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{{Short description|Underworld in Egyptian mythology}}
{{About|the Egyptian underworld|the evergreen tree|Syzygium cumini|the aviation weather service|DUATS|the region on Mars|Amenthes quadrangle}}[[File:The_judgement_of_the_dead_in_the_presence_of_Osiris.jpg|thumb|513x513px|The '[[Weighing of the Heart]]' from the ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' from the Papyrus of [[Hunefer]], dated to the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|19th Dynasty]] around 1275 BCE. The deceased Hunefer is taken into the judgment hall by the deity [[Anubis]], who weighs a portion of Hunefer's soul, [[Ancient Egyptian conception of the soul|represented by his heart.]] This ritual is completed with [[Ammit|Ammit the Devourer]] awaiting the result, and [[Thoth]] recording. Next, the triumphant Hunefer, having passed the test, is presented by the falcon-headed [[Horus]] to [[Osiris]], seated in his shrine with [[Isis]], [[Nephthys]] and the [[four sons of Horus]].<ref name="mw-2012" /> ]]
The '''Duat''' or '''Tuat''' ([[Ancient Egypt|Ancient Egyptian]]: [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Hieroglyph]]: 𓇽 romanized: [[wiktionary:dwꜣt#Egyptian|dwꜣt]]) is a concept in ancient [[Egyptian mythology]] involving death. It is most often seen as a realm where people go after they die. Due to linguistic shifts within [[Ancient Egypt]], the ''Duat'' has also been called '''Te''' ({{langx|cop|Ⲧⲏ|Tē}}) and '''Amenthes''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀμένθης|translit=Aménthēs}}).   

What is known of the ''Duat'' derives principally from funerary texts such as the ''[[Book of Gates]]'', the ''[[Book of Caverns]]'', the ''[[Coffin Texts]]'', the ''[[Amduat]]'', and the ''[[Book of the Dead]],'' among many other sources.<ref name="Taylor-2010-BkotDd" /><ref name="Faulkner-2000-EBotD" /> It is generally known best as a dark subterranean realm that not only houses the deceased, but a variety of [[Deity|deities]].<ref name="Hornung-2013">{{Cite book |last=Hornung |first=Erik |url=https://archive.org/details/the-egyptian-book-of-gates/page/12/mode/1up |title=The Egyptian Book of Gates |publisher=Living Human Heritage Publications |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-9523880-5-1}}</ref> Common deities depicted in these texts are [[Osiris]], [[Anubis]], [[Thoth]], [[Horus]], and [[Maat]] in various forms.<ref name="mw-2012">{{Cite web |date=2012-09-26 |title=Egyptian Book of the Dead |url=http://www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html |access-date=2025-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926051942/http://www.egyptartsite.com/hall1.html |archive-date=26 September 2012 }}</ref> While all of these documents involve the ''Duat'', each of them fulfilled a different [[Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs|purpose]] and depict the ''Duat'' in a variety of unique ways.<ref name="Taylor-2001-DthAftrlf" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zago |first=Silvia |date=2018 |title=Imagining the Beyond: The Conceptualization of Duat between the Old and the Middle Kingdoms |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27325386 |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |volume=54 |pages=203–218 |jstor=27325386 |issn=0065-9991}}</ref>

== Overview ==
This realm is most often depicted as a setting for a variety of rituals and [[Egyptian mythology|mythological]] events, especially the journey and judgment of the soul after death and the nightly rebirth of the sun god [[Ra]].<ref name="sacred-texts.com">{{Cite web |title=Book of the Am-Tuat Index |url=https://sacred-texts.com/egy/bat/index.htm |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref> The ''Duat'' is divided into sections by [[Gate deities of the underworld|twelve guarded gates]] that represent each hour of the night and are closely associated with the journey of Ra and prominently feature [[Osiris]], god of the ''Duat'' and personification of rebirth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Margret R. |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Facts on File Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=0-8160-4563-1 |edition=Revised |page=412}}</ref>
[[File:Coffin_of_Gua.jpg|left|thumb|The ''Book of Two Ways,'' a ''[[Coffin Texts|Coffin Text]],'' depicts a map like image of the Duat, seen as two pathways in the right middle of this coffin.]]

=== Geography ===
To connect this realm to the material world, burial chambers formed touching-points between the mundane world and the ''Duat''.<ref name="Pinch-1994-Magic" /> As such, the west bank of the [[Nile]] was associated with the dead and [[Ancient Egyptian funerary practices|funeral barges]] would mimic the sun god Ra's journey through the sky during the day.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kandil |first=Hoda Abd allah |year=2012 |title=The Function and Symbolism of the Akh in Ancient Egypt |url=https://platform.almanhal.com/Details/article/14853 |journal=Faculty of Arts Journal |publisher=Mansoura University : Faculty of Arts |publication-date=2012 |volume=87 |issue=49 P2 |pages=1–14 |via=Al Manhal Platform}}</ref> To further this connection, the ''Duat'' is often described as having many realistic features such as rivers, islands, fields, paths, and lakes. Although, texts also describe fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron, and trees of turquoise.<ref name="Taylor-2010-BkotDd" /> These lands are described as being dark and were partitioned with a series of gates, and mostly identified as Shetit, a dangerous land translated as 'The Beyond'.<ref name="Hornung-2013" /> Descriptions of the ''Duat'' often follow this same theme with titles such as 'The Hidden Place', described as a region where mortals and the divine are absent;<ref name="Hornung-2013" /> and 'Road of the Secret Things of Re-stau', a road that Ra passes in his nightly journey.<ref name="sacred-texts.com" />

[[File:BD Field of Hotep.jpg|thumb|416x416px|''A'aru'', 'The Field of Reeds' from the Papyrus of Ani]]
Important locations pertaining to the deceased would be 'The Hall of Truth', often depicted alongside the '[[Weighing of the Heart]]' ritual in ''Books of the Dead'' and mentioned in the sixth hour of Ra's journey.<ref name="ARCE" /><ref name="sacred-texts.com" /> If the dead are found virtuous, they will be permitted to dwell  in [[Aaru|''A'aru'']], also known as 'The Field of Reeds'.<ref name="Mark">{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Field of Reeds (Aaru) |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Field_of_Reeds/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> It is described as a paradise where the dead could live their former life with their loved ones without pain or suffering. Harvest of crops is often featured in depictions of ''A'aru'' as it was believed that the harvests were never poor and the land in eternal spring.<ref name="Mark" />

=== Deities ===
There are hundreds of different divinites of varying importance related to the ''Duat'' throughout time with the most referenced being:  

* [[Osiris]], who was believed to be the lord of the realm and personifies rebirth and the afterlife. In [[Osiris myth|his own mythology]], he himself is reborn after his brother [[Set (deity)|Seth]] slays him and Osiris's wife, [[Isis]] partially revives him. He is depicted as a man with green skin partially wrapped in bandages.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pinch |first=Geraldine |title=Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Oxford UNiversity Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-517024-5 |edition=Vol. 2 |pages=294–295}}</ref> 
* [[Anubis]], son of Osiris and [[Nephthys]], who weighs the heart of the deceased. His domains also cover the [[embalming]] and mummification process as well as acting to guide souls to the ''Duat'' upon death. He is depicted with the black head of a canine, most often assumed to be a [[jackal]].<ref name="Wilkinson-2017">{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |title=The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt |date=2017 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-28424-7 |location=London |pages=187–190}}</ref>
* [[Thoth]], who records the verdict of the 'Weighing of the Heart'. He is most often depicted as an [[Ibis]] headed man with a stylus and tablet.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" />
* [[Horus]], son of Osiris and Isis, who protects Ra during his journey through the ''Duat'' and is heir to Osiris.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" />[[File:Ani_chap125.jpg|thumb|The 42 Judges of Ma'at who sit as jury during the 'Weighing of the Heart' |179x179px]]
* [[Maat|Ma'at]], who is both the goddess of order and the conception of order, balance and truth itself. She is the feather that is weighed against the heart in the 'Weighing of the Heart' ritual.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" />
* [[Ammit]], of whom eats the hearts and souls of those who cannot pass the 'Weighing of the Heart' ritual. She is often depicted near the scales in ''Books of the Dead'' with the face of a crocodile, the mane and front half of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" /> 
* [[Ra]], god of the sun who must journey through the ''Duat'' every night to be reborn every morning.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" />
* [[Apep]], the personification of darkness and true chaos who attempts to devour Ra and bring about eternal chaos.<ref name="Wilkinson-2017" />

=== Mythological Significance ===

==== Housing of Souls/ Afterlife ====
{{Further|Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs|}}
In order to receive judgement the dead journeyed through the various parts of the Duat to be judged. If the deceased was successfully able to pass various challenges, then they would reach the ''Judgment of the dead''. In this ritual, the deceased's first task was to correctly address each of the forty-two [[Assessors of Maat]] by name, while reciting the sins they did not commit during their lifetime.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coogan |first1=Michael D. |title=A Reader of Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Sources for the Study of the Old Testament,"Negative Confessions" |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=149–150}}</ref> After confirming that they were sinless, the heart of the deceased was weighed by [[Anubis]] against the feather of [[Maat]], which represents truth and justice. Any heart that is heavier than the feather failed the test, and was rejected and eaten by [[Ammit]], the devourer of souls, as these people were denied existence after death in the Duat. The souls that were lighter than the feather would pass this most important test, and would be allowed to travel to Aaru.

The ''Duat'' is not equivalent to the conceptions of [[Hell]] in the [[Abrahamic religions]], in which souls are condemned with fiery torment. The absolute punishment for the wicked, in ancient Egyptian thought, was the denial of an afterlife to the deceased, ceasing to exist in the intellectual form seen through the devouring of the heart by Ammit.<ref name="Pinch-1994-Magic" />

==== Journey of the Sun ====
[[File:Book of Gates Barque of Ra cropped.jpg|thumb|220x220px|''Af'' or ''Afu'' (commonly known as ''Afu-Ra''), the ram-headed form of Ra when traveling the ''Duat'' on the subterrestrial [[Nile]] (the 12 hours of night and the underworld) on the ''Mesektet'' barque along with [[Sia (god)|Sia]] (left and front of barque) and [[Heka (god)|Heka]] (right and behind of barque), surrounded by the protective coiled serpent deity [[Mehen]]]]Each night Ra travelled through the ''Duat'', bringing revivification to the dead as their main benefit. When in the underworld he was in his [[Ovis longipes palaeoaegyptiacus|ram]]-headed form Af. Ra travelled under the world upon his [[Atet]] barge from west to east; on the course of the underground journey, he was transformed from his aged [[Atum]] form into his young [[Khepri]] form – the new dawning sun. The role of the dead king, worshiped as a god, was also central to the mythology surrounding the concept of Duat, often depicted as being identical with Ra.<ref name="Weigal-2005-05-27-Guide" />

Along with the sun god the dead king travelled through the Duat, the Kingdom of Osiris, using the special knowledge he was supposed to possess, which was recorded in the [[Coffin Texts]], that served as a guide to the hereafter not just for the king but for all deceased. According to the ''[[Amduat]]'', the underworld consists of twelve regions signifying the twelve hours of the sun god's journey through it, battling [[Apep]] in order to bring order back to the earth in the morning; as his rays illuminated the Duat during the journey, they revived the dead who occupied the underworld and let them enjoy life after death during that hour of the night when they were in the presence of the sun god, after which they resumed their sleep, waiting for the god's return the following night.<ref name="Taylor-2001-DthAftrlf" />

== Differences in Sources ==
{{Further|Coffin Texts|Amduat|Book of the Dead}}
[[File:The Weighing of the Heart.svg|thumb|290x290px|A section of the Egyptian [[Book of the Dead]] that is written on papyrus, showing the [[Weighing of the Heart]] in the Duat, where [[Anubis]] can be seen on the far right. The scales are shown with the feather balance, and [[Ammit]] awaits hearts that may need devoured.|left]]While the ''Duat'' has a variety of depictions, the ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' (also known as The Book of Coming Forth by Day) is considered to be an important and vital resource to understanding the ''Duat'' and is one of the most studied texts in Egyptology.<ref name="mw-2012" /><ref name="ARCE">{{Cite web |title=Book of the Dead: A Guidebook to the Afterlife |url=https://arce.org/resource/book-dead-guidebook-afterlife/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=ARCE |language=en}}</ref> Therefore, the conceptions of the ''Duat'' found in this text are considered to be the most commonly referenced [[Canon (fiction)|canon]] when discussing [[ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs]]. The ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' and [[Coffin Texts]] were collections of spells and prayers to protect the dead from the ''Duat''{{'}}s dangerous landscape. None of the available sources that discuss the Duat are to lay out a geography or coherent setting, but to describe a succession of rites of passage which the dead would have to pass to reach eternal life.<ref name="Taylor-2001-DthAftrlf" />

== In popular culture ==
* The Duat appears as a major location in [[Rick Riordan]]'s ''[[The Kane Chronicles]]'' series. It is revealed in ''[[The Crown of Ptolemy]]'' to have connections to the Mist from Riordan's ''[[Camp Half-Blood Chronicles]]'' series.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed Origins]]'', the Duat is an important aspect of the game with the main character, [[Bayek]], entering it multiple times.
* The Duat makes an appearance in the episode "[[Asylum (Moon Knight)|Asylum]]" of the [[Disney+]] series ''[[Moon Knight (miniseries)|Moon Knight]]'' (2022) as the place where [[Marc Spector (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Marc Spector]] and his alter [[Steven Grant (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Steven Grant]] are being guided by the Egyptian goddess [[Taweret (Marvel Cinematic Universe)|Taweret]] in the afterlife after being killed by [[Arthur Harrow]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dinh |first=Christine |date=April 27, 2022 |title='Moon Knight': Episode 5 Details Log |url=https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/moon-knight-episode-5-details-log-recap |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427112346/https://www.marvel.com/amp/articles/tv-shows/moon-knight-episode-5-details-log-recap |archive-date=April 27, 2022 |access-date=April 27, 2022 |website=[[Marvel.com]]}}</ref>
* In seminal Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs' work ''[[The Western Lands]]'', the time travelling, anti hero gunslinger, Kim Carsons explores the Duat and confronts its inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burroughs |first1=William S. |title=The Western Lands |date=1987 |publisher=Viking |location=NY |isbn= 0-670-81352-4}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Gate deities of the underworld|Gate deities of Duat]]
* [[Assessors of Maat|Assessors of Ma'at]]
* [[Weighing of souls|Weighing of Souls]]
* [[Ennead]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Faulkner-2000-EBotD>
{{cite book
 |editor-last=Faulkner |editor-first=R.
 |translator=Faulkner, R.
 |year=2000
 |title=The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The book of going forth by day
 |publisher=Chronicle Books
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Pinch-1994-Magic>
{{cite book
 |last=Pinch |first=G.
 |year=1994
 |title=Magic in Ancient Egypt
 |publisher=British Museum Press
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Taylor-2010-BkotDd>
{{cite book
 |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=John 
 |year=2010
 |title=Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
 |publisher=British Museum Press
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Taylor-2001-DthAftrlf>
<br/>
{{cite book
 |last=Taylor |first=John H.
 |year=2001
 |title=Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
 |place=Chicago, IL
 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press
 |isbn=0-226-79164-5
 |page=34
}}
</ref>

<ref name=Weigal-2005-05-27-Guide>
{{cite book
 |last=Weigal |first=Arthur Edward Pearse Brome
 |date=2005-05-27
 |title=A Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt |quote=from Abydos to the Sudan Frontier
 |edition=revised 1st |page=199
 |series=Kegan Paul Library of Ancient Egypt
 |publisher=Taylor & Francis
 |isbn=978-0-7103-1002-6
}}
</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite web
 |title=Apophis in the Duat
 |series=Egypt Legends
 |url=https://www.legends.egyptholiday.com/apophis_duat.htm
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507182219/https://www.legends.egyptholiday.com/apophis_duat.htm
 |archive-date=2006-05-07
}}

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}
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[[Category:Egyptian underworld|*]]
[[Category:Afterlife places]]
[[Category:Ancient Near Eastern cosmology]]

[[ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#D]]