Nile Lyrics
Annihilation of the Wicked

[Music and lyrics by Karl Sanders.]

The Dominion of Seker. Barren Desert of Eternal
Night. Shunned by Ra. Behind the Gate Aha-Neteru.
The Wastelands of Seker. Eldest Lord of
Impenetrable Blackness. Death God of Memphis. He
of the Darkness and Decay of the Tomb. He of
Rosetau. The Mouth of the Passage to the
Underworld. Closely Guarded by Terrible Serpents.
Who Careth Not for His Own Cult of Worshippers.

Seker. Ancient and Dead. Primeval Master of the
World Below. Remaineth Unwitnessed, Unseen, Hidden
in His Secret Chamber. His Primitive Graven Image
like as a Hawk-headed Man. Shrouded and Swathed in
Tomb Wrappings. Standing Between a Pair of Wings
which Issue Forth from the Back of a Monstrous
Serpent. Having Two Heads. Having Two Necks and
Whose Tail Terminates in a Human Skull.

In Thick Darkness. Amid Violent Tempests of
Unendurable Cacophony. His Serpents Make Offerings
unto His Image and Live upon Their Own Fire. His
Servants. Hideous Reptiles of Terrifying Aspect.
Whose Work is Nothing Less than the Annihilation
of the Wicked. Consume the Bodies of the Damned by
Flames of Liquid Fire They Emit from Their Mouths.
And the Goddess Quetet Tent which Liveth on the
Blood of the Dead.

On Their Blocks. They Cut into Pieces the Flesh of
the Dead. Singing Hymns of Torture and Mutilation
to Their Master. Accompanied by the Wailings and
Anguish of the Damned. They Wreak Destruction upon
the Wicked. Those Who Hath Not Recited the
Formulae. Nor Made the Sacrifices or Who Know Not
the Words of Power.

[Guitar solo]

["Annihilation of the Wicked" combines
Chapters 7 and 8 of the book "Am-Tuat",
which describe the Fouth and Fifth Hours of Night.
The Fouth and Fifth Hours of Night harbor Seker's
kingdom. Seker is probably the oldest of all the
gods of the dead in Egypt.

The dominions of Seker were supposedly situated in
the ever-shifting sands around Memphis, and
covered a vast expanse of territory. Their
theology and doctrines were older than any other
Egyptian underworld depiction - these parts of the
Duat were completely different from those rules
over by Khenti-Amenti near Abydos, or those from
Osiris' kingdom. The domain of Seker was shrouded
in thick darkness. Unlike the places of the
underworld wherin dwelled the blessed (where
fertile plains and fields were fed by flowing
streams of water), the place of Seker was formed
of barren, endless desert wherein lived monster
serpents of terrifying aspect. Some of these
monster serpents were depicted with two, and
sometimes three, heads, and others had wings. This
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region offered so many difficulties to the passahe
of Afu-Ra's boat that Ra did not attempt to
journey through Seker's realm. Instead, he
navigated completely around it.

Some of the horrible reptiles in the kingdom of
Seker were manifestly the servants of Seker, and
their duties were to guard his kingdom and his
image. Seker did not actually even live in his own
kingdom, but was entombed, hidden deep within his
chambers. There was little inducement for any of
his cult to aspire to reside in the blackness that
enveloped his realm. The dead referred to in these
particular passages are those who have succeeded
in entering the realm of Seker, but who are doomed
for lack of influence of the gods there.

There is also a company of eight gods, and the
goddess Quetet-Tent. The work of these
servant-gods in Seker's realm was nothing less
than the "Annihilation of the Wicked"
(quotations are Budge's) - verily, the consummate
and final eternal destruction of the dead in the
Duat. The eight gods consumed the bodies of the
damned by means of liquid fire they emitted from
their mouths, while Quetetent lived partly on the
blood of the dead, and whatever the other gods
gave her. The eight gods would cut the dead in
pieces on ensanguined blocks, and when they were
not thus employed, they sang hymns to their master
- the dread Seker.

To Sir Budge, there is little doubt that this was
the earliest of the many pits of fiery torment in
the Egyptian underworld, and that the torture,
mutilation and destruction by fire were believed
to be reserved for the wicked. It seems as if the
scheme of the Seker's realm made no provision of
the rewards of the beautified dead.

Sir Budge relates that the cult of Seker is one of
the oldest in Egypt - and in its earliest form -
representative of the belief as to the future life
of some of the most primitive inhabitants of
Egypt. In fact, it originated when the
pre-dynastic priests taught that death was the end
of all things.

The oldest surviving presentment of the land of
Seker is not older than the 17th Dynasty. It
should be noted that it is the work of the priests
of Thebes (whose doctrines were at odds with much
of the earlier cult of Seker's theology), thus
introducing many confusing aspects to the plethora
of belief systems already existing in the region.
The priests of Thebes removed the texts, figures
or details that they found incongruous with their
ways.

Budge believed that it was tolerably certain that
their version is much shorter than that which
originally existed a millennium or so before, and
that the attributes may have been altered somewhat
to suit the needs of the later cults of Osiris and
Ra. The priests of Amen-Ra likely found it
impossible to completely ignore the ancient
beliefs in Seker and his realm of impenetrable
blackness. (Underworld depictions from this time
show Ra's path "over" and not through
Seker's kingdom.)

On the other hand, great importance was attached
to the knowledge of the pictures of the Fourth and
Fifth Divisions of Night, which they believed
would enable a man's body to rejoin his soul,
which in turn prevented the goddess Khenti-Amenti
from hacking it to pieces. Lastly, for the
believer, this would secure share of the offerings
made to Seker.]