Field of Reeds

sekht-ee-AH-roo

egyptian: sḫt iꜣrw

Definition

The Field of Reeds (Egyptian sḫt iꜣrw, also translated "Field of Rushes") is a paradise of the blessed dead in Egyptian religion — a heavenly farmland, often placed in the east, where the justified dead live, eat, plough, and reap, just as they did on earth. The funerary texts describe it walled with metal, its barley standing seven cubits tall, harvested by blessed reapers seven cubits tall. It is one of the great afterlife hopes — among others, such as joining Osiris or the solar cycle — and is closely paired with the Field of Offerings.

In Tradition

Egyptologists read the Field of Reeds as the central agricultural promise of the Egyptian afterlife: eternal plenty in a heavenly version of the Nile valley. The Field lies in the east, the direction of the rising sun, and is closely tied to the sun god Ra — one of its named cities is "the birthplace of the god," and the god in it is Ra.

In Practice

You meet the Field of Reeds in the most reproduced map in all of Egyptian funerary art: the Field of Reeds vignette, the picture that illustrates the Book of the Dead spell numbered 110. It lays the Field out in registers — named cities (Qnqnt, the City of the Great One), watery islets, a vast lake "containing no fish, no snakes, and no plants," and a "Seat of the Blessed" where the spotless dead reap a giant harvest. The presiding figure is Hotep, "great god, lord of the sky." The Field is the reward at the end of the long funerary journey: having passed judgement, the dead person settles here and lives in abundance. The farm work it implies is one reason Egyptians were buried with ushabti figurines — small servant-statues that could perform the required labour in the Field of Reeds on the owner's behalf.

Historical Origin

The Field of Reeds is attested from the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts (about 2055-1650 BCE) onward — Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts Vol I, spells 112, 131, 159, 161 — and is the subject of Book of the Dead spells 109-110, translated in Thomas George Allen, The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Oriental Institute, 1960), pp. 182-186. Allen renders the same Egyptian sḫt iꜣrw as "Field of Rushes" (spell 109) and "Field of Reeds" (spell 110).

Further Reading

  • R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, Volume I
  • Thomas George Allen (trans.), The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Oriental Institute Publications LXXXII)