Eleventh Division of the Tuat. II. Kingdom of Temu-Khepera-Ra According to the Book of Gates

ELEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT.

II. KINGDOM OF TEMU-KHEPERA-RA ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES.

The gate which leads into the ELEVENTH DIVISION, or HOUR, is called SHETAT-BESU, and the name of the

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monster serpent which guards it is AM-NETU-F. Mummied forms guard the corridor between the walls .of the outworks, but the place of the company of gods who usually stand outside is occupied by two sceptres, or standards, one of which represents SAR, i.e., Osiris, and the other HORUS. The god AFU-RA enters this DIVISION in the form in which he has hitherto appeared, and he is towed by four gods who belong to it; we see, however, that APEP has not been wholly removed from the path of the god. The serpent lies here (vol. ii., p. 287) in fetters, and a company of the servants of AFU-RA who live in this DIVISION stand ready to attack him with the knives which they hold in their hands; their sceptres betoken their position as chiefs in the DIVISION. Next come four apes, each holding a large hand, and these stand, according to the text, two on the right and two on the left of the abode of the god; they hold up the Disk of the god, and sing praises to his soul when it looks upon them. In front of these are the goddesses AMENTET and HERIT, and the god SEBEKHTI, who presides over the entrance into the vestibule of the world of light.

On the right of the path of the Boat of AFU-RA are gods and goddesses of the South and North who stablish crowns on the head of Ra when he appears in the sky; gods who give names to Ra and all his forms; gods and goddesses who lament when Ra has gone out from Ament, and who drive away Set; and gods with bowed heads who sing praises to Ra and keep guard

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over the Hidden Door. The souls of these gods follow after Ra, and accompany him on his way, but their bodies stay always where we see them. Their guardian is (vol. ii., pp. 296-299) the god called MATI, who has the head of a cat or lion.

On the left of the path of the Boat of AFU-RA is a company of his ministers who perform various important duties for him. Four of them carry disks, and give the command to the Gate of AKERT So that the god may be allowed to pass through and set himself in the sky. The mention of AKERT in the text which refers to these is interesting, for it shows that the ELEVENTH DIVISION of the BOOK OF GATES represents a portion of the Kingdom of the Sun-god of Heliopolis. Four other gods carry stars, and when AFU-RA passes out of this DIVISION, and is received into the arms of Nu, the Sky-god, they shout hymns of praise. ¹ Before these are twelve gods with sceptres, four having human heads, four the heads of rams, and four the heads of hawks. The first four are the lords of the region, and stablish the domains of Ra in the sky; the second four provide offerings of bread and water for the god; and the third four set the shrine of Ra in the Matet-Sektet Boat, and place in it the paddles whereby it is to be paddled across the sky. The eight star-goddesses who sit upon uraei belong to the abode of the great god, four coming from the East and four from the West;

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they invoke the Spirits of the East, and join with them in singing hymns to the god, and in praising him after he has appeared in the sky. At the head of the whole . company stands a god with the head of a crocodile (vol. ii., pp. 290-293). The Kingdom of TEMU-KHEPERA-RA. differs from other Tuats from the fact that, according to the BOOK OF GATES, it contains no place specially set apart for the punishment of the enemies of Osiris and Ra, and of the damned. The pictures which illustrate it supply us with representations of the enemies of the Sun-god and of the beings who vanquish them, and secure his triumphant progress. Having arrived at the end of the ELEVENTH DIVISION the Boat comes to the end of the Fourth Tuat; ¹ AFU-RA has effected his transformation as KHEPERA, and is now ready to appear in the sky of this world as RA. How he effects this we shall see from the next DIVISION.

Footnotes

190:1 Compare Job xxxviii. 7--"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

191:1 The Four Tuats are the Kingdoms of Khenti-Amenti-Osiris, Seker, Osiris of Mendes and Busiris, and Temu-Khepera-Ra.