The Duat
The Egyptian Other World (Budge writes "Tuat") — "a vast and difficult region" without roads, "black as the blackest night", which the dead must cross with spells and amulets to reach the Fields of Sekhet Aaru and the presence of Osiris, and which the Sun-god traverses each night in ten divisions. Thoth rules it for Ra; Anubis guards its Gates.
Why this wins its question: Pages describe the Duat from the tomb books in general terms. This object quotes the Book of the Dead's own description of the place, the geography of the night journey in Am Tuat, and the passages that hand its rule to Osiris, Thoth and Anubis — plus what Herodotus made of it.
Key takeaways
- Two Duats in the same texts: the roadless wilderness the dead must cross, and the ten-hour corridor the sun sails each night.
- Osiris is its king, Thoth its governor for Ra, Anubis its gatekeeper — three offices the Egyptian texts assign separately.
- Herodotus's "Demeter and Dionysus rule the lower world" is the Greek view of the same realm, and his transmigration doctrine is his own addition.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
"The Egyptians believed that the souls of the dead on leaving this world had to traverse a vast and difficult region called the Tuat, which was inhabited by gods, devils, fiends, demons, good spirits, bad spirits, and the souls of the wicked, to say nothing of snakes, serpents, savage animals, and monsters, before they could reach the Elysian Fields, and appear in the presence of Osiris. The Tuat was like the African 'bush,' and had no roads through it"; the Book of the Dead exists "to reach Sekhet Aaru and Sekhet Hetep (the Elysian Fields), and to take his place among the subjects of Osiris" (Budge Lit. ch. IV).
In Chapter 175 the scribe Ani, newly arrived, asks "What manner of country is this to which I have come? There is no water in it. There is no air. It is depth unfathomable, it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly therein"; Osiris answers that he "shalt live for millions of millions of years" (Budge Lit. ch. IV).
The Book Am Tuat, "Guide to him that is in the Tuat", divides the region "into ten parts, which were traversed, once each night, by the Sun-god", with a vestibule at each end; he enters "at or near Thebes" and passes the under-worlds of Abydos, Herakleopolis, Memphis and Sais to rise at Heliopolis, "guided through each section ... by a goddess who belonged to the district", each section an hour; the Book of Gates adds a fortified Gate to every section and a Judgment in Osiris's hall "once a day at midnight" (Budge Lit. ch. XV).
Before leaving the earth Ra "told [Thoth] of his desire to create a Light-soul in the Tuat and in the Land of the Caves. Over this region he appointed Thoth to rule, and he ordered him to keep a register of those who were there, and to mete out just punishments to them"; Ra also "created there Sekhet-hetep and Sekhet-Aaru as abodes for the blessed, and the flowers that blossomed therein he turned into stars" (Budge Lit. ch. VII, Destruction of Mankind).
The Book of Breathings tells the dead "Thou enterest the Tuat (Other World) as one exceedingly pure", "Anubis protecteth thee ... and thou art not turned away from the Gates of the Tuat", and "Thy soul hath been made divine in the Tuat, so that it may change itself into any form it pleaseth" (Budge Lit. ch. V); Amen "delivereth whom he pleaseth, even from the Tuat" (Budge Lit. ch. XII).
The Greek witnesses have no name for it. Herodotus: "The Egyptians say that Demeter and Dionysus are the rulers of the lower world", and they were "the first who maintained ... that the human soul is immortal" and passes through all creatures in a cycle of three thousand years (Hdt. 2.123.1–2). Plutarch says the powers of Isis and Osiris "are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth" and that "Pluto is none other than Serapis" (Plut. Is. 27).
Questions answered
- Who rules the Egyptian underworld?
- Before leaving the earth Ra "told [Thoth] of his desire to create a Light-soul in the Tuat and in the Land of the Caves. Over this region he appointed Thoth to rule, and he ordered him to keep a register of those who were there, and to mete out just punishments to them"; Ra also "created there Sekhet-hetep and Sekhet-Aaru as abodes for the blessed, and the flowers that blossomed therein he turned into stars" (Budge Lit. ch. VII, Destruction of Mankind). source
- What is the Book of Am Tuat?
- The Book Am Tuat, "Guide to him that is in the Tuat", divides the region "into ten parts, which were traversed, once each night, by the Sun-god", with a vestibule at each end; he enters "at or near Thebes" and passes the under-worlds of Abydos, Herakleopolis, Memphis and Sais to rise at Heliopolis, "guided through each section ... by a goddess who belonged to the district", each section an hour; the Book of Gates adds a fortified Gate to every section and a Judgment in Osiris's hall "once a day at midnight" (Budge Lit. ch. XV). source
- What did the Egyptians think the afterlife looked like?
- In Chapter 175 the scribe Ani, newly arrived, asks "What manner of country is this to which I have come? There is no water in it. There is no air. It is depth unfathomable, it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly therein"; Osiris answers that he "shalt live for millions of millions of years" (Budge Lit. ch. IV). source
- Where does the sun go at night according to the Egyptians?
- The Book Am Tuat, "Guide to him that is in the Tuat", divides the region "into ten parts, which were traversed, once each night, by the Sun-god", with a vestibule at each end; he enters "at or near Thebes" and passes the under-worlds of Abydos, Herakleopolis, Memphis and Sais to rise at Heliopolis, "guided through each section ... by a goddess who belonged to the district", each section an hour; the Book of Gates adds a fortified Gate to every section and a Judgment in Osiris's hall "once a day at midnight" (Budge Lit. ch. XV). source
- What is the Field of Reeds (Sekhet Aaru)?
- "The Egyptians believed that the souls of the dead on leaving this world had to traverse a vast and difficult region called the Tuat, which was inhabited by gods, devils, fiends, demons, good spirits, bad spirits, and the souls of the wicked, to say nothing of snakes, serpents, savage animals, and monsters, before they could reach the Elysian Fields, and appear in the presence of Osiris. The Tuat was like the African 'bush,' and had no roads through it"; the Book of the Dead exists "to reach Sekhet Aaru and Sekhet Hetep (the Elysian Fields), and to take his place among the subjects of Osiris" (Budge Lit. ch. IV). source
- What did Herodotus say about the Egyptian underworld?
- The Greek witnesses have no name for it. Herodotus: "The Egyptians say that Demeter and Dionysus are the rulers of the lower world", and they were "the first who maintained ... that the human soul is immortal" and passes through all creatures in a cycle of three thousand years (Hdt. 2.123.1–2). Plutarch says the powers of Isis and Osiris "are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth" and that "Pluto is none other than Serapis" (Plut. Is. 27). source