The Egyptians believed that in the
netherworld, the
Duat, there were various gates, doors and
pylons crossed every night by the solar boat (
Atet) of the
sun-god Ra and by the
souls directed to the world of the dead. standing on the prow of the sun boat, invites a snake called "Desert-Protector" to unlock the gate to the arrival of Ra who, in the form of the god
Atum (deification of the
sunset sun), observes his enemies being massacred.
2nd gate: the guardian god is called "
Swallower Of Sinners" and his gate precedes a lake of fire.
3rd gate: its guardian snake is "Stinger" while the portal itself is the goddess "
Mistress Of Food"; some jackals watch over the "Lake of Life" interdicted to the dead because it is the place where Ra draws his breath.) of Pharaoh
Seti I ( 1290–1279 BCE).|185x185px
4th gate: some deities carry ropes to measure the extension of the netherworld fields — as well as, in the daily life of the Egyptians, the measurement of the fields was carried out for tax purposes; this is also where the four human
ethnic groups (according to the Egyptians) were depicted: the "cattle of Ra", i.e. Egyptians themselves,
Levantines,
Libyans, and
Nubians.
5th gate: this gate is the goddess "
Lady Of Duration" while its guardian serpent is "Flame-Eyed"; this access is inhabited by the perfidious demon
Apep — embodiment of
evil and
chaos (
Isfet), bitter enemy of Ra — here called "Evil Of Face". 20 deities manage to stem his devastating power by continuing to dissect it, while the heads of those he devoured emerge from his coils. The sun boat moves on and Ra leaves this dramatic region.
6th gate: Ra's boat approaches to seven jackal-headed poles with two enemies bound to each one, waiting to be beheaded.
7th gate: this gate is the goddess "
Shining One" and beyond it there are 20 gods holding a rope ending in four
whips, four
falcon heads and four
human heads. This is an enigmatic and barely understandable point.
8th gate: this access is inhabited by a flaming snake who burns up the enemies of Osiris.
9th gate: here stand
Horus and
Set on a
hawk-headed
lion.
10th gate: Apep appears again, but chained in order not to harm Ra in his transit.
11th gate: this gate is called "Mysterious Of Approaches" and is overseen by the cat-headed god
Meeyuty (
meow onomatopoeia).
12th gate: here stand the goddesses
Isis and
Nephthys in the form of snakes: the journey through the gates of the afterlife is finished and the
sun rises on the world in the form of a
sacred scarab (
Khepri, deification of the
morning sun). File:Tomb of Nefertari 2022 36.jpg|Gate deities depicted in the tomb of Nefertari (
QV66) File:27.12 Gatekeeper Underworld.tif|Gatekeepers of
Aaru, painting on the southern wall of the tomb of
Sennedjem in
Dayr al-Madīnah,
Thebes, Egypt, 1775 BCE. File:La tombe de Sethi 1er (KV.17) (Vallée des Rois, Thèbes ouest) -9.jpg|A
crocodile-god guardian of the underworld — from the tomb (KV17) of Pharaoh Seti I. File:P1060839 Louvre sarcophage de Djedhor cuve-détail rwk.jpg|The journey of the
solar boat of Ra through the gates of the netherworld and its deities — from a 4th century BCE
sarcophagus.
Louvre,
Paris. File:Amdoeat.JPG|The journey of Ra among the underworld deities — from the tomb of Pharaoh
Merneptah ( 1213–1203 BCE). File:The 11th hour of the book Amduat (5090498771).jpg|The 11th hour of the book Amduat.
Gates described in funerary papyri The
British Egyptologist George Hart thus outlined, in his
Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses (1986), the evocative names of these deities and their positions in the netherworld as described in the funeral
papyri known to scholars:
Gods of the Seven Gates Deities of the Twenty-One Secret Portals of the Mansion of Osiris in the Field of Rushes File:Bookofthedead-144145.jpg|Two 'gate spells'. On the top register, Ani and his wife face the 'seven gates of the House of Osiris'. Below, they encounter ten of the 21 'mysterious portals of the House of Osiris in the Field of Reeds'. All are guarded by unpleasant protectors. File:Book of the Dead of Hori, about 1969-945 BC, New Kingdom, Dynasty 21, papyrus section 4 - Cleveland Museum of Art - DSC08665.JPG|
Book of the Dead of Hori: supernatural creatures guarding the netherworld.
Cleveland Museum of Art,
Cleveland. File:奈斯曼《亡灵书》.jpg|The deceased and the underworld monsters, from a Book of the Dead (N 3096).
Louvre,
Paris. File:Nectanebo I demons relief.JPG|
Pharaoh Nectanebo I ( 379–361 BCE) adoring underworld demons.
The Archaeological Civic Museum (MCA) of Bologna. == See also ==