Luxor City (Thebes)
Luxor or Thebes was the Ancient Capital of Egypt for a long time but became most important during the New Kingdom1570 to 900 BC. Luxor was famous for its great buildings, furthermore, when the Arabs came in 641 AD they called it El-Aqsur, which means palaces.
The Valley of the King
It was called, “The Big and Nobel Necropolis of Millions of Years of the Pharaoh.”, for 500 years the Valley of the Kings was the burial place for the Pharaohs of Egypt. Ancient Egyptian Books Afterlife
Why did they choose this burial site?
The Valley of the Kings is about 9 km on the western bank of Luxor. Firstly, it was for the quality of the rocks; good quality, solid, and combat. Secondly, the Pharaohs built their tombs there to be away from grave robbers, who violated the Valley of the King several times.
Also, the Valley of the Kings was called the “Place of Truth”, and the scenes on the walls are related to the afterlife journey of the Pharaohs to the Afterworld. The Scenes show the obstacles fronted by the Pharaohs and the help of the Gods. In this Valley were discovered 64 tombs, most of them Royal Tombs, a few for Queens such as Queen Hatshepsut, and Queen Ta-wsret, and some for princes.
No tomb is similar to another, each tomb has its plan and its special interior designs. They wanted to reflect the night journey of the Pharaohs in the night sky and the night journey of the sun in the night sky of the Afterlife.
Egyptian History was divided into 30 Dynasties which means royal families; the Old Kingdom 3200 BC, the Middle Kingdom BC, and the New Kingdom. The Tombs of the Valley of the Kings date back to the New Kingdom, 1570 – 1070 BC, starting in the 18th Dynasty 1570-1319 BC, the 19th Dynasty 1319- 1196 BC, and the 20th Dynasty 1196-1070 BC.
The Book of the Dead “The Book of Going Forth by Day”
In the Book of Going Forth by Day, we found the spells on sheets of papyrus, inscribed on coffins, in tombs, and even on temple walls.
The deceased is always identified with the god Osiris, who was regarded as the king and the god of the dead. In the first part of the Book of the Dead, were written hymns to Ra and Osiris. The Book of the Dead consists of about 180 chapters.
Elysian Fields
This is chapter 110 which deals with the Elysian Fields or paradise for the ancient Egyptians.
Judgment of the Dead
Osiris in the Judgment of the Dead, chapter 125, I call it the Master Scene of the Book, was seated on his throne, behind him his sisters Isis and Nephthys. In front of him is the Balance on which there is the heart of the deceased and the feather of goddess Maat, goddess of Justice. Also, we could see Anubis who touching the balance and god Thoth, is writing the result of the Judgment. On the tongue of the balance, we see a Baboon symbol of the god Thoth too. Additionally, we could see Jury symbols of the 42 districts of Egypt, some editions were 12.
Isis was the sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Horus is represented in the human form of a hawk.
On the other hand the scale we see Anubis testing the tongue of the balance, and behind him, Thoth, the Scribe god, writing down the result of the weighing. There is a tri-formed beast, hippopotamus, Crocodile, and lion; Am-mit, Eater, who is waiting to devour the heart of the deceased, it would be light in the balance
Lake of Fire
In chapter, 126, the following chapter of the Judgment, on each corner is seated an ape symbol of Thoth, they put the sin away for the dead, they destroyed all the evil which belonged to the earth, and they let him enter to Re-stau, and eat cakes and sweetmeats.
The Magic of the Book of the Dead
The Egyptians believed that every word spoken must be followed by some effect, good or bad, a prayer by a qualified person or by a man ceremonially pure, in the proper place, and in the proper manner, must be answered favorably and similarly to the curses which were pronounced upon a man or beast or thing in the name of hostile supernatural being were bound to result in harm to the object cursed.
Thoth believed in the efficacy of his words, and in the Late Period, there was a belief the Book of the Dead was written by the fingers of Thoth himself.
The Book of That Which Is in the Underworld
“Imy-Duat”
This was one of the Ancient Egyptian Books Afterlife. It was intended to assist the deceased Kings in their journey through the night sky, and sometimes they were identified as Osiris; god of the dead. The Book of Imy-Duat deals with the journey of God Ra during the night journey, showing the places crossed by Ra. It consists of 12 Hours
1st Hour: The netherworld gods are welcoming Ra, we can see Baboons, goddesses which are the personification of the night hours, and each goddess has a name. We can see some snakes…etc.
The 4th Hour: This 4th hour deals with the protection of the Eye of Ra, known sometimes as Horus Eye, which is brought by Sokar and Thoth.
12th Hour
This hour deals with the resurrection of the dead king who symbols the god before the sunrise.
The Book of the Gates
The Book of the Gates was found in the 19th Dynasty royal tombs; there are Gates with guardians and deities, whose names must be known to pass the gates. The 20th Dynasty version had 12 gates corresponding to the 12 hours of the night, which are depicted on the star clocks on the ceilings of the burial chambers. The 12 Gates are protected by an erected snake. The Ancient Egyptian Books Afterlife are many.
The 5th Gate “Hall of Osiris”
The 5th Gate is known as the ” Hall of Osiris, who is sitting on the throne keeping the symbols Heqka and Ankh, royalty and Life, and Osiris is wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Deceased brings the balance above his head, and there are two baboon symbols of god Thoth, one is keeping a stick, and the other is inside a boat with a pig, the symbol of god Seth, evil, the baboon is hitting the pig.
The Final Representation
The Solar Barque is lifted by the god Nun, whose arms emerge from the water, they lift the god. God Ra is represented here as a Scarab Beetle, which carries the sun disk above the head. Inside the Solar Barque, there are some gods and goddesses, such as the doorkeeper, Isis, Nephthys, Shu, Magic (Hka), Hu, and Sia
The Book of the Heavenly Cow
The Book of the Heavenly Cow deals with the aging sun god, Ra, who got old, and the humans plot against him. So he sent his eye, Hathor, to destroy the people on the earth. Hathor was enjoying her task, but Ra changed and asked her to stop, but no use. He ordered making red-colored beer as a substitute for blood to stop her slaughtering. Finally, Ra rides on the back of Nut the cow, high in the sky
The Ancient Egyptian Books Afterlife Photos
