|
Duat (pronounced "do-aht") (also Tuat and Tuaut or Akert, Amenthes, Amenti, or Neter-khertet) was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It was the realm of the deity Osiris and the residence of other gods and supernatural beings. The ''Duat'' was the region through which the sun god Ra traveled from west to east during the night, and where he battled Apep. It was also the place where people's souls went after death for judgement, though that was not the full extent of the afterlife.〔Faulkner, p. 143〕 Burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the ''Duat'', and spirits could use tombs to travel back and forth from the ''Duat''.〔Pinch, pp. 33–5〕 What is known of the ''Duat'' derives principally from funerary texts such as the ''Book of Gates'', the ''Book of Caverns'', the ''Coffin Texts'', the ''Amduat'', and the ''Book of the Dead''. Each of these documents fulfilled a different purpose and gave a different perspective on the ''Duat'', and different texts could be inconsistent with one another. Surviving texts differ in age and origin, and there likely was never a single uniform interpretation of the ''Duat''.〔Taylor, p. 134〕 The geography of ''Duat'' is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew. There are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, along with fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron and trees of turquoise. In the ''Book of Two Ways'', one of the ''Coffin Texts'', there is even a map-like image of the ''Duat''.〔Taylor, p. 133〕 The ''Book of the Dead'' and ''Coffin Texts'' were intended to guide people who had recently died through the ''Duats dangerous landscape and to a life as an akh or blessed spirit amongst the gods. The dead person must pass a series of gates guarded by dangerous spirits, depicted as human bodies with grotesque heads of animals, insects, torches or knives.〔Taylor, pp. 13–7〕 These beings have equally grotesque names, for instance "Blood-drinker who comes from the Slaughterhouse" or "One who eats the excrement of his hindquarters".〔Pinch, p. 34〕 Other features emphasised in these texts are mounds and caverns, inhabited by gods or supernatural animals, which threatened the spirits of the dead. The purpose of the books is not to lay out a geography, but to describe a succession of rites of passage which the dead would have to pass to reach the afterlife.〔Taylor, pp. 138–140〕 If the deceased successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the ''Weighing of the Heart''. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice. The heart would become out of balance because of failure to follow Ma'at and any hearts heavier or lighter than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru. In spite of the unpleasant inhabitants of the ''Duat'', this was no Hell to which souls were condemned; the nature of ''Duat'' is more complex than that. The grotesque spirits of the underworld were not evil, but under the control of the Gods.〔Pinch, p. 34〕 The ''Duat'' was also a residence of gods themselves; as well as Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor and Ma'at all appear as a dead soul makes its way toward judgement. It was also in the underworld that the sun, Ra, travelled under the Earth from west to east and was transformed from its aged Atum form into Khepri, the new dawning Sun. Just as a dead person faced many challenges in the ''Duat'', Ra faced attack in the underworld from the evil serpent Apep.〔Faulkner, p. 150〕 ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Duat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|