The Books of the Heavens (Sky) and Night

After the death of Akhenaten, signaling the end of the Amarna Period, we find a new set of Books related to the afterlife. These books centered around Nut, who swallows the sun god in the evening, only to give birth to him in the morning. During the day the sun god passes visibly along her body, but during the night, he travels through her body back to the place where he will rise once more.

Beginning with Ramesses IV, two of the Books of the Sky were usually placed next to each other on the ceilings of royal tombs. They depicted a double representation of Nut, back to back. The the focus is on the sun god, other heavenly bodies are also included. Generally speaking, the books emphasize cosmography and the topography of the sky, a topic which had its beginnings in the Book of the Heavenly Cow, though the astronomical ceilings found in the tombs of Seti I (KV17) through Ramesses III (KV11) can also be viewed as precursors to the Books of the Sky (heavens). These books are generally considered to consist of the Book of Nut, the Book of the Day and the Book of the Night.

The Book of Nut also known as The Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars

We have actually very few example of the Book of Nut. We find examples in the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos and in the tomb of Ramesses IV, though the latter is abbreviated. The only other evidence of this book is a commentary written in the Roman Period, and an incomplete version in the tomb of Mutirdis (TT410) dating from the 26th Dynasty. The longer appended text that accompanies the captions was reproduced in the Papyrus Carlsberg in Demotic script.

It was Jean-Francois Champollion and Hippolito Rosellini who published the earliest drawing of the representation of the sky goddess. These, and some investigation that followed, were all from the version found in the tomb (KV2) of Ramesses IV, for the Osireion in Abydos had not been discovered at that point. The commentary from the Roman period was published by H. O. Lange and Otto Neugebauer in 1940.

The book itself is pictorial in nature, and resembles to some degree the Book of the Heavenly Cow. There are brief captions that seem to be overwhelmed by the huge image of the sky. Nut is shown as a woman supported by the God Shu who holds her body aloft. Interestingly, in the tomb of Seti I, she is oriented correctly for the swallowing and birth of the sun, but not in the tomb of Ramesses IV. Other motifs within the scene include several sun disks, a winged scarab in front of the knees of the goddess, a vulture atop the heraldic plant of Upper Egypt behind her legs, and nest of migratory birds next to her arms. The captions on the scene are also accompanied by a longer appended text.

The book is intended to provide both a topography of the sky and an understanding of the sun's daily course. The brief captions augment this understanding and are distributed over the entire scene, describing its details as well as the actions of the sun god, the decans and other divine beings.

O. Neugebauer set out and coded the various captions within the depiction. For example, Text L provides a definition of the "far regions of the sky", that are in the primeval darkness and waters, not touched by the sun. They have no boundaries or cardinal directions. A list of decans that may originate in the Middle Kingdom are provided in Texts S through X. These captions tell us the decans work and their periodic invisibility, including their transit through the meridian. The text labeled Dd through Ff explain migratory birds and their nests.

In the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos, we find a text reporting a quarrel between Geb and Nut because she is swallowing their children, the stars. The dispute is settled by their father, Shu, who advises that the Nut give birth to the stars each time so they might live.

The Book of the Day

The Book of the Day, though found in the royal necropolis at Tanis, along with excerpts from the tomb of Osorkon II and a nearly complete version in the tomb of Shoshenq III, is also depicted within the tomb of Ramesses VI. The latest version of the book we have is from the private tomb of Ramose (TT132) that dates from the 25th Dynasty. Otherwise, only brief components of the text regarding the hours of the day have been discovered on sarcophagi and papyri of the Late Period. Also related are the hymns to the hours of the day in the pronaos of the Edfu Temple.

Champoliion originally copied versions of the book from the sarcophagus chamber and corridors of the tomb of Ramesses VI, but they received little attention. In 1942, Alexandre Piankoff published and edition of the book but without regard to the Tanis versions.

The scene and captions of this book are arranged under the figure of the sky goddess Nut, with her arms and legs spread out. All of the figures within the scene face the head of Nut, and so the end of the book. Arranged horizontally into five registers, the text follows the course of the twelve hours of the day. This arrangement, however, makes it unclear where one hour ends and the next begins. A prologue and concluding representation stand out from the main text. It should also be noted that the Book of the Day and the Book of the Night may have been intended as a single entity, but they are only shown together in the tomb of Ramesses VI.

The Book of the Day is notable because, unlike most of the funerary text, it is focused on the journey of the sun god during the day, rather than his nocturnal voyage through the underworld. Hence, the sun god appears with a falcon's head rather than his ram-headed nighttime image. Yet underworld motifs such as the repulsing of Apophis and the Field of Reeds occur in the middle of the composition. Mostly, this book is concerned with the enumeration of deities, with little descriptive text.

The Beginning of the Book of the Day

Book of the Day showing Apophis

Book of the Day showing the Last Hour

Conclusion of the Book of the Day

The Book of the Night

The first version of the Book of the Night that we know of comes from the Osireion at Abydos, and only extends to the ninth hour of the night. There was a copy in the tomb (KV8) of Merneptah on the ceiling of the antechamber, but it is mostly gone now. Ramesses IV included this book next to the Book of Nut on the ceiling of his sarcophagus chamber, though only as far as the fourth hour. However, the tomb (KV9) of Ramesses VI gives us two complete copies, one on the west side of the ceiling of the sarcophagus chamber while the second version is spread out through earlier chambers Both versions are complemented by representations of the Book of the Day. We also find scenes from the book in the tomb of Ramesses IX



In all of these instances, the book is depicted on the ceiling of the New Kingdom tombs, though at Tanis, they shifted to the walls. Osorkon II combined it with the Book of the Day, while Shoshenq III followed Seti I's version.

During the Late Period, we also find extracts from the book in several tombs, including TT33, 132 and 410, along with fragments from the Nilometer at Roda. Even as late as the 30th Dynasty we may also note examples on sarcophagi, where they are combined with hours from the Amduat. There are also text from the second hour of the night found in the solar sanctuaries of Deir el-Bahri, Medinet Habu and Karnak.

Again, Champollion provided the initial copies of the versions found in the tomb of Ramesses VI, and later Eugene Lefebure added the Ramesses IV version in 1889. Edouard Naville discovered the version of the Book of the Night in the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos in 1914, which was published by Henri Frankfort in 1933. Alexandre Piankoff also published the Book of the Night in 1942, but again did not take into account the versions found in the Tanis tombs. That version was replaced by one written by Gilles Roulin.

The Book of the Night is divided into twelve sections separated from each other by vertical line of text designated as "gates". Unlike the Book of Gates, these precede the hours of the night to which they belong. The arms and legs of Nut represent the first and last gate, though the first hour is not presented. For each hour there is an introductory text which provides the most important details, though the remaining captions are brief.

The book is arranged in three registers that are staggered into five to seven registers due to space considerations. The sun barque travelers through the center register. Within this boat, the sun god, who is in his shrine, is surrounded by the coils of the Mehen-serpent while another serpent protects him. The crew of his boat features Sia at the prow as the spokesman of the god, Hu at the stern, Ma'at, and in the version at Abydos, the king. Within the upper registers are various deities while the lower register features various groups of deceased people, including the blessed and the damned. In front of the boat is a large group of towmen, sometimes as many as thirty, called the Unwearing Ones, who are led by the king. There is no descriptive text like that found in he Books of the Netherworld, and generally, the registers are not divided into scenes. At the end, a summary of the entire course of the sun is provided.

There must obviously be many similarities between this book and other Books of the Netherworld. Interestingly, however, the sun's enemy Apophis does not appear in this book at all though he appears in the Neitherworld books. Instead, the repelling of Seth is mentioned several times.

This book complements the Book of the Day, beginning at the point where the sun god is swallowed by Nut and ending when she gives birth to him in the morning as a scarab. The sun god take the form of the Ram-headed nocturnal god, and is designated as flesh.

Sia takes an important role in this book, appearing as the spokesman of the sun god. The sun god has his own escort in the middle register of each hour, in place of the hour goddesses who accompany him in the Amduat and the Book of Gates.

Only in the Seti I version are remains of an introductory text. Here, the sun god provides us with an explanation of the goal of his journey through the underworld, which has to do with judging the damned and caring for the blessed. The primeval darkness is mentioned as a border area.

As in the Amduat and the Book of Gates, the first hour is seen as interstitial, and thus is not presented. The book begins with the second hour, where in the upper register depicts both individual and groups of deities. These include the deities of the four cardinal points, the bas of Buto and Hierakonpolis, and the two Enneads, which stand for the all divine beings.

In the upper register of the seventh hour, general forms also appear that represent existence and nonexistence. To their opposite are all of the deceased in the lower register, appearing as transfigured ones (akhu), mummies and the "dead", who are damned.

Missing is the union of Re and Osiris, found in other funerary text, though the representation of bas and corpses in the lower register of the sixth hour indicates the longed for union in the depths of night, with which the regeneration in the seventh hour is connected. Here, the critical moment requires the overcoming of various enemies. In the lower register of the seventh hour, another motif that first appears in the Book of Gates (13th scene) takes form. here, Horus looks upon both foreigners (shown as Asiatics, Libyans, Medja bedouins and Nubians) and Egyptians (shown as dwellers in the fertile land and the desert). The foreigners are depicted as bound enemies. The speech of the sun god also includes motifs from the 21st scene of the Book of Gates.

On the lower register of the eighth hour we find an enthroned Osiris, with Horus and the other gods connected with him in attendance. He is shown in victory over enemies, though only in Late Period representations are they directly addressed as Seth. Here, the groups of the blessed and damned are turned to Osiris is prayer, and their depiction continues into the ninth hour, when they are addressed by Sia. He dictates their fate in the afterlife and their attachment to Osiris, but in the tenth hour, only the blessed appear in the lower register.

The tow-men preceding the solar barque are joined by four jackals designated "Western bas" in the twelfth and last hour. Here, the deities, including Osiris, in the lower register pray before the concluding representation which summarizes the entire course of the sun. The sun god, with the help of the primeval gods, is transformed into a scarab and a child. In the backdrop are the two boats of his daytime and nighttime passage, together with Isis and Nephthys who were later depicted in the prow of the barques, keeping the sun in motion between them. The text here refers to the total course of the sun god in the three cosmic realms consisting of the netherworld (Duat), the primeval waters (Nun) and the sky (Nut).

At the end is a description of the "Western bas". who tow the sun god into the sky.

1st and 2nd Hour of the Book of the Night

3rd Hour of the Book of the Night

4th Hour of the Book of the Night

5th Hour of the Book of the Night

6th Hour of the Book of the Night;

7th Hour of the Book of the Night

8th Hour of the Book of the Night

9th Hour of the Book of the Night

10th Hour of the Book of the Night

11th Hour of the Book of the Night

11th Hour of the Book of the Night

12th Hour of the Book of the Night

Conclusion of the Book of the Night

Funerary Compositions of ancient Egypt

From the end of Dynasty 5 onward, religious texts were inscribed in the burial chambers of royal tombs. The oldest surviving compositions, called Pyramid Texts because they were inscribed in pyramid burial chambers, were compilations of spells describing different aspects of the dead king's restoration and existence in the realm of the gods in the afterlife. For some unknown reason, Middle Kingdom rulers did not have any such texts inscribed in the burial chambers of their pyramids. Contemporary private burials, however, had a series of spells, called Coffin Texts because they were inscribed on coffins; many derived from or were influenced by the Pyramid Texts. The first descriptions of the netherworld appear as schematic "maps" on the inner floors on many of these coffins, and are called the Book of Two Ways.

New Kingdom Books of the Netherworld

New compositions appear for the first time in royal tombs of the New Kingdom. They consist of both figures and texts that describe the realm of the dead ruled by Osiris and the journey of the sun god Ra through this realm.



Book of Caverns

The modern name of this book was given because many of the figures are shown inside ovals that represent caves in the underworld. It is divided into only six sections, with the form of the sun god as a ram-headed man introducing the first four divisions. Bound enemies appear in the lowest register of the first five divisions, and two large figures of Nut and ithyphallic Osiris are found in the fifth division. In the sixth division, the concluding scene shows the dawning of the sun god as a scarab and a child emerging from the watery realm of creation.



Book of the Earth

The earliest appearance of scenes from this book is in the burial chamber of KV 8 (Merenptah), but the fullest version is in KV 9. Other tombs of Dynasties 19 and 20 have some scenes and texts derived from this composition in their burial chambers, such as KV 14, KV 11, KV 1, and KV 6. The composition does not follow an obvious narrative progression as other descriptions of the solar nightly journey do. (Egyptologists have divided the composition up in different ways: the system followed on this website is that of Piankoff, which distinguishes four parts, A-D.)

In the examples from KV 8, KV 9, KV 11 and KV 14, the same scenes recur on the side walls. Three registers on the left wall show the sun god Ra in his bark beneath a supine mummiform figure with overarching stars and sun disks. The bottom register shows an ithyphallic figure standing in a structure representing a water clock. The ba of Ra in the form of a large ram-headed bird dominates the right wall. It lies beneath a representation of a reborn sun emerging from the waters of chaos (taken from the closing scene of the Book of Caverns). Beneath the outspread wings of Ra's ba, the sun god's boat is shown resting on the image of the double-headed sphinx Aker, the embodiment of the earthly entry to the netherworld, with goddesses representing hours facing toward Ra. The Book of Aker was a name given in the past to this part of the composition that illustrates the sun god's boat resting on the back of Aker. Traces of other scenes can be found on the rear walls of the burial chambers of KV 8 and KV 11.



Book of Gates

The ancient name of this book is not known; the modern name derives from the depiction of gates and door leaves separating each of the twelve sections. The text has been studied in detail and translated by both Alexandre Piankoff and Erik Hornung, who have developed different numbering systems to designate the "divisions" as Piankoff calls them, or "hours" as designated by Hornung. Both systems are employed on this website, followed by a "P" in parentheses for Piankoff's system and an "H" for Hornung's.

The earliest example of this composition survives as excerpts consisting of the first to fifth divisions (P)/second to sixth hours (H) in the unfinished decoration in the burial chamber of the tomb of Horemheb. The first complete version occurs on the calcite sarcophagus of Seti I. (There are also excerpts on the walls of his tomb.) A second complete version is found on the west wall of the first corridor of the Osireion, the cenotaph Sety I constructed behind his temple at Abydos. Only one other complete version is known from the New Kingdom, on the south walls of the upper corridors and chambers (B-F) of the tomb of Rameses V and VI (KV 9). Certain chambers tended to be decorated with particular divisions of this composition. Thus, through the reign of Rameses III, pillared chamber F has the third and fourth divisions (P)/fourth and fifth hours (H).

Each section of this book except the last is also divided into three registers, with the sun god and his boat at the beginning of the middle register. The solar boat entering the western horizon is part of the prologue (P)/first hour (H). The enlarged fifth gate shows the Judgment Hall of Osiris, and the twelfth hour (P)/closing scene (H), shows the solar boat raised from the primeval waters by the god Nun at dawn.



Imydwat

This composition first appeared inscribed on limestone blocks in KV 20, the tomb of Hatshepsut. It is divided into twelve sections that correspond to the night hours. Each section after the first is divided into three horizontal registers. The sun god, shown as a ram-headed man, stands in a shrine on his boat, accompanied by other deities on his nightly journey through the netherworld (Imydwat meant "what is in the netherworld" in the ancient Egyptian language). Complete versions of the text are found in the tombs of Thutmes III (KV 34), Amenhetep II (KV 35), and Amenhetep III (KV 22). Subsequent occurrences of the composition are incomplete excerpts, although eleven of the twelve hours may be seen in corridors G and H of the tomb of Rameses VI (KV 9). In the Rameside period, some of these excerpts regularly appear at specific locations in the tombs. For example, from the reign of Sety I onwards, the fourth and fifth hours are associated with the walls of the third corridor that precedes well chamber E. These two hours deal with the descent of the sun god Ra into the realm of the Memphite necropolis god, Sokar. Their proximity to the well shaft has been interpreted to mean that the shaft was a symbolic tomb of Sokar and Osiris. The composition ends with Ra's boat been pulled through the body of a large snake and emerging on the eastern horizon in the morning as a scarab beetle.



Books of the Sky

In addition to compositions that describe the sun god's journey through the netherworld, several books are found on the ceilings of royal tombs that describe the journey of the solar bark across the sky, personified by the goddess Nut. This goddess is shown as an elongated woman covered in stars and apparently is associated with the Milky Way. The arms and legs of the goddess extend downwards to enclose the scenes and texts of the composition. Before the appearance of these compositions framed by the sky goddess, the ceilings of burial chambers in the Rameside period were decorated with images of personifications of stars and constellations.

Astronomical figures

Beginning with KV 17, the vaulted ceilings of burial chambers in several Rameside royal tombs were decorated with figures representing constellations of the northern and southern horizons. Other figures represented the decans, the stars used to herald the occurrence of the three ten-day-long intervals into which each month was divided.

Books of the Day and the Night

The arched figure of the sky goddess Nut frames texts describing the sun god's journey across the sky from sunrise to sunset and the nightly journey within the goddess's body (which begins by her "swallowing" him) until rebirth at dawn.

Book of the Heavenly Cow

This text describes how Ra's daughter Hathor averted destruction of mankind. The principal image is a large cow supported by the god Shu. The first occurrence of this composition is inside the outermost gilded shrine of Tutankhamen. The best-preserved version in the Valley of the Kings is in side chamber Je of KV 17 (Sety I).

Book of Nut

Other than in the Osireion at Abydos, this text is found only on the south half of the ceiling of the burial chamber J of Rameses IV (KV 2). The god of the air Shu is shown supporting the arched figure of the sky goddess Nut, separating her from the god of the earth, Geb.

Star Clocks

The measurement of time by means of celestial phenomena played an important role in funerary texts and decoration. One mechanism seen on the ceilings of royal tombs in the latter half of Dynasty 20 (KV 9, KV 1, KV 6) shows men kneeling beneath grids containing stars. Beside each figure is the name of the star that appears at a particular point on the human target at a given hour of the night. There is usually one image and name for each month of the year.

Other Funerary Texts

In addition to compositions dealing with the sun god's journeys, texts of a non-royal nature also are found in the royal tombs of the New Kingdom and in contemporary private tombs.

Book of the Dead

During the Second Intermediate Period, a collection of spells appears that is known as the Book of the Dead, or by its ancient title, the Spells for Going Forth by Day. These spells first appear in private New Kingdom tombs, on coffins, and on papyri. Often, the spells were illustrated with vignettes that illustrated their subject matter. Over 190 different spells have been recorded from New Kingdom sources, but individual private tombs contain only a selection of these, and the number is even more limited in royal tombs. The spells are concerned with the solar journey, the final judgment, the portals of the realm of Osiris, and descriptions of the netherworld. Book of the Dead spells are found on sarcophagi of the kings of Dynasty 18, but they do not appear in wall decoration until after the Amarna Period, in the tombs of Tutankhamen (KV 62) and Ay (KV 23). Many objects, such as shabtis and amulets, are connected with Book of the Dead spells.

Litany of Ra

The earliest version of this composition is found on two pillars in burial chamber J of Thutmes III (KV 34). It does not appear again until the tomb of Sety I (KV 17), where it decorates corridor B and stairwell C. It continues to be used as the decorative theme for this part of the royal tomb until the reign of Rameses IV (KV 2). An initial scene shows the sun disk with a serpent above and a crocodile below. A scarab (representing the god at sunrise) and a ram-headed man (representing the god at sunset) are contained inside the disk (representing the god at midday). Invocations to the sun in seventy-four forms are followed by representations of these forms. Another representation on the ceiling shows the soul of the sun god as a ram-headed bird flanked by Isis and Nephthys as kites.

Opening of the Mouth Ritual

This composition first appears as part of the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, but does not appear again until Dynasty 18 in private tombs. In Dynasty 18 royal tombs, only the opening scene occurs, and then only in KV 62 (Tutankhamen); fuller versions start to appear in the kings' tombs during the reign of Sety I. The text consists of a series of spells concerned with restoring the body to life and with animating a statue or image with spiritual force. The spells are accompanied by images of priests performing these rituals before the deceased or his statue. Well-preserved versions can be seen in the lower corridors (G, H) of the tombs of Sety I (KV 17) and Tausert/Setnakht (KV 14), and traces can also be found in similar positions in the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8) and Rameses III (KV 11). In later Dynasty 20 royal tombs (KV 7, KV 6), only the scene of the priest purifying the king is found.

Enigmatic Compositions

This rather loose category includes several different compositions that occur only once or twice, primarily in Dynasty 20 royal tombs such as KV 6 and KV 9. They are "enigmatic" because they either lack any accompanying text or because the text is written in unusual cryptographic hieroglyphs. The second gilded shrine that enclosed the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen had a composition of this type on its outer sides.

The right (southwest) wall of corridor D of the tomb of Rameses IX(KV 6) is decorated with two such scenes. The first represents the king offering to Ptah and Ma'at, followed by an ithyphallic figure of the god Osiris leaning against a sandy hill, protected by a giant serpent. Farther along the same wall is a composition in three registers. The top register consists of a series of sand-filled circles, each containing an inverted spread-eagled man. There is a solar bark bearing a scarab at the far end of the middle register and from it arrows fly to pierce serpents and goddesses standing on mounds adoring the sun. The bottom register features such unusual figures as a sun disk with scarabs emerging, a two-headed mummy, a leaning god holding a snake, four figures leaning backward, and four goddesses standing on serpents. The rear wall of the burial chamber in KV 6 has traces of a scene showing the resurrection of Osiris beneath a representation of the morning and evening solar barks. A nearly identical (and better-preserved) version decorated the ceiling of the chamber I of KV 9.

The ceilings of both KV 6 and KV 9 have other unique and enigmatic scenes. These include different views of the solar bark and its occupants, figures standing on beds, and the Mehen-serpent. In KV 9, the ceiling of chamber H is decorated with different aspects of the sun god Ra, as well as the lunar crescent and disk. There is a scene perhaps intended to repel hostile forces in the area of the accidental breakthrough into KV 12 above gate I.