Now, however, the time of evening has come, and the Sun-god in the SEKTET BOAT, wherein he has traveled since noon, draws nigh, flooding the FIRST DIVISION of the Tuat with light. This DIVISION, or antechamber, or vestibule, of the Tuat is, according to the BOOK AM-TUAT, called NET-RA, and before the Sun-god can come to the dweller in the Tuat he must pass over a space which is said to be 120, or 220, atru, or leagues, in length.
The river URNES, on which the boat moves, is 300 atru in extent, and is divided into two portions. On looking into the BOAT OF THE SUN-GOD we see that this deity has transformed himself, and that he no longer appears as a fiery disk, but as a ram-headed man, who stands within a shrine; in other words, Ra has taken the form of Osiris, in order that he may pass successfully through the kingdom of the dead, whose lord and god is Osiris.
The name given to this form is AF, or AFU, which means literally "flesh" and "a dead body;" it was as a dead body that Osiris first entered the Tuat, and those who wished to become what he became subsequently had to enter the Tuat as dead bodies and with the attributes wherewith he entered it.
The boat then contains the body of the dead Sun-god, or AFU-RAhe has with him a crew of seven gods and one goddess; one of these acts as guide (AP-UAT), another as steersman, another as the "look out," and the goddess, or " lady of the boat," is there as representative of the Division through which they are about to pass.
Besides these we have KA-SHU, i.e., the "double of Shu," the god of the atmosphere of this world, who is present in the boat in order to supply the god with air; HERU-HEKENU, who recites magical formulae; and SA and HU, who represent the knowledge and intelligence necessary for the due performance of the journey.
We may note that the boat moves by itself, and that the gods who form a procession in front of it do not tow it.
As we have already described these in vol. i. (see pp. 4-8), it is needless to say here more than that they are all forms of the Sun-god, or deified aspects of him, and that they accompany their lord, who has transformed himself.
Side by side with the boat of AFU-RA is a smaller boat, in which the coming into being of Osiris is depicted, and the beetle is there to typify the presence of Osiris, and to lead AFU-RA on his way through the DIVISION (vol. i., p. 7).
As AFU-RA is preceded by a number of forms of the Sun-god, so the "form of Osiris," KHEPER-EN-ASAR, is preceded by a number of Osirian deities, three snakes and three goddesses, among them being NEITH of the NORTH, NEITH of the SOUTH, and the rare goddess ARTET (Vol. i., p. 7).
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