175: In The Hall of the Duat King (The Book of Gates Part 1)

In the dark of the night, Ra took a journey through the Duat (underworld). His voyage was fraught with danger, but he also made many friends along the way. In the Book of Gates, the sun god takes a mysterious but meaningful journey...

Details:

• Date: c.1305 BCE (first recorded appearance).
• Source: KV57, the tomb of Horemheb, and others.
• Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.
• Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.
• Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. 
• Music intro: Jeffrey Goodman.
• Music interludes: Cover versions by Luke Chaos.
• Music outro: Ancient Lyric.
• Logo image: Ra on his solar barque, from the tomb of Ramesses I (Photo by Dominic Perry, 2022).
• TRANSLATIONS of the Book of Gates by Erik Hornung (2014) and John Darnell & Colleen Manassa Darnell (2018).

Select Bibliography:

• J. Assmann, Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun and the Crisis of Polytheism (1995).
• C. Carrier, Grands Livres Funéraires de l’Égypte Pharaonique (2009).
• J. C. Darnell and C. Manassa Darnell, The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books (2018).
• E. Hornung, Das Grab des Haremhab im Tal der Könige (1971).
• E. Hornung, Das Buch von den Pforten des Jenseits, I (1979).
• E. Hornung, Das Buch von den Pforten des Jenseits, II (1984).
• E. Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (1999).
• E. Hornung, The Egyptian Book of Gates, trans. T. Abt (2014).
• C. Manassa, ‘The Judgement Hall of Osiris in the Book of Gates’, Revue d’Égyptologie 57 (2006), 109—150.
• J. Roberson, ‘The Royal Funerary Books: The Subject Matter of Scenes and Texts’, in R. H. Wilkinson and K. R. Weeks (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (2016), 316–332.
• M. Smith, Following Osiris: Perspectives on the Osirian Afterlife from Four Millenia (2017).
• Theban Mapping Project, ‘KV 57 The Tomb of Horemheb’.
• Y. Volokhine, Le porc en Égypte ancienne (2014).
• J. Zandee, ‘The Book of Gates’, Liber Amicorum: Studies in Honor of Professor Dr. C.J. Bleeker (1969), 282–324.

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