{"id":3923638,"date":"2026-01-21T20:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/inscription-found-on-egyptian-coffin-provides-a-detailed-map-of-the-underworld\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:00:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:00:38","slug":"inscription-found-on-egyptian-coffin-provides-a-detailed-map-of-the-underworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/inscription-found-on-egyptian-coffin-provides-a-detailed-map-of-the-underworld\/","title":{"rendered":"Inscription Found On Egyptian Coffin Provides A Detailed Map Of The Underworld"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

YouTube Video Here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1yv_MXNYbAo?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1<\/a><\/p>\n

An Egyptian coffin that was discovered in an ancient burial chamber several years ago turns out to have been more than just an incredible archaeological find, according to Ancient Origins<\/a><\/em>, which reports that the same coffin also contained the oldest known map of the underworld in existence:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cA new study published in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology\u00a0<\/em><\/a>by\u00a0Harco Willems\u00a0<\/a>suggests this ancient text is the earliest known copy of The Book of Two Ways,\u00a0<\/em>dating back at least 4,000 years. This dating has been associated with the tomb because it contains inscriptions mentioning Djehutinakht I from around the 21st to 20th century BC. However, it was previously incorrectly believed that the\u00a0coffin<\/a>\u00a0must therefore contain the body of Djehutinakht I, but this latest study suggests the coffin was inhabited by the body of an elite female called\u00a0Ankh<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Wooden
A wooden panel from the coffin is engraved with the oldest Book of Two Ways (Via Harco Willems\/ SAGE Journals<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though they\u2019ve been searching diligently for decades, archaeologists<\/a> have previously only found a few versions of the ancient Book of Two Ways, so this new find on the wooden coffin panel is a very big deal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Book of Two Ways<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What exactly is The Book of Two Ways<\/em>? The title refers to the two routes a soul can take in navigating the afterlife in the Egyptian underworld if it wants to enter the realm of Osiris. Osiris was the Egyptian overlord of the underworld and final judge of all human souls. The Book of Two Ways<\/em> is also part of a much larger body of ancient Egyptian mythology \u2014 The Coffin Texts \u2014 and it is referred to<\/a> as \u201ca clear precursor to later Netherworld books such as the \u2018Amduat<\/em><\/a>\u2019<\/em> and the\u00a0\u2018Book of Gates.’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The
The layout and landscape of The Book of Two Ways: coffin of Sepi (Via Academia.edu<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Book of the Dead<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of these books are part of a much more well-known tome known as The Book of the Dead<\/em>, which has been described by National Geographic<\/em><\/a> as the full collection of mortuary texts which consists of spells that deal with the afterlife. More precisely, the Book of the Dead contains \u201c1,185 spells and incantations\u201d which are what can best be dubbed everything a person needed to successfully find his or her way in the next life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Map
Map of the netherworld from the coffin of Gua, from Deir el-Bersha, Egypt. 12th Dynasty, 1985-1795 BC (Via Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Getting to Osiris<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Book of Two Ways <\/em>goes into great detail about how one could manage to find the elusive Osiris in the underworld:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cTwo zig-zagging paths crossing a dangerous landscape where demonic entities challenge ones progression to \u2018Rostau\u2019 \u2013 the realm of\u00a0Osiris\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 a dark place surrounded with fire and located at the \u2018boundary of the sky.\u2019 It was believed that any person who looked upon the dead body of Osiris would never completely die and if one reached the Field of Offerings, after a feast<\/a>\u00a0with Osiris their desires would be satisfied.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Problem is, the paths can be treacherous, and some lead nowhere, leaving a soul searching for respite frustrated and no closer to final rest than before.<\/p>\n

The paths are also separated by the Lake of Fire, which has the power to either destroy or revive the soul. Along the way, the deceased traveler also must \u201covercome the Sun\u2019s \u2018fiery court\u2019 with endless guardians and demons blocking the way with high walls of stone and fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly, the Egyptian underworld was no place for the fainthearted.<\/p>\n

Related: The \u2018Osiris device\u2019, the Bark of Horus, and connections to the Ark of the Covenant<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Outer
Outer coffin of Taywheryt depicting Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys (Via CESRAS for Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Soul Map<\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a sense, the Book of Two Ways<\/em>\u00a0is a map for the soul. But while it may well look to us here in the 21st century like a map, it wasn\u2019t used as one in the conventional sense of that word.<\/p>\n

Instead, the ancient Egyptians wanted to provide what can best be called a \u201cpsychological map of the soul.\u201d\u00a0 As Ancient Origins<\/em> notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAt the time of its creation, about 4,000 years ago, nobody had yet attempted to map the netherworld and scholars maintain the later texts all divide the afterlife into hours or caves and include landmarks and events.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a way The Book of Two Ways<\/em>\u00a0was meant as a form of solace and guidance for those who might be facing death. Reading it, they could have a fuller understanding of what awaited them after they had passed from this world to the next. Whether it was accurate or not isn\u2019t of particular importance. Like any story we tell ourselves about what happens after we shuffle off this mortal coil, our ideas of an afterlife are mainly meant to ease our transition from this realm to whatever may await. As such, The Book of Two Ways<\/em>\u00a0is in keeping with other texts that have existed for centuries.<\/p>\n

For more on The Book of the Dead, watch this video<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Featured Image Via Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Go to Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n

YouTube Video Here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1yv_MXNYbAo?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1<\/p>\n

An Egyptian coffin that was discovered in an ancient burial chamber several years ago turns out to have been more than just an incredible archaeological find, according to Ancient Origins, which reports that the same coffin also contained the oldest known map of the underworld in existence:<\/p>\n

\u201cA new study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3923638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-code","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3923638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3923638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3923638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikedyess.info\/para\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3923638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}