The Amduat: The ancient Egyptian book of the underworld

Imi dw3t, means the book of what is in the Duat "Netherworld". It also means the book of the hidden chamber. It was an important funerary text of the New Kingdom of Egypt. It tells the journey of the sun god Re through the Netherworld. It is often believed that the king takes the same journey and becomes one with Re in eternal life.

The Amduat is divided into twelve hours according to the twelve hours of the night: it begins when the sun sets in the west and rises again in the east. The boat of the sun god faces many obstacles and the journey becomes a drama.

The earliest complete copies of the Amduat are retrieved from the tomb of Thutmose the Third.

The hours of the Amduat

The first hour: the sun god enters into the Netherworld "the gate which swallows all" represented as ram-headed Ba. It describes the Netherworld's inhabitants and there's  a list of 741 deities in the burial chamber.

The second and third hour: it describes the  fertile farmlands of the Netherworld dominated by the watery expanse called Wernes in the second hour and the Water of Osiris in the third hour as well as the solar bark accompanied by other boats.

The fourth hour: it takes us to the land of Sokar, a place of uncanny snakes with legs and wings on their bodies, where the bark encounters a dark zigzag pathway filled with fire and blocked by doors with serpent bark. Sokar and Hours look after the solar eye and renew it.

The fifth hour: this hour represented the elements of the Netherworld including the primeval water hillock with two birds "Isis and Nyphthys" who are tumultuous over the grave of Osiris under the lake of fire indicated as a place of punishment.

The sixth hour: the sun god reunites with his Ba, the sun in the form of a scarab beetle " the scarab connected with the god's regeneration". Also Re and Osiris unite together. The kings of the lower and upper Egypt have to attend the resurrection of the dead king.

The seventh hour: the god Apophis (snake god) tries to rub out the sun, but he is defeated by Isis (using magic) and the strength of Seth and Serqet, Mehen-Serpent. Osiris triumphs over his enemies.

The eighth hour: the sun god opens the sealed doors of caravans and provides clothes for the dead one.

The ninth hour: the sun god also provides clothes for the dead one. The scene here is like a court of law cutting off the enemies of Osiris, it assures the provisioning of the deceased.

The tenth hour: a rectangular lake showed those who have drowned (filled with drowned bodies).

The eleventh hour: Hours carries those who have drowned into the Netherworld to a blessed place " they considered especially blessed" and other deities provide extra protection to the eye of Horus.

The twelfth hour: the rebirth of the sun occurs, about 12 men and 13 women pull the boat of the blessed dead at the end of the hour. The sun is shown as a beetle joins the god Shu who will hike the sun into the daytime sky. When the sun has left, Shu seals the Netherworld again and the journey is over.

An incomplete copy of the Amduat found rolled up between the thighs of Gautsoshen's mummy belonging to the Third Intermediate Period

Sources:
Hornung,E.(1999) The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife. Cornell University Press.
The Illustrated Guide to Luxor by Kent R. Weeks.