Duat
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Duat Dw3t land of the afterlife |
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With Duat ( Coptic Amenthes ) the ancient Egyptians referred to the afterlife , into which the deceased entered after his burial and rebirth. The other world was divided into two areas. The dark realm of the dead of the same name lay underground to the west of the Nile , whereas the light Sechet-iaru ( Earu ) was in the Ta-djeser region . On the western and eastern horizons, the subterranean and the heavenly duat touched.
In the lower duat, the dead had to endure a number of dangers, such as demons . The judgment of the dead also took place there. If the deceased passed the exams given there, he was allowed to go to Sechet-iaru.
Amduat ("The writing of the hidden chamber"), the royal book of the underworld of the Egyptian New Kingdom, is derived from the word Duat .
See also
literature
- EA Wallis Budge : The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Dover Publications, New York 1997, ISBN 0-486-21866-X .
- Erik Hornung : The night's journey of the sun - An ancient Egyptian description of the afterlife. Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-7608-1200-7 .
