The Sungod's Journey through the Netherworld: Reading the Ancient Egyptian Amduat

Second Hour

second hour The Fertile Region of Wernes First Encounter with the Psychic Totality: Creation and Destruction Second Hour 50 The Sungod and his crew have reached the end of the intermediate realm of the first hour. Sailing through the gate called “He-who-devours-all,” they enter the waters of a truly fertile region of paradisiacal beauty. Those who dwell on the riverbanks greet them warmly with jubilation and rejoicing . Everywhere in the depiction of this second hour we see symbols of lush vegetation. One example is the two grain gods in the second barque of the middle register: two ears of wheat, a sign of their fertility, serve as their attribute. Another is the depiction of the six grain gods at the end of the lower register and the text that accompanies them: They are those who present the green plants which are in Wernes to the gods in the following of Re. They are those who offer water to the Akh-spirits (the blessed dead) as this great god commands. It is they who heat the embers to burn up the enemies of Re, they are those who throw the hearts into the fire. Then they wail and they mourn after this great god has passed by them. The fields of grain ripen in the warmth of the sun’s rays.But asAfricans and others who dwell in extreme heat know from bitter experience, too much of that same heat can burn and destroy the entire abundance. The Sungod has two faces,and these are mirrored in the blessing and the curse just quoted, coming from the mouths of dwellers in the netherworld. In the fertile field of Wernes, the dead are provided with an abundance of the food needed for life’s satisfaction. It would have been contrary to the inherent sensibilities of the Egyptians, however, not to mention the dark and destructive aspect of life as well. In this hour and in the one that follows, the images and symbols openly proclaim the beauty of earthly existence. May the joys of life not cease in death! What the deceased wished for and expected during their sojourn in the Field of Reeds (another name for Wernes) is expressed in spell 110 of the Book of the Dead: I have come to the Great God in order that I may receive the provisions Fertile Region of Wernes 51 which his goodwill grants of bread and beer, oxen and fowl... having strength thereby, having power thereby, plowing therein, reaping and eating therein, drinking therein, copulating therein, and doing everything that used to be done on earth.1 There, in the distant fields of the beyond, the zest for life will continue. Four wishes are expressed: to have power, to share in the blessings of the gods (plowing and reaping), to be provided with food and water, and to participate in the continuity of life (having intercourse). These very wishes are illustrated by the four boats we see depicted in front of the sun barque (though they are, of course, in the Sungod’s entourage). In the first boat are the grain gods we have already mentioned. Erik Hornung has suggested that the crocodile in the next boat refers to the ruler of the watery region of Wernes; if so, it would symbolize the power and domain of the Sungod, which extend to the subterranean realm of the netherworld . Each one of the deceased wishes to participate in this power and not to be powerless, like the condemned dead. The symbolism of the third boat refers to the goddess Hathor, who is flanked by two other goddesses, probably Isis and Nephthys. Hathor is the goddess of love, of the playful liveliness of games and dance, and even of drunken ecstasy. Her characteristics are both positive and negative: they include not only maternal care, leniency, and graciousness but also destructive, wrathful, bloodthirsty rage. With these traits, she is a typical example of the divine figure known as the Great Goddess, the most famous example perhaps being the Babylonian Ishtar. Ishtar is enamored of life and liveliness, and she hates standstill; thus, though it might seem paradoxical, she sows the seeds of discord and hate in the service of the renewal of love. For love, after all, bears everything but that which is motionless and without change. That Hathor represents plenitude of life and its continuous renewal is made clear...