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Innovations in Late 18th Dynasty Netherworld Books: Funerary Religion After the Amarna Period

By Margaret Geoga

Following the Amarna Period, the final three kings of the 18th Dynasty emulated their pre-Amarna predecessors by decorating their burial chambers with various Netherworld Books. More than simple imitation, their return to traditional funerary decoration and innovations within it represent a reinterpretation of the Netherworld Books, as well as a renegotiation of the various theological developments which occurred in the years surrounding the Amarna Period. This paper traces the late 18th Dynasty developments in the Netherworld Books, beginning with Tutankhamun’s combination of the Amduat with the previously unattested Enigmatic Book of the Netherworld, followed by Ay’s use of excerpts of the Amduat, and ending with Horemheb’s abandonment of the Amduat in favor of the previously unattested Book of Gates. The locations of the Netherworld Books in these kings’ tombs and their combination with other decorations suggest an initial reaction against Akhenaten’s religion that manifested as a return to mid-18th Dynasty themes with an increased emphasis on Osiris. This reaction balanced out under Horemheb into a synthesis of the “new solar theology,” developed in the years before the Amarna Period, with traditional theology.

Maggie Geoga is a graduate student at Brown University, where she is working on a PhD in Egyptology and a Masters in Comparative Literature. She is also a graduate of Harvard University. Her research interests include Egyptian literature, transmission and reception of Egyptian texts, funerary religion, and funerary literature.

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