Weighing of the Heart
Mythological Narrative
Every Egyptian dead person faced a final trial in the Hall of Two Truths, its procedure fixed in spell 125 of the Book of the Dead. The deceased greets Osiris, then addresses each of forty-two assessor gods with a declaration of innocence — 'I have not killed,' 'I have not stolen the god's offerings,' 'I have not caused anyone to weep' — the so-called Negative Confession. Then comes the weighing: Anubis sets the heart on one pan of the balance and the ostrich feather of Maat on the other. The heart was held to be the seat of memory and conscience, the ledger of a lifetime; falsehood makes it heavy. Thoth stands by with his pen to record, falcon-headed Horus escorts the deceased, and a baboon often squats atop the balance post.
Also present is Ammit, 'devourer of the dead': crocodile head, lion forequarters, hippopotamus hindquarters — the three great man-killers of the Nile valley in one body. If the heart outweighs the feather, Thoth reads out the verdict and Ammit swallows the heart on the spot; this is the 'second death,' complete annihilation. There is no hell in the scheme, only non-existence. Those who pass are declared 'true of voice' and led by Horus before Osiris, cleared to enter the Field of Reeds.
The most famous rendering of the scene is in the Papyrus of Ani (c. 1250 BCE, British Museum), where the scribe Ani and his wife bow beside the balance amid the full judicial cast. The living prepared countermeasures in advance: the heart scarab laid on the mummy's chest carries spell 30B, imploring the heart not to testify against its owner at the weighing.
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Anubis
The black jackal-headed god of embalming who made the first mummy for Osiris; he guards cemeteries, guides the dead, and steadies the scales at the judgment of the heart.
Book of the Dead
The corpus of funerary spells written on burial papyri — 'Spells of Coming Forth by Day' — some two hundred chapters teaching the dead to name the gatekeepers, pass the weighing, and reach the Field of Reeds.
Duat
The netherworld the sun crosses each night, divided into twelve hour-regions with rivers, lakes of fire, and guarded gates; here the dead are judged, the justified passing on to the Field of Reeds.
Osiris
Murdered by his brother Set and revived by his wife Isis, the green-skinned mummiform god rules the underworld and presides over the judgment of the dead.