ABSTRACT
The Twelfth Division, or Hour, or City, is called Kheper-kekiu-khāu-mestu, the name of its Gate is Then-Neteru, and the Hour-goddess is Maa-nefert-Rā; it is the “uttermost limit of thick darkness,” i.e., it is not a part of the Ṭuat proper, and it contains the great celestial watery abyss Nu, and the goddess Nut. who is here the personification of the “womb of the morning.” So soon as the Sun-god passes from the thighs of Nut he will enter the Māṭet Boat, and begin his course in the world of light. We see ȦFU-Rā in his Boat as before, and in the front of it is the Beetle of Kheperȧ, under whose form the god is to be re-born. The space in front of the Boat is filled by the body of a huge serpent called ĀNKH-NETERU, which lives upon the rumblings of the earth, and from the mouth of which ȧmakhiu, or loyal servants, go forth daily. Twelve ȧmakhiu of Rā now take hold of the tow-line, and entering in at the tail of the serpent ĀNKH-NETERU draw ȦFU-Rā and his Boat through its body, and bring him out at its mouth (vol. i., p. 263). During his passage through the serpent, the god transforms himself into Kheperȧ and the twelve ȧmakhiu who have been with him throughout his journey in the Ṭuat are, after they have passed out of the serpent’s body, re-born on the earth each day. They enter the tail of the serpent as loyal servants, but, like their master, are transformed during their passage through its body, and they emerge from its mouth as “rejuvenated forms of Rā” https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315762845/7b916ca3-964c-419b-8f3b-8bd7a3f6fe02/content/page193_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> each day. They live on the earth during the day, but at sunset they rejoin their lord, and re-enter the Ṭuat; whilst they are upon earth to utter the name of the god is forbidden to them.
