Knowledge for the Afterlife: The Egyptian Amduat - A Quest for Immortality [Hardcover]

Knowledge for the Afterlife by Abt and Hornung is a delightful and solid little book about an important illustrated New Kingdom text found in tombs of several Pharaohs. The book is set in two colors of text, black and blue. The black text is by Hornung and describes the significance of the Amduat for the Egyptians--the title is often rendered as: "That which is in the Netherworld." The blue text is by Abt and gives an interpretation for our lives, based of Jung. Hornung's exposition is extensive, and in particular follows the version on the walls of the burial chamber of the tomb of Tuthmosis III. The center piece of the book consists of twelve schematic drawings representing the somewhat more detailed actual drawings on the walls, and an outline and explanation of the hieroglyphic text on the walls. Each schematic is complete for one of the twelve hours of the night. They present the underworld journey of the sun from sunset to sunrise. In this journey, the "old" sun, helped by many lesser gods and goddesses must fend off many attacks on his progress, and sometimes his very existence, while also undergoing regeneration preparatory to a dawn birth as a new and vigorous sun. The exposition explains the terrain covered, the events of the journey, identifies the gods and the various enemies of the Sun that appear and explains their actions. The dead Pharaoh participates in this journey of the Sun god. The book has many color illustrations, some are photos of the actual walls of the tombs, others are of artifacts that help illustrate the concepts behind the Amduat. The book was occasioned by an exposition that traveled to museums in Europe and the United States, entitled "The Quest for Immortality--Treasures of Ancient Egypt" which featured a full sized replica of the burial chamber of Tuthmosis III. The catalog for this exposition carries its name and Hornung is both its editor and a contributor. It is a large, splendid book with many color photographs of interesting artifacts from the collections in Egypt, as well as commentary which surpasses in quality that in most such catalogs. It discusses the Amduat but does not attempt the complete exposition given in Knowledge for the Afterlife.

I recommend Knowledge for the Afterlife for the layman as well as for serious students of ancient Egypt. It is more available than the more complete exposition by Hornung entitled (in its recent English translation), The Egyptian Amduat: the Book of the Hidden Chamber, and for most people is a rather adequate substitute.

At last, the book is here and the reading is great. I am sure to purchase the more in depth: The Egyptian Amduat-The Book of the Hidden Chamber. While traveling, the Knowledge for the Afterlife is with me and the other will grace my ancient Egyptian book shelf for years to come. Thanks Amazon.com for keeping both books available!!!