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 pleasedANCIENT 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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