Duat
/ˈduː.ɑːt/noun
In ancient Egyptian religion, the Duat was the realm of the dead and the supernatural world traversed by the sun god each night.
Did you know?Egyptian funerary texts describe the deceased king traveling through the Duat alongside Ra, confronting gates, demons, and divine judgment before rebirth with the dawn.
Etymological Timeline
Old Kingdom, c. 2686–2181 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
dwꜣt
“A supernatural realm associated with the dead, attested in royal funerary and religious contexts.”
Middle Kingdom, c. 2055–1650 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
dwꜣt
“The mysterious region through which the deceased and the nocturnal sun god journeyed.”
New Kingdom, c. 1550–1070 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
dwꜣt
“A richly mapped afterlife populated by gates, guardians, dangerous beings, and places of divine judgment.”
Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, c. 332 BCE–395 CE
Egyptian
dwꜣt
“A continuing religious term for the netherworld in temple and funerary traditions.”
Modern Egyptology, 19th–20th Century
Egyptology
Duat
“The conventional scholarly transliteration of the ancient Egyptian name for the underworld or afterlife realm.”
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