AMENTI (Egyptian jmn.tj.t, “the western region,” Coptic amenti, Greek ἀγένδρα). — This is the name given to the region of the dead in ancient Egypt (Plut., De Is., 29). A very ancient conception in Egypt is that the sun, which rises at dawn in the east, encounters death in the west, and human life is identified with the rising and setting of the sun. Man too, like the sun, will die, but in order to rise again, like it, to a new life. Later the conception spread that the sun does not die, but, having traversed the sky during the day, descends into the boat of night to travel along the subterranean river; beneath the earth there blows no breath of wind to propel the boat, but the souls of the dead, swimming along the river, drag it toward the east, from which the sun rises in the morning. The dead, as inhabitants of this region, are called the westerners; Osiris is the “first of the westerners.” The region has the appearance of a fortified place with towers; guards keep watch at its gates. Within are found the judges of souls, who examine the soul and weigh the heart and, according to merits and faults, award a reward or inflict a punishment. The soul which, at the death of the person, has been judged pure before the tribunal of Osiris “will live in eternity and will not die a second time, but will live after death like the daily sun.”
Before being admitted to the blessedness of the second life, the deceased must undertake a long journey through the underworld, taking part in the constantly renewed struggle between the two principles of good and evil. In this struggle he is aided by the prayers contained in the Book of the Dead, which possess magical efficacy.
Precisely in connection with the belief that the region of the dead lies in the west, corpses were placed in the tombs with their faces turned in that direction; this custom is extremely ancient and is already noted at the beginning of the historical period.