Cavern deities of the underworld

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (September 2021)

Cavern deities of the underworld
Cavern deity depicted in a fragment piece of Funerary Papyrus of Amduat.
Weapon	knives
Region	Duat

Part of a series on
Ancient Egyptian religion
Beliefs Afterlife Cosmology Duat Ma'at Mythology Index Numerology Philosophy Soul
Practices Funerals Offerings: Offering formula Temples Pyramids
Deities (list)
Locations Aaru Benben Duat Land of Manu The Indestructibles
Symbols and objects Aani Abtu Ankh Atef Atet Book of Thoth Cartouche Corn mummy Crook and flail Deshret Djed Egyptian obelisk Egyptian pool Eye of Horus Eye of Ra Griffin Hedjet Hemhem crown Hennu Hieracosphinx Hypocephalus Imiut fetish Khepresh Kneph Matet boat Medjed Menat Nebu Nemes Neshmet Ouroboros Pschent Scarab Seqtet boat Serekh Serpopard Set animal Shen ring Sphinx Tyet Uraeus Ushabti Was-sceptre Winged sun
Texts Funerary texts (Amduat • Books of Breathing • Book of Caverns • Book of the Dead • Book of the Earth • Book of Gates)
Related religions Atenism Hermeticism Thelema Kemeticism (Kemetic Orthodoxy • Church of the Most High Goddess)
Ancient Egypt portal
v t e

The Cavern deities of the underworld were ancient Egyptian minor deities charged with punishing the damned souls by beheading and devouring them.^[1][2][3]

The Egyptians believed that in the underworld, the Duat, there were at least twelve caves and caverns inhabited by terrible deities and supernatural creatures that would feed on the souls of the wicked. Several funerary papyri – in addition to the wall decorations of some tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the southern hall of the Osireion at Abydos – list these deities involved in the extermination (usually by beheading) of the enemies of the sun-god Ra and of his daughter Maat, goddess of truth and justice.^[1] In particular, these creatures are systematically listed in the "Spell of the Twelve Caves" known from a papyrus (Cairo 24742)^[4] dating back to the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (c. 1427–1401 BC) of the 18th Dynasty.^[1]

The first seven caverns contained groups of three mummiform and three anthropomorphic deities, two male and one female in each triad. From the 8th to the 20th cavern, one would find divinities in variable numbers: in the 8th, for example, there were seven groups along with individual divinities, and at least twenty of them in the 9th.^[4] It is normal to find, next to the lists of names and positions of these other gods – beneath their representations – columns of offers prescribed for them too, along with the beneficent deeds that the dead would achieve. Once pacified, in fact, these deities could facilitate the free movement in the hereafter, providing nourishment and light in the darkness.^[4]

• 
  Scenes of otherworldly punishment from a papyrus of Amduat (21st Dynasty). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
• 
  The 11th hour of the book Amduat, depicting (bottom) Cavern deities.

The tomb (KV2) of Pharaoh Ramesses IV (c. 1155–1149 BC) in the Valley of the Kings, and the Book of the Dead, list the cavern deities hereafter selected by the British egyptologist George Hart:^[2]

In particular, the Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson thus grouped the deities and the supernatural creatures residing in the 10th cave, along with their beneficent deeds once the deceased successfully tamed them:^[1]

• 
  Jackal and lion-headed guardian deities with swords, from the Tomb of Sadosiris (El Muzawaka, Dakhla Oasis).
• 
  Book of the Dead of Hori: supernatural creatures guarding the netherworld. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.
• 
  The deceased and the underworld monsters, from a Book of the Dead (N 3096). Louvre, Paris.
• 
  Pharaoh Nectanebo I (c. 379–361 BC) adoring underworld demons. The Archaeological Civic Museum (MCA) of Bologna.

• Gate deities of the underworld

• Hart, George, A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Routledge, 1986, ISBN 0-415-05909-7.
• Wilkinson, Richard H., The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson, 2003, ISBN 0-500-05120-8.