Online Activities: Ancient Egypt

Maat Kheru

Maat is an ancient Egyptian word meaning 'justice' and 'balance.' At the end of a civil trial, one party or the other was declared maat kheru, 'true of voice' or 'justified.' After death, each Egyptian expected to face a trial in the next world. In the final phase of this trial, the heart, the seat of intelligence and moral judgment as well as of emotions, was weighed against an ostrich feather that represented Maat, the goddess of Truth and Justice. If the heart balanced, against the feather, the person had lived a good life, and could enter into the Afterlife. If the heart did not balance, a monster called The Devourer consumed it.

The weighing of the heart is a common motif on coffins of the Late Period, and can also be seen in Books of the Dead. The Devourer was considered too dangerous to be seen on coffins, though she does make an occasional appearance on them in Ptolemaic times.

 

 

Predynastic burial

Egyptian Desert