Lecture: The Egyptian Underworld Part 4

Osiris, Governor Of Ȧmenti

The allusion here is to the death and burial of Osiris, when Horus carried out the arrangements which had to be made for the performance of the general ceremonies, and when every detail connected with mummification, etc., was thought out by the loving care of the son of Osiris.

In the illustrated version of the Twelfth Hour, published by Signor Lanzone (tav. vii.), we have represented the semi-circular wall of thick darkness which forms the end of the Ṭuat and the division between it and this world. Against this wall, in the lower part of it, lies a mummied form, representing Osiris, and called Sem-Ȧf,, i.e., the “Image (or Form) of Ȧf” ; this is the object of the praises which the last two groups of gods lavish upon him.

The descriptive text says concerning the mummy,

“He who is in this picture in the hidden form of Horus of thick darkness is the secret image which Shu makes to be under Nut, and which cometh forth from Ḳeb-ur on earth in this form.”

In the middle of the wall of thick darkness is a red disk, from which proceeds a human head; this is the “image of Shu,” , who extends his arms along the vaulted wall, and of whose body one part is in the Ṭuat and the other in this world. Immediately above the head of the god is the beetle of Kheperȧ, here spelt, which makes its way into this world through the opening which the head and shoulders of Shụ have made in the wall of thick darkness. Through this opening the boat of Rā also was enabled to pass into this world, and the god continued his journey (with the help of the deities who towed him along; there is no doubt about this because the tow-line is prolonged to the wall of thick darkness. As Ȧf, the dead body of Rā, passes into our world, his new life begins, and for men and women the night passes away, and a new day is born.

The Sun's New Birth

We have now traced the passage of the Sun-god through the Ṭuat as it was imagined by those who believed in the absolute supremacy of Osiris, and as it was described by the author of the Book of Pylons, and we have briefly passed through its divisions as described in the Book op that which is in the Ṭuat, throughout which the absolute supremacy of Rā is maintained. It is now easy to see that these two works represent two opposite and conflicting theories as to the future life.

The heaven of the devotees of Osiris was originally most materialistic, and the life which was led in it by the beatified was, to all intents and purposes, merely a continuation of the life led by men and women upon earth ; the heaven of the priests of Rā was of a more refined character, and it lacked the grosser characteristics of the dwellers in the Elysian Fields of Osiris.

Some have argued from the facts about the Ṭuat given above that the Egyptians believed in the existence of purgatory, and in the everlasting punishment of the wicked in a hell of fire, and in the reincarnation of souls, and in many other things which would presuppose the holding by them of doctrines which are commonly thought to be the products of the minds of modern nations ; but the facts do not support these beliefs. Whichever doctrine of the future life we take, whether that of Osiris or that of Rā, we find no room in it for a purgatory.

In the Judgment which took place before Osiris only the righteous were permitted to enter into the Elysian Fields, and the wicked were destroyed immediately ; in other words, annihilation was the punishment for sin.

The Egyptians believed largely in the efficacy of works, and in addition to the deeds of love and charity which they performed in all periods, strict care concerning the ceremonies of religion, worship, and of the funeral, and a proper respect and reverence for words of power, and amulets, and sacred writings, and figures were demanded from them by priests and religious teachers at all times.

There was, of course, a large class of people who could not afford costly burials, and who were too poor to buy even cheap amulets, but they were not condemned in the Judgment because of their poverty; on the contrary, they escaped annihilation and were admitted by Osiris into the first division of the Ṭuat, where, however, they were compelled to stay because they did not know the words of power which would enable them to continue their journey through the remaining divisions of the Underworld.

But there was no punishment inflicted upon them because they had been both poor and ignorant in this world ; they merely remained in the place to which their religious qualifications enabled them to attain, and each evening, or each night, they were made glad by the sight of the great god Rā as he sailed through the Ṭuat in his boat, and they rejoiced in his daily visit.

Destruction of the Wicked

The beings in the Ṭuat of Osiris upon whom punishment was inflicted were the “enemies of Osiris,” and these were usually the “enemies of Rā” ; but in no text is it said that the punishment which they had to endure there ever obliterated their guilt, whatever it might be, or that when the proper time had arrived they would be allowed to proceed into another division of the Ṭuat where their punishment would be lighter, or where they would undergo none at all.

Though a man could earn happiness in the realm of Osiris or in that of Rā by his good works on earth, and by ceremonies performed at his funeral by duly qualified priests, and by the presence of copies of religious texts which were buried with him, there is no reason to think that when once his soul reached the Underworld it could ever better its position there either by suffering punishment or by the performance of good works.

Offerings to the Dead

The offerings made at the tombs of the dead were for the benefit of the ka or double, and perhaps for the animal soul which was at one time believed to exist in the human body, but neither the offerings nor the prayers which accompanied them seem to have been able to remove the spirits and souls of the dead from one division of the Ṭuat into another, or to modify the state or condition which had been decreed for them.

Similarly, there is no evidence that prayers for the dead or offerings would ameliorate the condition of those who had successfully passed the ordeal of the Judgment, and had been sent by Osiris into one or other of the habitations of his kingdom.