The Book of Gates (Arabic: كتاب البوابات, romanized: Kitab al-Bawaabat) is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom.[1] The text was not named by the Egyptians. It was named by French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero who called it 'Livre de Portes' (Book of Gates). The Book of Gates narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night. The soul is required to pass through a series of 'gates' at different stages in the journey. Each gate is associated with a different goddess, and requires that the deceased recognize the particular character of that deity. Depictions of the judgment of the dead are shown in the last three hours and the text implies that some people will pass through unharmed, but that others will suffer torment in a lake of fire. The Book of Gates serves as a guidebook so that the deceased pharaoh with the sun god, can navigate his way to the afterworld and toward his resurrection. The Book of Gates is long and detailed and consists of one hundred scenes. [2]

The text and images associated with the Book of Gates appear in many tombs of the New Kingdom, including all the pharaonic tombs between Horemheb (d.c. 1295 BC) and Ramesses VII (d.c. 1130 BC). They also appear in the tomb of Sennedjem, a worker in the village of Deir el-Medina, the ancient village of artists and craftsmen who built pharaonic tombs in the New Kingdom.

The goddesses listed in the Book of Gates each have different titles, and wear different coloured clothes, but are identical in all other respects, wearing a five pointed star above their heads. Most of the goddesses are specific to the Book of Gates, and do not appear elsewhere in Egyptian mythology, and so it has been suggested that the Book of Gates originated merely as a system for determining the time at night, with the goddess at each gate being a representation of the main star appearing during the hour.

Illustration of figures from The Fourth Division of the Fifth Hour at the Tomb of Seti I depicting: an Egyptian, Asiatic, Nubian and Libyan.
Illustration of The Fourth Division of the Fifth Hour at the Tomb of Seti I, full 4 sets of 4 figure types (as appears in tomb), starting bottom left, led by the god Horus
From three different tombs: Illustration of figures from the 4th Division of the 5th Hour in at 1) Tomb of Seti I 2) Tomb of Merenptah and 3)Tomb of Ramesses III
Illustration of the 4th Division, 5th Hour, Original book plate From Karl Richard Lepsius/Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien published in Prussia in 1849–1859: "Reth" (Egyptians), "Aamu" (Asiatics), "Nehesu" (Nubians), and "Themehu" (Libyans)

The Fourth Division of the Fifth Hour

One of the most well known scenes in the Book of Gates is in its fourth division section of the Fifth Hour. Gods are depicted in the upper row. They also carry the body of a serpent. Hieroglyphs meaning "lifetime" can be seen in the lower register. At the beginning of the lower register are sixteen figures in repetitive sets of four being led by Horus into the afterworld. They are the four main ethnic groups who neighbored Egypt from various directions. The first group are the Egyptians and the other groups follow in this sequential order:

  • Egyptians (Remetu) (Rmt)
  • Asiatics (Aamu) (to the North)
  • Nubians (Nehsey) (to the South)
  • Libyans (Themehu) (to the West)

As in Akhenaten's Great Hymn of Aten even these foreign people sometime portrayed as enemies are assured transition to the afterworld. There have been some questions about variation of this scene at the tomb of Ramesses III as opposed to other tombs that the same scene appears in. The illustration on the right of this page shows the position of these figures and their corresponding hieroglyphs, Egyptian, Asiatic, Nubian and Libyan. One figure of each type represents four repeating figures of that same type in the actual wall painting (a total of sixteen figures in each actual wall painting) but here are condensed to four, one of each type. The hieroglyphs and their order remains sequentially the same in all three tombs, left to right. Nubians are depicted in consistent ways in all three tombs (although they are bare chested both at the tomb of Seti I and the tomb of Merenptah but not at Ramesses III) but in all three tombs the Nubian figures in this third position are consistently beardless, have jet black skin and have a thick red sash that goes across their chest and also wraps around the waist and dangles down. However, unlike in the tomb of Seti I and the tomb of Merenptah, at the tomb of Ramesses III, a second virtually the same figure is also found in the first position usually occupied by Egyptians. The hieroglyph usually representing Egyptians remains next to this figure in its traditional position. These two figures in the same garb at Ramesses III are similar in appearance to Nubians depicted in the Tomb of Huy and in other Egyptian art but similar figures are not found elsewhere in this tomb although a great number of other typically depicted Egyptian figures are. Another peculiarity is that the Asiatic and Libyan are in consistent 2nd and 4th position at both Seti I and Merenptah tombs but switch position at the tomb of Ramesses III while the hieroglyphs do not. At Seti I and Merenptah tombs the Asiatic in the second position is depicted as is typical in much other art of the period, a bearded figure with a cloth headband with two excess pieces of the headband hanging down. Additionally at these two tombs, Seti and Merenptah, a Libyan is at the end of the row, at the 4th position and is depicted with typical Libyan features of the period, a side lock of hair and a long gown-like garment that is worn somewhat openly and with one or both shoulders exposed. However, while all the hieroglyphs in all three tombs remain in the same position left to right, at Ramesses III, these two figures Asiatic and Libyan, have switched position in comparison to the other tombs. The figures may have been created after a separate artisan had first rendered the hieroglyphs. The only figure at Ramesses III that is in the same position as the figures at Seti I and Merenptah tombs is the Nubian in the third position. The hieroglyph position have no irregularities in type or sequence between each tomb. The first figure at the Tomb of Ramesses III has a hieroglyph normally associated with Egyptians but may be placed next to the hieroglyph in error which sometimes occurs in tombs, however the explanation remains unresolved. [3][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hornung, Erik. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (in German). David Lorton (translator). Cornell University Press.
  2. ↑ Dunn, Jimmy. "The Book of Gates". touregypt.net. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  3. ↑ Dunn, Jimmy. "The Book of Gates". touregypt.net. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  4. ↑ Hornung, Erik. The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (in German). David Lorton (translator). Cornell University Press.

Further reading

  • Hornung, Erik; Abt, Theodor (editors): The Egyptian Book of Gates. Translated by Erik Hornung, in collaboration with Theodor Abt. Living Human Heritage Publications, Zurich 2014. ISBN 978-3-9523880-5-1

essay, "Witchcraft, Magic & Divination in Ancient Egypt", Borgouts, in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, pgs. 1775+, ISBN 0-684-19722-7 (vol. 3)

(Images, hieroglyphs, transcription and English translation).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Book of Gates.
The Tomb of Seti I, Pillared chamber F Relief from KV 17, the Tomb of Seti I Detail of the Book of Gates, 5th hour.
fourth hour of the Book of the Gates from KV2, tomb of Rameses IV. Analysis: "the time is like a serpent, of which the nocturnal hours are born like goddesses. After its trip they are devoured again by the serpent. The blue triangles represent the water in the underworld".
Ra traveling through the underworld in his barque, from the copy of the Book of Gates in the tomb of Ramses I (KV16).
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