The Ancient Egyptian Bok of the Duat

By STACY DALTON

Every morning, a fearful monster called apep lurked beneath the place of sunrise, ready to swallow up the solar disk. This "Great Devil" was impossible to destroy, even for the Sun-god. However, by reciting morning after morning the powerful spell that Thoth provided him with, he could paralyze all of Apep's limbs and rise upon this World. Since the "great gods," though benevolently inclined towards the dead, are unable to protect them from demons that lived upon "bodies, souls, spirits, shadows, and hearts of the dead," the Egyptians decided to invoke Thoth's assistance on behalf of their dead and to place them under the protection of his spells. Many funerary texts were composed by Egyptian theologians under the fourth dynasty (about 3700 B.C.) and were probably well known under the first dynasty and throughout the whole Period of dynastic history; Thoth was thought to be the author of the "Book of the Dead."

• Language: English
• Publisher: DTTV PUBLICATIONS
• Release date: Apr 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201739645

STACY DALTON

Stacy Dalton's Fascination with Egypt began at an early age, when he showed proficiency and high aptitude for languages, having read the story of Jean Francois Champollion and the decoding of the hieroglyphs, he was immediately drawn to Ancient languages of Egypt and the Middle East. He has worked on 9 expeditions and written 33 papers on every Kingdom and Dynasty of Egypt, he has now expanded his insights into other ancient civilizations and dabbles as an investigative mythologist. Stacy believes when we crack the origins of creation mythology we will crack ancient civilizations, something many scholars largely ignore.

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STACY DALTON

It can be inferred from the objects found in the predynastic Egyptian graves, such as food vessels, flint knives, and weapons, that these early residents of the Nile Valley believed in a future existence. The art of inscription was unknown to them, so their graves do not contain any inscriptions, so we may only infer from texts of the dynastic PeriodPeriod what their ideas about the Other World were. It did not seem to be of great importance to them to preserve the dead body in as complete and perfect a state as possible since, in many of their graves, the heads, hands, and feet of the dead have been found to have been severed from the trunks and laying at some distance from them. Dynastic Egyptians, on the other hand, either as a result of differences in religious belief or due to the influence of invaders who had settled in their country, attached great importance to the preservation and integrity of a dead body, and they took all necessary measures to prevent its dismemberment and decay. Cleansing it and embalming it with drugs, spices, and balsams; anointing it with aromatic oils and preservative fluids; wrapping it in hundreds of yards of linen bandages; and placing it in a coffin or sarcophagus, hewn into the mountain's bowels.

These things were done to safeguard the physical body from dampness, dry rot, decay, and attacks from moths, beetles, worms, and wild animals. Nevertheless, these were not the only enemies of the dead against whom precautions had to be taken: both the mummified body and the spirit which inhabited it on earth had to be protected from many devils and fiends as the forces of darkness generally. Invading the region through which the road of the dead passes between this World and the Kingdom of Osiris, these evil powers had hideous and horrifying forms, and their haunts were well known. They were afraid of them and used spells and magical names and words of power, composed and written down by Thoth, to protect themselves. Ancient Egyptians believed that R* the Sun-god owed his continued existence to the secret name Thoth had given him.

Every morning, a fearful monster called *apep lurked beneath the place of sunrise, ready to swallow up the solar disk. This Great Devil was impossible to destroy, even for the Sun-god. However, by reciting morning after morning the powerful spell that Thoth provided him with, he could paralyze all of Apep's limbs and rise upon this World. Since the great gods, though benevolently inclined towards the dead, are unable to protect them from demons that lived upon bodies, souls, spirits, shadows, and hearts of the dead, the Egyptians decided to invoke Thoth's assistance on behalf of their dead and to place them under the protection of his spells. Many funerary texts were composed by Egyptian theologians under the fourth dynasty (about 3700 B.C.) and were probably well known under the first dynasty and throughout the whole PeriodPeriod of dynastic history; Thoth was thought to be the author of the Book of the Dead.

One line in the Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus. No. 10477) indicates that the text of the piece called PER-T EM HRU, i.e., Coming forth (or, into) the Day, was found by a high official in the remains of a shrine of the God Hennu during the time of Semti, or Hesepti, a king of the first dynasty. According to another rubric on the same papyrus, the text was inlaid with lapis lazuli on the alabaster plinth of a sculpture of Menkaur* (Mycerinus), a king of the IVth dynasty.

King Khufu (Cheops)'s son Prince Herutataf discovered the plinth and presented it as a most wonderful find to his King.

In ancient times, this composition was highly revered, for it was believed to "promote a man's victory on earth and