| Ma'at | Goddess of Truth and Justice |
personification of truth and justice.
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(Muh-aht), was the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality
, and justice.
Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation. In opposition to the right order ex- pressed in the concept of Maat is Isfet: chaos, lies and violence.
society, in this world and the next, is recorded during the Old Kingdom in pyramid texts (c. 2780-2250 BCE). Later, as a goddess in other tradit- ions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth and their attributes are the same. After the rise of Ra,  Ma'at and Thoth were depicted to-
gether in the Solar Barque. ~~~~~~~~~~ After her role in creation and in continuously preventing the universe from returning to chaos, her primary role in Egyptian mythology dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld: the Duat. Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. ~~~~~ As Thoth has been seen to represent the Logos of Plato, so Maat has been viewed as an expression of "Sophia" or Divine Wisdom. |
| Major cult center | Symbol | Parents | Consort |
| All ancient Egyptian cities |
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(the Shu) ostrich feather.
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Ra [and ?] | Thoth (in some accounts) |
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Wife
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of
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Ani
/Ani's Ba /
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Ma'at
heart
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baboon
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Anubis
feather
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Thoth
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Ammit
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Ma'at observing the Weighing of the Heart as measured with
the Ostrich Feather of Truth.
The major Gods are in attendance (seated above) with Thoth (standing behind Anubis) noting the result. |
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The weighing of the heart, usually pictured in the
Book of the Dead, or in tomb scenes, shows Anubis oversee-
ing the weighing and the lioness Ammit seated awaiting the results noted by Thoth so she could consume those who failed. The image would be the vertical heart on one flat surface of the balance scale and the vertical Shu-feather standing on the other balance scale surface. Other traditions hold that Anubis brought the soul before the posthum- ous Osiris who performed the weighing. [This Image is from: 'The Papyrus of Ani'] |
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Creator. From an early period the King would describe himself as the "Lord of Maat" who has decreed with his mouth the Ma'at he has conceived in his heart.
'The one. "who reveals Ma'at and reckons Ma'at; who loves Ma'at and gives Ma'at to the doer of Ma'at."' |
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sitting or standing, holding a scepter in one hand and an ankh in the other. Sometimes she is depicted with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head. Depictions of Maat as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE).
set his daughter Maat in place of Isfet (who personified Chaos). Kings inherited the duty to ensure Maat remained in place and they, with Ra, are said to "live on Maat". Here, Akhenaten (r. 1372-1355 BCE) in particular emphasised the concept. Some of them incorporated Maat into their names, being referred to as: 'Lords of Maat,' or: 'Meri-Maat' (Beloved of Maat). When beliefs about Thoth arose in the Egypt- ian pantheon and started to consume the earlier beliefs at Hermopolis about the Og- doad, it was said that Maat was the mother of the Ogdoad and Thoth the father. 
Egyptian underworld, the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against her single Shu feather, symbolically representing the concept of Maat, in the Hall of Two Truths. A heart which was unworthy was devoured by the goddess Ammit and its owner con- demned to remain in the Duat. Only those people with good and pure hearts were sent on to Aaru. Osiris came to be seen as the guardian of the gates of Aaru after he be- came part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition.
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