175: The Ancient Egyptian Book of Gates (Part 1)

Mar 21, 2023

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In the dark of the night, Ra took a journey through the Duat (underworld). His voyage was fraught with danger, but he also made many friends along the way. In the Book of Gates, the sun god takes a mysterious but meaningful journey...

Details:

Date: c.1305 BCE (first recorded appearance).
Source: KV57, the tomb of Horemheb, and others.
Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.
Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.
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Music intro: Jeffrey Goodman.
Music interludes: Cover versions by Luke Chaos.
Music outro: Ancient Lyric.
Logo image: Ra on his solar barque, from the tomb of Ramesses I (Photo by Dominic Perry, 2022).
TRANSLATIONS of the Book of Gates by Erik Hornung (2014) and John Darnell & Colleen Manassa Darnell (2018).

Select Bibliography:

J. Assmann, Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun and the Crisis of Polytheism (1995).
C. Carrier, Grands Livres Funéraires de l’Égypte Pharaonique (2009).
J. C. Darnell and C. Manassa Darnell, The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books (2018).
E. Hornung, Das Grab des Haremhab im Tal der Könige (1971).
E. Hornung, Das Buch von den Pforten des Jenseits, I (1979).
E. Hornung, Das Buch von den Pforten des Jenseits, II (1984).
E. Hornung, The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife (1999).
E. Hornung, The Egyptian Book of Gates, trans. T. Abt (2014).
C. Manassa, ‘The Judgement Hall of Osiris in the Book of Gates’, Revue d’Égyptologie 57 (2006), 109—150.
J. Roberson, ‘The Royal Funerary Books: The Subject Matter of Scenes and Texts’, in R. H. Wilkinson and K. R. Weeks (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (2016), 316–332.
M. Smith, Following Osiris: Perspectives on the Osirian Afterlife from Four Millenia (2017).
Theban Mapping Project, ‘KV 57 The Tomb of Horemheb’.
Y. Volokhine, Le porc en Égypte ancienne (2014).
J. Zandee, ‘The Book of Gates’, Liber Amicorum: Studies in Honor of Professor Dr. C.J. Bleeker (1969), 282–324.

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