Death and Initiation - Jan Assman

138 JAN ASSMANN
of the 4th dynasty, though i t always represents an excepti on to the rule and an
exclusi ve prerogati ve of hi gh standi ng i nd i v i duals. 12 The custom di sappears i n the
wake of the development and general adopti on of embalment and mummi fi cati on, 13
and must rank as i ts predecessor. As a li terary moti f, the concept of d i smemberment
clearly appears i n an exclusi vely negati ve context:14 i t i s ei ther one of the dangers i n
the netherworld, whi ch must be avoi ded at all cost,15 or a metaphori cal i llustrati on of
the i ni ti al state of want, whi ch the mani fold resuscitation ri tes of the funerary cult take
up i n the sense of a restitutio ad integrum* The concept of di smemberment appears
here solely as the logi cal prerequi si te of ri tual acts, whi ch are concei ved as a rejoi ni ng
of the body.
In the context of the myth of Osi ri s, the di smemberment of the god's body has dual
functi on and meani ng, to whi ch corresponds a dual tradi ti on. Seth has not only ki lled
hi s brother Osi ri s, but also, i n a second act of vi olence, cut hi s corpse to pi eces and
thrown these i nto the water. So far, all versi ons of the myth agree. For the one
tradi ti on, however, thi s di smemberment represents nothi ng else but a catastrophic state
of want, preci sely as the funerary texts descri be i t. This state now becomes the starti ng
poi nt of restorati ve acts, the goal of whi ch i s to cure the condi ti on of death. The
rejoi ni ng of the li mbs of Osi ri s, found only after a long search, became the prototype
for the "overcomi ng" of death and furni shed the mythi cal precedent17 for embalment.
Embalment and mummi fi cati on, i n the li ght of the myth of Osi ri s, are equated wi th the
restorati on of li fe to the body, whi ch had by no means to be ri tually di smembered
beforehand, since i ts li felessness alone was mythi cally i nterpreted as di smemberment.
Di smemberment i s thus a symbol for the di si ntegrati on of a li vi ng enti ty and a
mythi cal i mage for the condi ti on of death i tself.18 In the other tradi ti on, thi s same
mythi cal epi sode becomes an eti ologi cal myth explai ni ng the spreadi ng of the cult of
Osi ri s throughout Egypt. The water has carri ed away the pi eces of Osi ri s' body and
washed them ashore i n 14 di fferent places i n the country, where they were preserved
as holy reli cs and formed the nucleus of the Osi ri s-cult.19
Only the fi rst of these tradi ti ons shall concern us here. The embalmi ng process, to
whi ch i t refers, is related to the topi c of i ni ti ati on i n manifold ways. It i s conceived not
so much as a preservation of the corpse, but rather as its transfiguration to a new body:
12 See Hermann 1956 and G.R.H. W right 1979.

13 For Egyptian mummification techniques, see David 1979. For the purpose of the present study,
Sethe 1934 is still valid.
14 In this respect I agree completely with Griffiths 1980, 5Iff.
15 Cf. Zandee 1960, esp. p. 147ff.
16 Cf. Assmann 1973, 121-125.
17 For this term cf. van der Leeuw 1933,161-180; Eliade 1954/58,194-204.
18 Cf. Assmann 1973.
19 See Beinlich 1984.
Death and Initiation in the Funerary Religion of Ancient Egypt 147
c o n j u n c t i o n with the general acceptance of a " j u d g e m e n t of the d e a d , " which, though

already recognizab le towards the end of the 3rd millennium B.C., 65 only b e c o m e s the
o v e r a l l d o m i n a n t a n d o b l i g a t o r y trait of E g y p t i a n f u n e r a r y l i t e r a t u r e in t h e N e w
K i n g d o m . Its canonical f o r m , as f o u n d in Chapter 125 of the B o o k of the Dead, 6 6 has
in any case n o k n o w n predecessors in the older f u n e r a r y literature. O u r discourse shall
b e restricted to this one aspect of justification.
3.3.1 The gates
" M a y your soul (bS) k n o w the paths of yonder world leading to the gate of 'he, w h o
conceals the weary o n e ' . " T h u s runs the particularly polite wish of a wise m a n to a
p r i n c e in a late M i d d l e K i n g d o m tale. 6 7 T h e g a t e is a m o s t p r e g n a n t s y m b o l of
transition. In the 145th and 146th chapters of the B o o k of the Dead, this idea finds
itself systematically elab orated into a sequence of 21 gates which the deceased must
pass in order to reach the " o n e , w h o m they c o n c e a l , " the " w e a r y o n e , " i.e. Osiris. 68
T h e gates are guarded b y d e m o n s or b etter, as of late m o r e correctlj differentiated, 6 9
b y apotropaic gods. Their iconography, characterized b y animal m a s k s and knives,
identifies t h e m as d a n g e r o u s a n d t e r r i f y i n g b eings.™ T h e d e c e a s e d w a r d s off their
t h r e a t b y c a l l i n g t h e m b y n a m e , b u t also b y k n o w i n g the n a m e s of the gates; h e
secures unhindered passage b y showing proof of his purity. He k n o w s the mythical
significance of the water, in which he has b athed, and wears the appropriate clothing.
T h e nature of the doorkeepers (and of the "apotropaic g o d s " in general) is amb iguous:
the terror they e m b o d y is m e a n t to w a r d off evil, the conceptual m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of
which are ignorance, impurity and violence. T h e gates and their keepers b uild a 21-,
65 Instruction for Merikare P 53-57, Fecht 1972, p. 147 with postscripts p.222 and p.228f, Jansen-
Winkeln 1988.
66 For the history of the idea of the Judgment of the Dead, see especially Grieshammer 1970, 46-70,
cf. also the excellent study by Brandon 1967 and the contribution by J. Yoyotte 1961. See also
the iconographical study by Seeber 1976.
67 pWestcar 7, 25-26, see A.M. Blackman (ed. W.V. Davies) 1988, 8. "The gates (sbhwt) of the
underworld and the doors (sb3w) of the field of reeds" are mentioned in the Inscription of king
Neferhotep as objects of royal knowledge in connection with the theology of Osiris: W. Helck
1975, 26 line 23.
68 Especially impressive depictions of these gates are found in the tombs of queens Nefertari and
Tausret. I have published a funerary text dealing with the knowledge and passage of these gates
in Assmann 1973, 94-97. This text is frequently written at the entrance of the tomb which
thereby becomes "transfigured," so that by entering the tomb the deceased symbolically
effectuates the transition into the underworld.
69 te Velde, Lexikon der Agyptologie I, 980-984; Altenmiiller 1976, 635-640. See also Meeks 1971,
19-84.
70 For the apotropaic function of terror and the monstruous, see Lexikon der Agyptologie II, 362-367,
cf. also the contribution by H.G. Fischer in Fs.E.Porada.

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138 JAN ASSMANN

12 See Hermann 1956 and G.R.H. W right 1979.

c o n j u n c t i o n with the general acceptance of a " j u d g e m e n t of the d e a d , " which, though

3.3.1 The gates

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