Ka-Amenti

Overview

Ka-Amenti is bull-headed, and his name is the only one of the four that translates cleanly: ka is bull, Amenti is the west — the direction of sunset and the standard Egyptian term for the land of the dead.

Bull of the West. He stands in the tenth hour of the night with a sceptre, and Budge's caption for him reads: "The god who is in this picture crieth to the gods of the Boat of Ra, and he goeth on his way with him" [budge-1905-gates].

Attestation history

The register. In the lower register of the tenth division, Budge lists [budge-1905-gates]:

1. Twelve male beings, each carrying a paddle — "gods who never diminish" 2. Twelve female beings, each grasping a rope, a star above each head — "the hours who tow along the boat of Ra" 3. Banti, cynocephalus-ape-headed, holding a sceptre 4. Seshsha, man-headed, a star above him, holding a sceptre 5. Ka-Amenti, bull-headed, holding a sceptre 6. Renen-sbau, man-headed, a star above him, holding a sceptre 7. A monkey with a star over his head, called "the god of Rethenu" 8. A bracket, on which rests the Utchat 9. Her-nest-f, holding a sceptre

Budge assigns the four descriptions by position and notes that the other figures "remain without descriptions" [budge-1905-gates]. The attribution is his inference; the caveat stands.

What the texts say

A god of the west, this close to the east. The tenth division is near the end of the night — two hours from sunrise, in a register entirely about the boat being towed toward the horizon of the east. A "Bull of the West" standing in it is slightly against the grain, and worth noticing rather than smoothing over.

Khenti-Amenti, "foremost of the westerners," is one of Osiris's oldest titles, and Amenti names appear throughout the underworld books. The most likely reading is that Ka-Amenti belongs to the Duat generally rather than to the tenth hour specifically. That is a guess, and it is recorded as one.

He shouts at the crew. Where Banti commands the gates and Seshsha announces to the stars, Ka-Amenti calls to the gods in the boat — the towing party itself. Read the four together and they are a communications chain: the doors, the sky, the crew, and — with Renen-sbau — the stars' positions.

No star above his head. Seshsha and Renen-sbau are star-marked; Ka-Amenti and Banti are not. Whatever the star signifies, these two are outside it, and both of them are the animal-headed ones. Recorded as an observation, unexplained.

Iconography

Bull-headed, holding a sceptre [budge-1905-gates].

Cult and practice

None.