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The Egyptian Book of Gates
The Egyptian Book of Gates is the second large Pharaonic Book of the Afterlife after The Egyptian Amduat.The revised English translation is based on the German edition, edited by Erik Hornung.The hieroglyphs and transcriptions are given on the basis of a collation of the extant texts found in different tombs. The main illustrations of the text come from the sarcophagus of Seti I.The 100 scenes of the Book of Gates are furthermore represented with one or more colored illustrations, originating from different sources.
- GenresEgyptEgyptology
475 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
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About the author
Erik Hornung
75 books32 followersHornung was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1933 and gained his PH.D. at the University of Tübingen in 1956.
He was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Basel from 1967 to 1998.
His main research field has been funerary literature, the Valley of the Kings in particular.
He published the first edition of the Book of Amduat in three volumes between 1963 and 1967.
J. Gwyn Griffiths described Hornung as the foremost authority in such literature.
His book Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt, The One and the Many has become his best-known work, in which he concludes, whilst acknowledging previous work by Henri Frankfort and his "multiplicity of approaches" and John A. Wilson's "complementary" treatment of Egyptian modes of thought, that "Anyone who takes history seriously will not accept a single method as definitive; the same should be true of anyone who takes belief seriously".
Hornung became Vice-President of the Society of the Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt in 1988. His books have been published in German, but many have been translated into English.
He was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Basel from 1967 to 1998.
His main research field has been funerary literature, the Valley of the Kings in particular.
He published the first edition of the Book of Amduat in three volumes between 1963 and 1967.
J. Gwyn Griffiths described Hornung as the foremost authority in such literature.
His book Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt, The One and the Many has become his best-known work, in which he concludes, whilst acknowledging previous work by Henri Frankfort and his "multiplicity of approaches" and John A. Wilson's "complementary" treatment of Egyptian modes of thought, that "Anyone who takes history seriously will not accept a single method as definitive; the same should be true of anyone who takes belief seriously".
Hornung became Vice-President of the Society of the Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt in 1988. His books have been published in German, but many have been translated into English.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 1, 2020
One of 10 known funerary texts from Egypt's New Kingdom period. Read this for the incantations, but found the researcher's notes far more interesting :
-------------------------
[ From the archeologist's notes : ]
"The sarcophagus is 9 ft. 4 in. long, 3 ft. 8 in. wide, in the widest part... The thickness of the alabaster varies from 21 to 4 inches. The skill of the mason who succeeded in hollowing the blocks without breaking, or even cracking them, is marvelous..."
"The ceiling also is finely painted, and in pretty good preservation."
"I saw the impossibility of proceeding at the moment."
"A rope fastened to a piece of wood, that was laid across the passage against the projections which formed a kind of door, appears to have been used by the ancients for descending into the pit... The rope in the inside of the wall did not fall to dust, but remained pretty strong..."
"...We found ourselves in a beautiful hall... it is covered with figures, which though only outlined, are so fine and perfect, that you would think they had been drawn only the day before."
"...The paintings became more perfect as we advanced farther into the interior. They retained their gloss, or a kind of varnish over the colours, which had a beautiful effect.... When standing in the centre of this chamber, the traveller is surrounded by an assembly of Egyptian gods and goddesses."
"...We found the carcass of a bull in it, embalmed with asphaltum; and also, scattered in various places, ail immense quantity of small wooden figures of mummies 6 or 8 in. long, and covered with asphaltum to preserve them."
"It is a sarcophagus of the finest oriental alabaster... Its thickness is only 2 inches, and it is transparent, when a light is placed in the inside of it."
"At the end of this passage we found a great quantity of bats' dung..."
[ From the text itself : ]
"Pure is the dead body which is in the earth..."
"I know this great god unto whose nostrils ye present offerings of tchefau. Rekem is his name. He maketh a way through the eastern-horizon of heaven."
.
-------------------------
[ From the archeologist's notes : ]
"The sarcophagus is 9 ft. 4 in. long, 3 ft. 8 in. wide, in the widest part... The thickness of the alabaster varies from 21 to 4 inches. The skill of the mason who succeeded in hollowing the blocks without breaking, or even cracking them, is marvelous..."
"The ceiling also is finely painted, and in pretty good preservation."
"I saw the impossibility of proceeding at the moment."
"A rope fastened to a piece of wood, that was laid across the passage against the projections which formed a kind of door, appears to have been used by the ancients for descending into the pit... The rope in the inside of the wall did not fall to dust, but remained pretty strong..."
"...We found ourselves in a beautiful hall... it is covered with figures, which though only outlined, are so fine and perfect, that you would think they had been drawn only the day before."
"...The paintings became more perfect as we advanced farther into the interior. They retained their gloss, or a kind of varnish over the colours, which had a beautiful effect.... When standing in the centre of this chamber, the traveller is surrounded by an assembly of Egyptian gods and goddesses."
"...We found the carcass of a bull in it, embalmed with asphaltum; and also, scattered in various places, ail immense quantity of small wooden figures of mummies 6 or 8 in. long, and covered with asphaltum to preserve them."
"It is a sarcophagus of the finest oriental alabaster... Its thickness is only 2 inches, and it is transparent, when a light is placed in the inside of it."
"At the end of this passage we found a great quantity of bats' dung..."
[ From the text itself : ]
"Pure is the dead body which is in the earth..."
"I know this great god unto whose nostrils ye present offerings of tchefau. Rekem is his name. He maketh a way through the eastern-horizon of heaven."
.
October 23, 2020
excellent, helpful if one interested in Alchemy (in the developmental psychology sense).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews