Egyptian PantheonGate
First Gate of the Duat
The first of the gates the sun god's night barque passes in the New Kingdom underworld books such as the Book of Gates, each guarded by serpents and doorkeepers whose names must be known.
About First Gate of the Duat
Password at hour one
New Kingdom underworld books (Book of Gates, Amduat) divide the night into gates and hours. The first gate is where the sun-barque and the deceased must know names to pass. Tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings draw the doorkeepers. There is no civic cult of "First Gate." It is liturgical architecture for a royal night-journey. Later Book of the Dead spells keep the same anxiety: speak, or be turned back.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Book of Gates / Amduat, First Hour–Gate
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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