EGYPTIAN HEAVEN AND HELL (Chapter VI -II)

SECOND DIVISION OF THE TUAT.
II. THE KINGDOM OF KHENTI-AMENTI-OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES.

To advance into this Division the Boat of AFU-RA must first pass through the Gate which is guarded by the huge serpent SAA-SET, and this done the god now takes upon himself the form in which he appears in the BOOK AM-TUAT, i.e., that of a ram-headed man. The snake-goddess MEHEN, which surrounded the disk enclosing a beetle, now envelops the shrine in which he stands; it must be noted that SA and HEKAU stand, as before, in the Boat, which is now towed along by four gods of the Tuat, who represent the four quarters of the earth and the four cardinal points. The Boat is received by a company of thirteen gods, who are apparently under the rule of a god who holds a staff. The object of the visit of AFU-RA is to "weigh words and deeds in Ament, to make a distinction between the great and little gods, to assign thrones to the Spirits [who are pure], to dismiss the damned to the place set apart for them, and to destroy their bodies." (vol. ii., p. 91). Now this is an important statement, for it distinctly implies that a judgment of the dead takes place in the Second Division, or Hour, of the Tuat,


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which is here called AMENT, that the positions of the dead are graded, and that reward and punishment are meted out to the dead, according to their deserts. It is said by AFU-RA to the dwellers in AMENT, "the dead (mitu) shall not enter in after you"; which proves that, wherever the place of punishment was, it was not in the SECOND Division of the Tuat. The gods who assist AFU-RA in his work of judgment are said to live upon the offerings made to them upon earth; here was a direct inducement to the faithful to make offerings regularly to the gods of the Tuat, and it was understood that such acts of piety would tell on their behalf when their words and deeds came to be weighed in Ament. The reader will note that it is AFU-RA who is the judge here, and not Osiris.

Examining now the beings who are on both banks of the river we see that they fall naturally into two classes, viz., the good and the bad; the former are on the right hand of the god, and the latter on his left, just as saints and sinners are arraigned before God's throne in mediaeval pictures of the Judgment. The good are divided into two classes, "the HETEPTIU who praise RA," and the "MAATIU who dwell in the Tuat" (vol. ii., p. 93). The HETEPTIU are thus called because they made "offerings" (hetepet) to Ra upon earth, and burned incense to him; they also sang praises to RA and worshipped him upon earth, and uttered hekau, or words of power, against APEP, the

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arch-foe of Ra (vol. ii., p. 94). From this text we see that it was not enough for the followers of Ra to praise him and give him gifts, but that they must also use magical words and formulae in order that Ra's foe may be destroyed; and, because when they were upon earth they made offerings to the Tuat-gods, now that they are themselves in the Tuat and have need of food, Ra declares that offerings made to them shall never fail, and their souls shall never be destroyed. The MAATIU beings have this name given to them because, as the text says, "they spoke Maat," i.e., what is true, "upon earth"; moreover, "they did not approach the neterit." Now the word neterit usually means "goddesses," but here it has an unusual determinative, which, however, suggests that it is used to express some idea of "evil" in connexion with the gods or goddesses, such as blasphemy, or contempt, or apostacy. On the whole it seems most likely that neterit means "false gods," that is to say, gods whom Ra would not recognize as such, and that the feminine form of the word, with the unusual determinative, indicates they were weak and miserable beings. As a reward for their veracity and orthodoxy (?) upon earth, the food on which they live is Maat, i.e., truth, and they themselves become Maat, or TRUTH itself, and they are permitted to invoke the god in the Gate. Ra, moreover, gives them the mastery over the waters of the region, which, though cool and refreshing to the MAATIU beings

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themselves, become "waters of fire" (vol. ii., p. 95) to those who are sinners and are involved in wickedness. We have already seen that the wicked were not allowed to enter this Division, therefore it appears that it was held to be possible for the dead round about it to attempt to drink of the cool waters, which straightway turned into fire and consumed them.

Turning now to those beings who stand to the left of the Boat (vol. ii., pp. 96-99), we see that they are twenty-four in number; of these four lie dead, or helpless, and are called ENENIU, i.e., the "Inert," and twenty stand with their backs bowed, and their arms tied at their elbows behind them, in an agonizing position. Here, it is clear, are beings who are fettered and stand awaiting their doom. The charges made against them are to the effect that: 1. They blasphemed Ra upon earth. 2. They invoked evil upon him that was in the Egg. 3. They thrust aside the right. 4. They spoke against KHUTI. The god referred to as being "in the Egg" is, of course, a form of the Sun-god, and we know from the LIVth Chapter of the Book of the Dead, that the EGG was laid by KENKENUR, or the "Great Cackler." The good KHUTI is the form of the Sun-god at sunrise and sunset, and thus we see that all the sins which were committed by the ENENIU and their fettered companions were against Ra, and against forms of him. The name given to these is "STAU," i.e., "Apostates of the Hall of Ra," and sentence of doom is passed upon them by TEMU on behalf of Ra; it is

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decreed that their arms shall never be untied again, that their bodies shall be cut to pieces, and that their souls shall cease to exist (vol. ii., p. 97). Such are the things which take place in the Second Division of the Tuat according to the BOOK OF GATES, and, view them in whatever way we may, it is impossible not to conclude that the Egyptians thought that those who praised and worshipped Ra upon earth were rewarded with good things, whilst those who treated him lightly were punished. It is evident also that the offering up of propitiatory sacrifices and making of peace offerings were encouraged by the religion of Osiris, as being good both for gods and men.