Egyptian mythology

Mythical places — Egyptian mythology

The Duat is not a hell but a journey: Ra's barque crosses it every night in twelve hours, confronts Apophis and is reborn at dawn. Each entry describes one topography of the Egyptian afterlife, from the Field of Reeds where the dead plough forever to Rosetau, drawing on the funerary guides — Amduat, Book of Gates, Book of the Dead — whose maps do not always agree. Earthly cult sites, from Heliopolis to Abydos by way of Memphis and Karnak, are covered instead within the entries for the gods they belong to.

The Duat, Egyptian underworld, with the solar barque crossing the hours of the night

The Duat: the underworld of the dead in Egyptian mythology

The Duat, the Egyptian underworld: nocturnal realm crossed by the sun, place of Osiris's judgment and the twelve hours of the night mapped by the funerary books.

Sennedjem and Iineferti ploughing and harvesting in the Fields of Iaru

The Field of Reeds: the farmland paradise of the Egyptian dead

The Field of Reeds (Sekhet-Iaru), the Egyptian afterlife paradise: an idealised Egypt where the justified dead plough, harvest, and send shabtis to do the work.