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

247 Pages·2010·14.78 MB·English

by  Andreas Schweizer

the sungod’s journey
through the netherworld

The Sungod’s Journey
through the Netherworld
Reading the Ancient Egyptian Amduat
Andreas Schweizer
Edited by David Lorton
Foreword by Erik Hornung
Cornell University Press
Ithaca & London
Originally published as Seelenführer durch den verborgenen Raum
by Andreas Schweizer in 1994 by Kösel-Verlag
Copyright © 1994 by Andreas Schweizer
English translation copyright © 2010 by Cornell University
English translation of Foreword copyright © 2010 by Erik Hornung
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this
book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address
Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca,
New York 14850.
First published 2010 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schweizer, Andreas, 1946–
[Seelenführer durch den verborgenen Raum. English]
The sungod’s journey through the netherworld : reading the
ancient Egyptian Amduat / Andreas Schweizer ; edited by David
Lorton ; foreword by Erik Hornung.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-4875-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Book of that which is in the nether world. 2. Eschatology,
Egyptian. 3. Voyages to the otherworld. 4. Egypt—Religion.
I. Lorton, David, 1945– II. Title.
PJ1558.S3913 2010
299'.31—dc22 2009044411
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword to the German Edition, by Erik Hornung vii
Acknowledgments ix
Editor’s Note xi
Immersion into Darkness 1
The Amduat—The Book of the Hidden Chamber 15
The Title of the Amduat 23
First Hour: The Jubilation of the Baboons
Getting in Touch with the Animal Soul 31
Second Hour: The Fertile Region of Wernes
First Encounter with the Psychic Totality:
Creation and Destruction 49
Third Hour: Rowing on the Water of Osiris
The Experience of Love through the World of Psychic Images 63
Fourth Hour: The Snake-Land of Sokar
The Dark Night of the Soul 77
Fifth Hour: The Mystery of the Cavern of Sokar
The Regenerative Force of Depression 101
Sixth Hour: The Corpse of the Sungod and the Rebirth of Light
Re-Union of the Opposites 119
Seventh Hour: Apopis, Enemy of the Sun
The Unstable Balance of the New 133
Eighth Hour: Provision with Clothes
Religious Renewal 151
Ninth Hour: The Sungod’s Crew
Manifestation of the New 159
v
Tenth Hour: The Bodyguard of the Sungod
Ready to Fight for the New 165
Eleventh Hour: The Renewal of Time
The Religious Dimension of Time and the New Consciousness 173
Twelfth Hour: The End of the Primeval Darkness
The Long-Awaited Birth 185
Closure: The Five Stages of Renewal 195
Chronology 211
Glossary 213
Bibliography 221
Illustration Credits 225
Index 227
vi Contents
Foreword to the German Edition
by Erik Hornung
Around the year 1500 BC, an ancient Egyptian created an illustrated
vision of the hereafter, the Amduat, that ranks among the great achieve-
ments of humankind. In Egypt its impact endured for more than a mil-
lennium: it served as the model for a whole literary genre, today known
as the Books of the Afterlife or Books of the Netherworld, whose tradi-
tion endured well into the Graeco-Roman era. Scholars believe it even
left its mark in certain Gnostic texts, in the Hermetic tractates, and in
early Christian visions of the beyond.
As Egyptian art and literature are usually anonymous, the name of the
Amduat’s author is lost forever. But even after thousands of years, his work
still speaks to us. It is a “multimedia” presentation, using both illustrations
and texts to describe the subterranean realm of the “Hidden Chamber” of
the hereafter. We have, however, had to learn anew how to respect these
messages. Only after many generations did Egyptologists become con-
scious of what a treasure had been entrusted to them. Concerning the
Amduat, certain highly respected scholars once expressed scorn regard-
ing “fantasies” and “grotesque faces” incubated in the witch’s cauldron of
priestly sorcerers. Other pioneers, though, such as Champollion and later
Maspero and Piankoff, realized the value of the Books of the Netherworld
and made early attempts to decipher them. Since then, research into the
texts and images has made huge progress, attracting attention far beyond
Egyptology. In particular, there has been great interest among modern
psychologists, since the Amduat offers material comparable to that found
in modern dreams, especially with its talk about the phenomenon of re-
generation, which concerns not only the Sungod and the dead but also
the living human soul, even that of people today.
Dr. Andreas Schweizer has made the most successful attempt so far
at a psychological decipherment of the Amduat. In his treatment, the
ancient Egyptian sources come alive, speaking to us without seeming
vii
alien to our modern ways of thinking. He invites us to join the nocturnal
voyage of the solar barque and to immerse ourselves, with the “Great
Soul”— that is, with the sun—in the darkness surrounding us. Here in
the illustrations and texts of the Amduat, threats hidden in the depths
of our soul become visible as concrete images, an analysis of which re-
mains ever worthwhile: even in the guise of the evil, ominous, or dark
side of godhead with which Andreas Schweizer concerns himself. The
netherworld into which we descend underlies our own world. Creative
energies of dreadful intensity are active there, and only death, to which
all must surrender, makes us truly alive by offering us regeneration from
the depths.
viii Foreword
Acknowledgments
More than ten years have passed since this book was published in
German—Seelenführer durch den verborgenen Raum: Das ägyptische
Unterweltsbuch Amduat (Munich, 1994)—and this edition has long been
out of print. It is therefore a great pleasure to me that Cornell University
Press has been willing to publish this revised edition in English.
In the meantime, I have become increasingly cognizant of the fact that
ancient Egypt is not only the source of many basic Judeo-Christian ideas
but also the actual origin of the underlying beliefs of alchemy, that is, the
thought of those ancient Greek and medieval philosophers who, more
than any other scholars, were deeply aware of the richness of the human
psyche and its capacity to regenerate, again and again, from stagnation
and depression. Especially as we encounter it in the New Kingdom, an-
cient Egyptian belief in the continuous regeneration of the Sungod in the
netherworld—and, with him, of all beings and creation—found beauti-
ful expression in the writings of the medieval alchemists, and from there,
these beliefs gradually transformed into the seedbed of modern depth
psychology. It was C. G. Jung who discovered these treasures of alchemy,
which are deeply rooted in the history of humankind. In his time, how-
ever, the principal Egyptian sources had yet to be published. Thanks
mainly to Erik Hornung and his assistant, Elisabeth Staehelin in Basel,
and to their tremendous achievements in decipherment and translation,
we today have access to all the major Books of the Netherworld and their
incredibly rich symbolism. The intent of the present book is to illuminate
some of this symbolism for the reader.
I am greatly indebted to David Lorton, who corrected my transla-
tion in a most sensitive and excellent manner. I enjoyed every moment
of our collaboration. I am also grateful to the staff of Cornell University
Press, and especially to Peter Potter, for their willingness to include this
book in their publishing program. Many thanks go to my dear friend
ix