic.” Once he has absorbed

the power of every god, “the

king’s lifetime is eternity.”

Everyone

could hope to

find new life in

the Underworld,

under the rule

of Osiris.

Each pharaoh was

revered as the

living embodiment

of the god Horus.

When the pharoah

died, he was

mummified

like Osiris.

In death, the pharoah

devoured the other

gods to assimilate

their power.

People outside the

royal families adopted

the same rituals.

In the Underworld,

the pharaoh

became Osiris.

A depiction of Ammut, from the

Book of the Dead of Nebqed

(ca. 14 0 0 bce), reveals the she-monster

waiting under a lake of fire for those

who fail the feather of truth test.

The passage from death to new life in the Underworld

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