Chapter 2 (part 2)

PER-EM-HRU, or, "[The Book] of the Coming Forth by Day." 2. SHAT ENT AM TUAT, or, "The Book of that which is in the Tuat." 3. The composition to which the name "Book of Gates" has been given. Now the first of these, which is commonly known as the "Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead," has supplied us with much valuable information about the beliefs which flourished in connection with an early form of the ancient cult of Osiris in the Delta, and p. x with the later form of his worship, after he had absorbed the position and attributes of Khenti-Amenti, an old local deity of Abydos. The two other Books, however, are as important, each in its own way, as the "Book of the Dead," for they throw considerable light on the development of the material and spiritual elements in the religion of Egypt, and commemorate the belief in the existence of numbers of primitive gods, who are unknown outside these Books. The "Book Am-Tuat," in the form in which we know it, was drawn up by the priests of the confraternity of Amen-Ra at Thebes, with the express object of demonstrating that their god was the overlord of all the gods, and the supreme power in "Pet Ta Tuat," or, as we should say, "Heaven, Earth, and Hell." The Tuat, or Other World, which they imagined included the Tuat of every great district of Egypt, viz., the Tuat of Khenti-Amenti at Abydos, the Tuat of Seker of Memphis, the Tuat of Osiris of Mendes, and the Tuat of Temu-Kheper-Ra of Heliopolis. In the BOOK AM-TUAT the god Amen-Ra was made to pass through all these Tuats as their overlord and god, and his priests taught that all the gods of the dead, including Osiris, lived through his words, and that such refreshing as the beings of the Tuat enjoyed each day was due to his grace and light during his passage through their regions and Circles. Moreover, according to the dogmas of the priests of Amen-Ra, only those who were fortunate enough to secure a place p. xi in the divine bark of the god could hope to traverse the Tuat unharmed, and only those who were his elect had the certainty of being re-born daily, with a new supply of strength and life, and of becoming of like nature and substance with him. In the BOOK OF GATES the dogmas and doctrines of Osiris are far more prominent, and the state of the beatified closely resembles that described in the "Book of the Dead." In primitive times in Egypt men thought that they would obtain admission into the kingdom of Hetep by learning and remembering the secret name of this god and certain magical formulae, and by pronouncing them in the correct way at the proper time. The need for a consciousness of sin, and repentance, and a life of good works, were not then held to be indispensable for admission into the abode of the beatified. From the "Book of Gates," however, we learn that in the later Dynastic Period a belief was prevalent that those who worshipped the "great god" on earth, and made all the duly-appointed offerings, and turned not aside to "miserable little gods," and lived according to maat , i.e., uprightness and integrity, would receive a good reward because they had done these things.