The Solar Cycle — Day-Barque & Night Journey
Every night the sun sails through the land of the dead and fights a serpent to be reborn.
Egyptians understood the sun's daily course as a cosmic drama of renewal. By day Ra sailed across the sky in his boat; at sunset he entered the underworld (the Duat), passing through its hours, defeating the chaos-serpent Apophis, and uniting with Osiris before being reborn at dawn. New Kingdom 'Netherworld Books' on royal tomb walls mapped this nightly journey hour by hour.
Key passages(2)
The Pyramid Texts · 2350 BCE
[Utterance 263] 337a. To say: The two reed-floats of heaven are placed for Rē‘, that he may ferry over therewith to the horizon. 337b. The two reed-floats of heaven are placed for Harachte that Harach
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Adoration of Amun, when he rises as Harakhti, by the overseer of the works of Amun, Suti, and the overseer of the works of Amun, Hor. They say: `Hail to you, Re, beauty of every day, who rises in the
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