Editing Khepri (section)

== Appearances in funerary texts ==
Khepri's most important role in ancient Egyptian religion is the integral part he plays in the life and death cycle of the sun. There are three major funerary texts in which Khepri makes an appearance; the Amduat, the [[Book of Caverns]], and the [[Book of Gates]].

Each text is similar in that the lifeless corpse of Khepri is conjoined with the soul of Ra at some point during the god's journey through the underworld.<ref name="SBL Press, pp. 249-2018">{{Cite book |title=The Ancient Egyptian Netherworld Books |date=2018 |publisher=SBL Press, pp. 249 |isbn=978-0-88414-045-0 |editor-last=Darnell |editor-first=John Coleman |series=Writings from The Ancient World |location=Atlanta, Georgia |editor-last2=Manassa |editor-first2=Colleen}}</ref><ref name="Hornung-1999a">{{Cite book |last1=Hornung |first1=Erik |title=The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife |last2=Lorton |first2=David |date=1999 |publisher=Cornell University Press, pp. 84 |isbn=978-0-8014-3515-7 |location=Ithaca, N.Y}}</ref> In fact, the Book of Gates and the Amduat have been noted to be very similar, with the only significant difference between the two funerary texts being that the Amduat focuses more on the journey Ra takes through the Underworld, whereas the Book of Gates focuses more on the journey a human soul takes to follow the solar god.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dardir |first=Mohamed |date=2020-03-01 |title=The Relation between Scenes and Texts of the Book of the Gates and Amduat applied on Seti I Tomb |url=https://ijhth.journals.ekb.eg/article_155890.html |journal=International Journal of Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=300–324 |doi=10.21608/ijhth.2020.155890 |issn=2636-414X|doi-access=free }}</ref> Khepri's corpse is reached in both texts in the sixth hour of the night, and he leads the solar barque out of the Underworld in both stories as well.<ref name="SBL Press, pp. 249-2018" /><ref name="Hornung-1999b">{{Cite book |last1=Hornung |first1=Erik |title=The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife |last2=Lorton |first2=David |date=1999 |publisher=Cornell Univ. Press, pp. 37. |isbn=978-0-8014-3515-7 |location=Ithaca, N.Y}}</ref><ref name="Hornung-1999c">{{Cite book |last1=Hornung |first1=Erik |title=The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife |last2=Lorton |first2=David |date=1999 |publisher=Cornell Univ. Press, pp. 41. |isbn=978-0-8014-3515-7 |location=Ithaca, N.Y}}</ref>

The Book of Caverns is unique among these funerary texts in that it is not divided into hours as the other two are, rather it is broken up into tableaus.<ref name="Hornung-1999a" /> Regardless of this difference, Khepri's corpse is still depicted within the Underworld, appearing in the third tableau instead of the sixth hour.<ref name="Hornung-1999a" />
[[File:Book_of_Caverns-Schema_(cropped).png|center|thumb|244x244px|The Third Tableau of the Book of Caverns, in which Khepri's corpse is shown in the bottom middle to be surrounded by a massive serpent.]]