The discovery of the egyptian duat, temple of the sun and lost city of heliopolis in west africa

Osiris proudly referred to himself as “the victorious scribe of Ani”, “the favoured one of his divine city”, “Lord of the Mouth of the tomb” the one whose “throne is placed within the darkness’, while his princes in Lejja/Igboland/Nigeria “make festivals for him in Annu” – “he shall do whatsoever pleaseth him even as the gods who are in the underworld, for everlasting millions of ages, world without end”.⁷⁰ Osiris refers to the Duat as the Hall of Double Truth, and frequent references to it in various Egyptian texts maintain that it is a Great House of Two Truths, represented by two lions sitting back to back as if in opposition to each other.⁷¹ This too is the tradition at the Odegwoo (Benben) shrine in Lejja. We are told that this is the only shrine in Igbo land, where one shrine has two priests who make offerings at the same time but with separate incantations and prayers. The two priests are said to be forever in competition while praying, for which reason they each pray silently so as not to be over heard or copied by each other. The Two Truths may be a reference to the duality of life such as the unity of male and female, sun and moon, night and day – the yin and the yang.

The third sacred monument in this section after the stairway and the two magical trees, is a House that the villagers call the ‘Furnace House’ (Plate 10). It is named Okiti Akpuriagedege in local parlance⁷², and is built exactly like a furnace - a tubular mud house with a small door and no windows. The natives say it is the meeting and resting house for the Dead. As in the Egyptian tradition everything associated with the Duat has to do with the Living Dead. The Duat is called “the Land of the Dead”, and also “Black Land” - a reference to its black population. The Lejja furnace house is where the Dead Ancestors who were smiths in past ages congregate during the annual Covenant Renewal Festival between the Dead and the Living (Olili Ndi Ushi). Like any furnace, the Lejja furnace house is a house of fire. It is, doubtless to say, the original model of the Egyptian “House of Fire” (plate 10) whose images as represented in The Book of the Dead, is very akin to the Lejja Furnace House.

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Plate 10a (left): The House of Fire at Lejja. Plate 10b (Right): The House of Fire extreme right of pic. The god Anubis is conducting the dead Pharaoh into the House of Fire amid wailing relatives and black Afican native priests.