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ccav·ern
Noun
/?kav?rn/
Synonyms:
noun: grotto, den, cavity, hole
caverns
plural
- A cave, or a chamber in a cave, typically a large
one
According to the ancient Egyptian conception of the
underworld, there existed a number of caves or caverns in the
nether regions which contained various deities who were
involved in the punishment of the wicked. These cavern deities
were systematically enumerated in the so-called "Spell of the
Twelve Caves", a composition known from a papyrus of the time
of Amenophis II (Cairo 24742), and from the walls of the
southern chamber of the Osireion at Abydos. Part of this text
(cave 8-12) was also included int he Book of the Dead since the
18th Dynasty and is found as Chapter 168 in that work. The
caverns are places of punishment and execution -usually by
beheading - of the enemies of Ra, but the deities in these
texts also aid the justified dead. The first seven caverns
contain alternating groups of three mummiform and three
anthropomorphic deities, two being male and one female in each
group. The eighth to twelfth caverns contain varying numbers of
deities with the eighth cavern having seven individuals and
groups, for example, and ninth having as many as twenty.
Beneath the representations of these cavern deities, their
names and numbers are listed along with the offerings
prescribed for them and in some cases the beneficent deeds the
deities perform on behalf of the deceased, such as the ability
to move freely in the underworld, or to have light, food and
protection. Understandably, offerings were sometimes made by
living ancient Egyptians to these Egyptian gods.
The deities of the tenth cavern are representative of the types
of individual and group deities found in these texts:
Deities of the tenth cavern - Action performed for the
deceased
-------------------------
Those who belong to the sunshine - given light.
Those who take hold - grant that the deceased by
acclaimed.
The nine gods who guard those in the cavern - give the
breath of life.
The nine gods whose arms are hidden - grant that the
deceased by a worthy spirit.
The hidden goddess - grants that the deceased's soul be
strong and his corpse intact.
The souls of the gods who became members of Osiris- grant
that the deceased have peace.
Those who worship Ra - grant the deceased not be turned
back from any gate of the underworld.
Those whose faces are warlike - grant that the deceased be
cool in the place of heat.
Cavern Deities (from the royal tombs of the Valley of the
Kings)
Cavern Representative Deities - Enemies of Re
__________________
1 Serpent guardians of the Silent Region, Osiris -
Beheaded, bound
2 Flame-breathing serpent, Osiris, deities in sarcophagi -
Bound, decapitated, upside down
3 Aker, catfish-headed gods, forms of Osiris - Upside-down
females
4 Serpent Great One on his belly, forms of Osiris -
Upside-down,bound, without bau
5 Nut, Osiris, Tatenen - Punished in the cauldrons
6 Anubis, Horus, Osiris - Beheaded males, bound females,
bau and shadows punished
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Complete Gods and
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