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According to
Egyptian ideas on life, death, and resurrection,
a person did not have an akh, he or she had to
become one. Moreover, this posthumous status
was not reached automatically. Human beings
had to be admitted and become transfigured
or elevated into this new state. The dead
became blessed or effective akhu only after
mummification and proper burial rites were
performed on them and after they had passed
through obstacles of death and the trials of
the underworld ... After reaching this
status, the dead were revived and raised to a
new plane of existence (Smith 2009: 4) ... akhu
was mirrored by a negative concept of
the mutu who represented those who
remained dead, i.e., the damned.
From a cosmological point of view, the
horizon (e.g., akhet) played a very important
role in the process of becoming an akh.
Although it mainly represented the junction of
cosmic realms (the earth, the sky, and the
netherworld), the horizon was a region in
itself (Leprohon 1994). The akhet was believed
to be the place of sunrise, hence the place of
birth, renewal, and resurrection, and,
moreover, it was considered a region where
divine and super-human beings dwelt and
from whence they could venture forth (Allen
1989: 17 - 21; Friedman 1981: 68 - 69; JansenWinkeln 1996: 203 - 205).
Thus, the horizon
represented the very place of “birth” or
“creation” of the akhu (Allen 1994: 27; Hays
2009: 209 - 212; Pyramid Text §§ 152, 350,
585, 621, 636, 1046, 1261). In the Book of the
Dead, the blessed dead were denoted as “those
who dwell in the horizon” (Chapters 15 and
105). [2-3]