Field of Rushes
The Field of Rushes was the afterlife for the ancient Egyptians - the paradise they had been striving to reach throughout their lifetime and the final destination of their journey through the underworld. Life in the Field of Rushes was a reflection of the real world they had just left with blue skies, rivers and boats for travel, gods and goddesses to worship and fields and crops that needed to be ploughed and harvested.
Spell 110 from the Book of the Dead belonging to a person named Horemakhbit
Papyrus
New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty (about 1186 BCE - 1069 BCE)
From Thebes
National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden
© National Museum of Antiquities, the Netherlands
Spell 110 deals with the arrival of Horemakhbit in the Field of Rushes. A translation of the spell reads: 'Beginning of the spells for the Field of Offerings, the spells for going forth by day, going in and out of the god's domain, attaining the Field of Rushes, existing in the Field of Offerings, the great settlement, lady of the winds, gaining control there, becoming a blessed one there, ploughing there, reaping there, eating there, drinking there, copulating there, doing everything that is done upon the earth ...'
