We find other descriptions of the Duat in the _Book of Gates_ and the
_Book of Him that is in the Duat_, in which is outlined the journey
that the sun-god makes through the otherworld after he has set upon the
earth-world. Immediately after sinking he takes the form of Osiris,
which in this instance is that of a ram with a man's head. Coming to the
antechamber of the Duat in the west, his entrance is heralded by songs
of praise, raised by the Ape-gods, while serpents blow fire from their
mouths by the light of which his Pilot-gods steer his craft. All the
doors are thrown open, and the dead, revived by the earthly air which
Osiris carries with him, come to life again for a brief hour. All the
creatures of this portion of the Duat are provided with meat and drink
by command of the god. Such of the dead as dwell here are those who have
failed to pass the various tests for entrance to his court, and all that
they exist for is the material comfort provided for them by the brief
diurnal passage of the deity. When the sun, who in this form is known
as Af Ra, reaches the entrance to the second part of the Duat, which
is called Urnes, the gods of the first section depart from him, and do
not again behold his face until the following night. At this point the
boat of Af Ra is met by the boats of Osiris and his attendant gods, and
in this place also Osiris desires that the dead should receive food,
light, and air. Here he grapples with the serpents Hau and Neha-her, as
do most sun-gods during the time of darkness, and, having overcome them,
is led into the Field of the Grain-gods, where he reposes for a while.
When there he hearkens to the prayers of the living on behalf of the
dead, and takes account of the offerings made by them. Continuing his
journey, he traverses the twelve sections of the Duat. In some of these
we see what were probably quite separate realms of the dead, such as the
Realm of Seker, a god who is perhaps of greater antiquity than Osiris.
In this place his boat is useless, as there is no river in the gloomy
kingdom of Seker, which appears completely alien to Osiris. He therefore
repeats words of awful power, which compel the gods of the place to lead
him by subterranean passages from which he emerges into Amhet, where is
situated a stream of boiling water. But he is not out of the kingdom of
Seker until he reaches the sixth section, where dwell the dead kings of
Egypt and the 'Khu' or Spirit-souls. It is at this point of his journey
that Af Ra turns his face toward the east and directs his course to the
Mountain of the Sunrise; previous to this he has been journeying from
the south to the north. In the seventh section he is joined by Isis and
other deities, and here his path is obstructed by the wicked serpent
Apep, through whose body the attendant deities drive their daggers.
A company of gods tow him through the eighth section, but his vessel
sails itself through the ninth, and in the tenth and eleventh he seems
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