Moscow: Russian Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Science, 2012. 360 p., 30 ill.

How the ancient Egyptians imagined the other world - the Duat - and the paths leading to it, by what means they tried to describe it, how their views on the Duat developed over many centuries - this and a number of related topics related to the study of ancient Egyptian funeral views are devoted to the monograph of the Egyptologist and art critic N. V. Lavrentieva.

For the first time, the word "Duat" appears in the Texts of the Pyramids. N. V. Lavrentieva draws attention to the complexity and diversity of this concept already in the early period of its written fixation. The author tries to find the origins of the Egyptians ' ideas about the other world in the prehistoric period, using the oldest images on ceramics, ritual objects, on the rocks of the Eastern and Western Deserts, etc. As N. V. Lavrentieva rightly points out, nothing "can indicate that they are directly related to the description or designation of the Duat" (p.51). But judging by the Texts of the Pyramids, many of whose sayings are rooted in prehistoric antiquity, this image, the idea of the topography of the afterlife and its inhabitants-the gods and the dead-is largely connected with the primitive worldview.

Everything that sometimes seems incomprehensible and contradictory in the ancient Egyptian ideas about the Duat was clear to the Egyptians themselves, since they thought more in images than in syllogisms, and were also initiated into the mysteries - So the Duat for the Egyptians in the language of symbols is both the area where the Sun sets and the area where it arises every morning on the east side of okoyama. This is also the starry sky associated with the kingdom of Osiris, where the stars are images of the blessed dead. This is also the underworld, the exit from which is thought of as the ascension from Geb-earth. Pyramid texts place the Duat both in the east and in the west, and in the area between them. The Duat is both above in the shining heavens, to which the risen man ascends by the heavenly ladder; and below in the region to which the dead descend, in the midst of which the king dwells. This is also the dawn that gives birth to the deceased in another world. The Duat in the Pyramid Texts is closely associated with the Morning Star () - the symbol of the reborn king in his capacity as a heavenly ruler-Mount Duat. This symbolic series can be continued for a long time. The Egyptians, like people of other ancient civilizations, tried to express the ineffable in numerous images and at the same time emphasize its fundamental inexpressibility, clashing seemingly exclusive concepts.

It is not surprising that there is no consensus in Egyptology about the origin of the term "Duat" or about its topographical reference in the Pyramid Texts (see, for example: [Beaux, 1994, t. 94, p. 1-6])¹. N. V. Lavrentieva suggests an interpretation of the etymology of the word "Duat" based on the following principles: It is written as a star in a circle, and refers to the Duat as "a space coiled up in a ring" (pp. 34-35). But it is also a symbol of another world. Interestingly, N. V. Lavrentieva suggested that the etymology of the word "Duat" in its oldest written form in the Pyramid Texts is related to the idea of a "distant", "remote place" (p. 28; p. 29, note). 5)².

Since there is no detailed description of the Duat in the Pyramid Texts, although all the metamorphoses of the deceased occur in another world, N. V. Lavrentieva draws attention to the mythological plots and toponyms associated with it (Hotep Fields, Ialu Fields, Duat Roads, etc.). The author is interested in the controversial, long-debated problem of the relationship between the pyramid structure and the Duat space. N. V. Lavrentieva correctly notes that during the period of writing Pyramid Texts on the walls of the royal tombs of the Ancient Kingdom, not only the burial chamber, but also all the underground rooms of the pyramid were associated with the Duat (p. 71). At one time, M. Mathieu and A. Pyankov, based on the layout of the royal rock tombs of the New Kingdom, tried to judge the relationship between the text and the sacred space in the tombs of the kings of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.

¹ Unfortunately, N. V. Lavrentieva does not provide a link to this article and does not indicate it in the bibliography.

² Expressed only briefly in the monograph, this idea was developed in an article by N. V. Lavrentieva [Lavrentieva, 2014, pp. 134-135].

It is unlikely that such a retrospective method, which bridges the millennium, can be considered convincing. And it is good that N. V. Lavrentieva did not go this way.

It was only during the Middle Kingdom period that the Egyptians began to depict the Duat, illustrating their funeral texts. The oldest example of this approach is the Book of Two Paths, the main subject of research in N. V. Lavrentieva's monograph. The reasons for this change remain unclear. The author tries to explain it primarily by social factors. Thus, referring to G. Kees and J. Wilson, N. V. Lavrentiev suggests that in the era of a stable Ancient Kingdom, an Egyptian should have felt "the inviolability of the world order and accurately represent the place assigned to him during life, that it was quite natural to feel confident in this in the future (i.e., after death. - O. Z.)". Therefore, " the other world does not exist." it needed to be ordered through its image" (p. 49-50; see also p. 81-82). But wouldn't such an interpretation be too simplistic? Can we explain the emergence of the pictorial tradition in relation to the Duat only by the socio-political crisis of the First Transition Period?

The study of the "Book of Two Paths" has more than a century of history, which is described in detail and meaningfully in the monograph. This monument was repeatedly published, translated and interpreted by major Egyptologists, but the main attention was paid to the text itself. N. V. Lavrentieva for the first time thoroughly examines the visual series of this "Book", the features of its composition and the nature of writing. According to many researchers, the "Book of Two Paths " is a kind of" guidebook "("illustrated vademecum of the deceased", according to B. A. Turaev [Turaev, vol.I, 1920, p. 60]) with a map and texts that explain it. For the deceased, the "Book of Two Paths" describes the real paths on earth and water that they will have to travel to reach the Fields of Bliss and connect with the Great God. Most likely, this is why the " Book of Two Paths "was placed on the bottoms of funeral arks and its very true name (unknown to us) was a great secret that was kept" in interior " of the deceased. Criticizing the rather common approach to this "Book" as only a "book of magic and superstition" (the words of G. Kees), N. V. Lavrentieva emphasizes its deep theological meaning, complex and diverse language, full of metaphors and symbolic similes, the meaning of which is far from always clear to us.

N. V. Lavrentieva's method of research, which successfully combines the art criticism approach with textual analysis, is convincing and fruitful. This method is based on the principle of unity of text and image developed in Egyptology [Bolshakov, 2003, p.3-20; Chegodaev, 2006, p. 193-204]. This method brings us closer to the most adequate perception of this monument.

In the central, third chapter of the monograph " Ways of the Duat. Formation of the pictorial tradition in the Middle Kingdom era " examines the ideological foundations of this tradition and the significance of the Hermopolis for its emergence and development. The Book of Two Paths is mainly known from the burial arks of Hermopolitan nomarchs and grandees of the XII dynasty from the necropolis of El Berche. Sarcophagi with this " Book "are, as N. V. Lavrentieva notes, "a" single corpus" in terms of the unity of content, set of illustrations and style of execution "(p.104), which is unique" for the heterogeneous Egyptian funeral literature " (ibid., note 51). As an art critic, the author is interested in the pictorial structure of sarcophagi, their artistic coloristic characteristics and the symbolism of color. N. V. Lavrentieva not only compares individual similar fragments of the "Book of Two Paths" from the texts inscribed in various arks, but also examines each individual sarcophagus containing this monument as an integral textual and visual complex (for example, the magnificent Sepi Ark from the Cairo Museum). It is also significant that the" Book of Two Paths " from the necropolis of El Berche is studied by the author in a historical and cultural context, taking into account the local layout of tombs and burial chambers. N. V. Lavrentieva notes a special connection between the style of images and the type of italic and linear hieroglyphs used, which are characteristic of religious texts contained on the surface of the burial site. inventory. As the author writes figuratively and accurately, the text and image are located in a certain space, forming a "special world" around the deceased (p. 243).

Speaking about the sarcophagi of the Middle Middle Kingdom, N. V. Lavrentieva notes a very characteristic feature of Egyptian religious and artistic thinking: with a variety of variants of the main visual motifs, it was much more important for an Egyptian to identify the main semantic and pictorial "blocks" than to reproduce them in strict sequence

(p. 244). The same can be seen in the Pyramid Texts, which also do not show this clear sequence in the text.

N. V. Lavrentieva's monograph pays special attention to one of the most complex problems of Egyptology - the problem of migration and translation of a religious text, which the author considers on the example of the ark of a certain Nefri from El-Bershe. The text on this ark, similar in content to the Texts of the Pyramids of Pepi II and Queen Neith, but with cartouches of the King of Heracleopolis Uakhkar Ahtoy (IX-X dynasty), as suggested by N. V. Lavrentiev, was probably copied from a papyrus or leather scroll that was part of the burial inventory of this king. The presence of such a copy would allow us to take a different look at the problem of the relationship between royal and private funeral texts and raise the question of the existence of ancient originals, copies of which could vary in time and space and depend on the status of the owner of the funeral text and the place of its burial. But this problem goes beyond the scope of N. V. Lavrentieva's research.

"The Book of Two Paths", although formed in Hermopolis, gave rise to a broad pictorial tradition in ancient Egyptian funeral literature. Therefore, it is especially important for the author of the monograph to determine the place of this monument in the historical continuum. Since the "Book" was depicted on the walls of burial arks, it formed part of the Texts of the Arks. The description of the Duat with its twelve regions, through which the Sun sails at night in its boat, as well as images of the inhabitants of the other world, formed the basis of monumental illustrated funeral compositions of the Theban tombs of the New Kingdom, such as "The Book of Am-Duat", "The Book of Gates", "The Book of Caves", etc. The origin of the earliest of these "books", the "Book of Am-Duat", is still unclear. N. V. Lavrentiev not without reason attributes the possible solution of this problem to the role played by papyrus graphics in transmitting and preserving more ancient elements of Egyptian visual culture (pp. 234-241).

N. V. Lavrentieva's monograph contains excellent color and black-and-white illustrations, a short glossary, a comparative table of the topography of the Duat according to the" books " of the other world ("The Book of the Dead", "The Book of Two Paths", "The Book of Am-Duat"), as well as translations of texts that, according to the author's plan, should promote a better understanding of the historical cultural environment.

This book will certainly attract the attention of art historians, historians and religious scholars, as well as all those who are interested in the worldview of ancient civilizations.

list of literature

Bolshakov A. O. Izobrazhenie i tekst: dva yazyka egiptskoi kul'tury [Image and text: two languages of Egyptian culture]. 2003. N 4.

Lavrentieva N. V. Problema localizatsii Duata i ee vozmozhnoe resheniye [The problem of localization of the Duat and its possible resolution]. Kiev, 2014.

Turaev B. A. Egyptian Literature, vol. I. M., 1920.

Chegodaev M. A. The Sepi sarcophagus from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and two languages of Egyptian culture // St. Petersburg Egyptological Readings 2005. SPb., 2006.

Beaux N. La douat dans les Textes des Pyramides // Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'archéologie orientate. T. 94. Le Caire, 1994.

Permanent link to this publication: