In ancient Egyptian religion, the Duat was the underworld through which the sun god Ra traveled each night.
Egyptian cosmology imagined the sun’s daily disappearance as a journey through the Duat. During the night, Ra traveled westward through this hidden realm before emerging again at dawn in the east.
The Duat was not simply equivalent to a single Christian-style hell. It contained dangerous regions, deities, gates, demons, and places connected with the dead. Osiris, the god of the dead, was closely associated with this realm and its judgment imagery.
The Duat is often confused with Aaru, the Field of Reeds. Aaru was a blessed destination for the justified dead, while the Duat was the larger and more complex underworld through which the sun and deceased souls could pass.