The Book of Gates: An Ancient Egyptian Guide to the Afterlife

Nov 26, 2025 0

The Book of Gates is an Ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. It was named 'Livre des Portes' (Book of Gates) by French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero. The text was not named by the Egyptians.

The text and images associated with the Book of Gates appear in many tombs of the New Kingdom, including all the pharaonic tombs between Horemheb and Ramesses VII. Various scenes from the Book of Gates have been depicted in many tombs from the New Kingdom ranging from Horemheb (d.c. 1295 BC) to Ramesses VII (d.c. 1130 BC). Horemheb has the earliest depictions of the Book decorating the walls of his tomb.

The Book of Gates is long and detailed, consisting of one hundred scenes. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world journeying with the sun god, Ra, through the underworld during the hours of the night towards his resurrection. The soul is required to pass through a series of 'gates' at each hour of the journey. The goddesses listed in the Book of Gates each have different titles, and wear different colored clothes, but are identical in all other respects, wearing a five pointed star above their heads. Each gate is guarded by a different serpent deity that is associated with a different goddess. It is important that the deceased knows the names of each guardian. Depictions of the judgment of the dead are shown in the last three hours.

The text implies that some people will pass through unharmed, but others will suffer torment in a lake of fire.

The Book of Gates portrays the gates of the netherworld far more visibly and systematically than other similar compositions. It compares most readily with the gates in the Book of the Dead, spells 144 and 145, which the Ramesside Period Egyptians considered a substitute for the Book of Gates in tombs that did not belong to pharaohs, such as that of Nefertari and others in the Valley of the Queens.

The concept of gates in the afterlife was a reoccurring theme amongst many of the books of the afterlife. The Book of Gates is the principal guidebook to the netherworld found in 19th and part of the 20th Dynasty tombs of the New Kingdom, though it makes its first appearance to us with the last king of the 18th Dynasty.

It was meant to allow the dead pharaoh to navigate his way along the netherworld route together with the sun god, so that his resurrection could be affected. It emphasizes gates with guardian deities who's names must be known in order to pass them.

The Book of Gates is an Ancient Egyptian cosmological treatise describing the architecture and inhabitants of the Tuat, the underworld which the boat of the Sun God, Ra, traverses during the night hours.

Closely related to the Book of Gates is the Book of Amduat (also known as The Book of the Hidden Chambers), which also follows Ra's journey through the underworld but with some differences. It accompanies the Book of Gates in many tombs because it is a guide to the deceased's souls journey and the deities it will encounter in the Underworld.

According to Mohamed Ragheb Dardir, the main difference between the books' purpose is that the Book of Gates acts as a guide about the dangers that the deceased soul will encounter and what must be done to pass through each gate in order to be resurrected.

The biggest difference between the Book of Gates and Amduat are the serpent gate deities guarding the doorway for each hour. These doorways and serpents are named throughout the journey and need to be named in order to cross into the next hour. The gods that make up the crew of the solar barque are different between the Amduat and the Book of Gates.

In the Amduat, the solar barque is larger, whereas in Book of Gates, the crew is made up of only Heka and Sia.

The Journey Through the Hours

The hours of the Book of Gates follow Ra's journey across the underworld during the 12 hours of the night. Ra leads the deceased soul through a series of gates to reach his resurrection. The soul must get past each gate deity by knowing their name and attributes. The Book of Gates is a series of one hundred images broken into three registers for each hour depicting the journey.

Hour 1

This is Ra's arrival into the underworld and greeted by the “gods of the west” which refers to the Western Horizon. This scene depicts Ra in the scarab god form of Kephri who is surrounded by a snake god for protection on his solar barque. The solar barque is sailing through the mountains depicted in the scene.

Hour 2

Once the boat passes between the Western Mountain, it reaches the door to the second division. This door is guarded by the serpent Saa-Set. The door itself is named Watcher of the Desert. The accompanying texts speaks of the darkness beyond the door until the god manifests in his godly form. Surrounding the boat are bound men guarded by Atum. The text refers to these men as ‘damned’ and ‘blessed’ by Ra, where they are to either take their place in the afterlife (the blessed) or be destroyed by the serpent (the damned).

Hour 3

Just beyond the door, named Piercing of Embers,” are twelve mummies who are protected by a fire-breathing snake at the front and back of the corridor. Ra demands the fire penetrate the dark corridor where it illuminates a Lake of Fire that the mummies are surrounding. The solar barque crosses the lake and the other side, Ra calls for the mummies to unwrap themselves and a be given breath and offerings for pulling the solar barque. The accompanying texts states Ra asks for safe passage across the lake of fire for the worthy blessed souls.

Hour 4

Once through the gate, Ra is bathed in darkness. The bark is pulled along by four gods until it reaches building containing nine shrines that contain nine mummified gods. These are the ‘gods who follow Osiris, who are in their abodes.’ These gods protect the ba. In front of this shine house are two groups of six goddesses guarding a hill to land, on the left, and one to water, on the right, separated by a giant serpent. The land on the left shows Osiris mummified, behind Osiris are twelve gods guarding pits of fire.

Hour 5

This is the Judgement of Osiris scene. The solar barque is pulled along by the four gods of the Tuat (duat or underworld). They are pulling the bark towards nine gods holding a long serpent named Ennutchi who is the god Apep. In front of these nine gods are twelve additional gods deemed “the souls of the men who are in the Tuat.” Ra instructs these gods to attack the serpent so it is not able to travel through the gateway. In the next sequence of the scene Horus is depicted presiding over the men the four ethnicities of man: Egyptian, Asiatics, Nubian, Libyans (sixteen in total). These groups represent how all are welcoming in the afterlife. Horus grants protection of the men and gives them offerings. There is another gateway which leads to the Judgement Hall of Osiris.

Hour 6

Once he has been judged, Ra passes through the gateway. There, Ra is rejoined with his ba. In this scene we see mummies with tridents protecting Ra from the serpent Apep as he is reuniting with his ba. As Ra rejoins his ba he breathes life into the mummies that guard him, granting them their resurrection.

Hour 7

Ra passes through the gate guarded by "One Who Seizes with His Eye." In this scene Ra comes before twelve men who carry ma ’at feathers depicting they have been judged to be true and good. These twelve are offered libations for the afterlife. It is also depicted that those that were judged to be evil are tied to jackal-headed stakes of Geb, awaiting their punishment. The scene also shows those that have been judged as true tending to fields of grain with Ra presiding over them.

Hour 8

The next gate Ra passes is guarded by nine gods just inside the door. The serpent guarding the door is named “Closed of Eye.” Through the door, Ra is greeted with deities holding a long rope from Aken. These rope bearers bring forth the hours of the day.

Hour 9

Ra passes through the gateway guarded by “Flaming of Face.” The doorway itself is named “Glowing One.” Passed the door Ra comes to an Island of fire and the Waters of Nun which has people floating in it, they will be restored and given breathe when they emerge.

Hour 10

Ra progresses through this scene trying to defeat Apep. At the end of the scene, Apep is captured by the gods standing before the solar barque, holding nets.

Hour 11

Apep is still captured and punished in this scene by Horus’ four sons and Geb. After the destruction of Apep, Ra is surrounded by all types of deities for protection that pull him along the sky. As Ra comes to the gate, there are two scepters, one labeled Osiris and the other Horus.

Hour 12

Ra exits the afterworld. The scene shows many figures holding various objects from scepters to stars to disks. They represent various aspects of helping Ra take his place during the daytime hours. Ra passes Apep being punished again by the Ennead, nine gods who helped Ra along his journey. Once Ra passes through the final gate of the underworld, he is in the waters of Nun, who lifts the boat up. Ra is once again in the form of Kephri.

The Four Races of Humanity

One of the most well known scenes in the Book of Gates is in its fourth division section of the Fifth Hour. Gods are depicted in the upper row. They also carry the body of a serpent. Hieroglyphs meaning "lifetime" can be seen in the lower register. At the beginning of the lower register are sixteen figures in repetitive sets of four being led by Horus into the afterworld. The four beings correspond to the four ethnicities people were categorized in: Egyptians (Remetu), Asiatics (Aamu), Nubians (Nehsey), Libyans (Themehu).

Nubians are depicted in consistent ways in all three tombs (although they are bare chested both at the tomb of Seti I and the tomb of Merenptah but not at Ramesses III) but in all three tombs the Nubian figures in this third position are consistently beardless, have jet black skin and have a thick red sash that goes across their chest and also wraps around the waist and dangles down.

However, unlike in the tomb of Seti I and the tomb of Merenptah, at the tomb of Ramesses III, a second virtually the same figure is also found in the first position usually occupied by Egyptians. The hieroglyph usually representing Egyptians remains next to this figure in its traditional position.

Another peculiarity is that the Asiatic and Libyan are in consistent 2nd and 4th position at both Seti I and Merenptah tombs but switch position at the tomb of Ramesses III while the hieroglyphs do not.

At Seti I and Merenptah tombs the Asiatic in the second position is depicted as is typical in much other art of the period, a bearded figure with a cloth headband with two excess pieces of the headband hanging down.

Additionally at these two tombs, Seti and Merenptah, a Libyan is at the end of the row, at the 4th position and is depicted with typical Libyan features of the period, a side lock of hair and a long gown-like garment that is worn somewhat openly and with one or both shoulders exposed.

However, while all the hieroglyphs in all three tombs remain in the same position left to right, at Ramesses III, these two figures Asiatic and Libyan, have switched position in comparison to the other tombs. The figures may have been created after a separate artisan had first rendered the hieroglyphs.

The only figure at Ramesses III that is in the same position as the figures at Seti I and Merenptah tombs is the Nubian in the third position.

The hieroglyph position have no irregularities in type or sequence between each tomb.

The most famous part of the Book of Gates today refers to the different races of humanity known to the Egyptians, dividing them up into four categories that are now conventionally labelled "Egyptians", "Asiatics", "Libyans", and "Nubians".

Because, in the tomb of Seti I and the Judgement of the Dead in the tomb of Ramesses VI, the Book of Gates depicted foreigners, it aroused the interest of scholars at an early date.

Here is a summary of the four races as depicted in the Book of Gates:

Race	Depiction	Location in Tombs (Seti I & Merenptah)	Location in Tomb (Ramesses III)
Egyptians (Remetu)	Typically depicted with specific Egyptian features.	1st	1st (sometimes Nubian-like)
Asiatics (Aamu)	Bearded figure with a cloth headband.	2nd	4th
Nubians (Nehsey)	Beardless, jet black skin, thick red sash.	3rd	3rd
Libyans (Themehu)	Side lock of hair, long gown-like garment.	4th	2nd