Book of Gates | Gates of fire |The Egyptian Book of Pylons.

is one of the ancient Egyptian religious books that dates back to The New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt describing the journey of the dead soul through the underworld.

Also, the book refers to the journey of the sun god (Ra) during the hours of the night. Archaeologists have called the views and texts of the book of gates for the first time on the walls of the tomb of Horemheb the name Gates of Fire. There is no special title for these texts since the scenes of this book are characterized by the presence of a large snake guarding a huge gate. scientists since the time of Maspero preferred the name of the book of gates instead of the old name Gates of fire.

Why do we call it this way?

The reason for naming the book of gates is that it consists of a large number of gates. We know the gates as SEKHT inside them are small gates called S3T and the large gate consists of one or two additions descended to a deep place where the small gate is located and the big gate is guarded by a large snake.

The book seems to be a very large rectangular papyrus up to several meters the final part of it takes the shape of a half-circle and the end represents the sign of AKHT which is the horizon that the sun Braque walks through and enters from another gate.

Each part between one gate and another is divided into three parts, the middle of which represents the river in the underworld, the first and the third is the shores of the river and around the papyrus, we find a strip representing the desert.

The shape of the sun Braque does not change in all parts, unlike in the Book of IMY DWAT(Amduat), but humiliation varies from part to part, the humans that the sun’s compound passes through.

The book represents the journey of the boat that enters from the west to return and rise from the east where we see in the last hour which represents the end and end of the journey of the sun boat and the exit of the god from the lower world and the boat as it emerges from the Ocean NUN and watches Nun raise high the boat of the sun from the eternal water to be in the form of a news Khpr that comes out of the horizon at sunrise.

The Judgment

The fifth hour of the book of gates represents the judgment of the deceased in Osiris’s court (Hall of Judgement). However, in the tomb of Seti I the deceased king stands before Osiris, swearing he was good, he did not kill, he did not make the water of the Nile dirty, and so on.

If the dead person is good, he will enjoy the Osiris fields in the IARU FIELDS( Paradise). ordinary people designed this book, as well as allowing them to photograph the part of the living. We found this book for the first time in the tomb of Hor Horemheb (KV 57) from the first hour to the fifth hour as well as in the tomb of Seti I (KV17) on the coffin.

How do we differentiate between Amduat and Book of Gates?

The book of gates usually starts with a large gate guarded by a large snake with a number of lives to protect.

The book of gates consists of three rows on a long strip of papyrus, the end of which is in the form of a half-circle, but the beginning is in the form of a straight line.

In the book of gates, the middle row is always for the boat sailing along the water flat, and the second and the third are the shores of the river.

The sun Braque and the number of people present in it don’t change, unlike the IMY DWAT(Amduat)

The Book of Gates in the New Kingdom

We found the book of gates in many places sometimes was complete or in most cases was not. The first time we found the book of Gates was in Horemheb’s tomb from the New Kingdom in the Valley of the Kings.

We also found it in Ramesses I tomb but like Horemheb was incomplete in their sarcophagus chambers. Seti I has the first complete version of the book of gates inscribed on his sarcophagus.

The king Merenptah also included a complete copy on the walls of the cenotaph for Seti I at Abydos. Ramesses VI included a complete copy of the Book of Gates in his upper corridors. Ramesses VII was the last king to include the book of gates in his tomb. But, he only included the first two hours and know more about Ancient Egypt History.