Ancient Egyptian Goddess, Ma'at

[bob12]

www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/maat2.htm

Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...
by Caroline Seawright



Ma'at, Symbol of Order Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order...

Ma'at, unlike Hathor and Nephthys, seemed to be more of a concept than an actual goddess. Her name, literally, meant 'truth' in Egyptian. She was truth, order, balance and justice personified. She was harmony, she was what was right, she was what things should be. It was thought that if Ma'at didn't exist, the universe would become chaos, once again!



For the Egyptian believed that the universe was above everything else an ordered and rational place. It functioned with predictability and regularity; the cycles of the universe always remained constant; in the moral sphere, purity was rewarded and sin was punished. Both morally and physically, the universe was in perfect balance.



Because of Ma'at, the Egyptians knew that the universe, that everything in the universe, worked on a pattern, just as, later on, the Greeks called the underlying order of the universe logos (meaning, order, pattern).



"In the beginning was the logos*, and the logos* was with God and the logos* was God." - John 1:1


* Logos was the 'Word', another name for Jesus.



Egypt, then, was seen to be nothing without Ma'at.



Ma'at was reality, the solid grounding of reality that made the Sun rise, the stars shine, the river flood and mankind think. The universe itself, all the world around them, was sacred in the ancient view. "Ethics" is an issue of human will and human permission. It is a function of the human world of duality. What is "ethical" for one group is sin for another. But Ma'at, the reality that made all groups what they are is transcendent of ethics, just as a rock or a flower is amoral, a-ethical, without "truth or falsehood." How can a flower be "false" or "ethical." It just is. How can the universe be "ethical or moral, right or wrong"? It simply is. That is Ma'at.

Despite being a winged goddess (like Nephthys), she was judge at the Egyptian underworld at the Halls of Ma'ati or Halls of the Double Ma'at.



The dead person's heart was placed on a scale, balanced by Ma'at herself, or by the Feather of Ma'at (her symbol that she wore on her head was an ostrich feather).



Thoth (god of writing and scribes) weighed the heart... if the deceased had been found to not have followed the concept of ma'at during his life (if he had lied or cheated or killed or done anything against ma'at) his heart was devoured by a demon (she was called Ammut - Devouress of the Dead) and he died the final death. If the heart weighed the same as Ma'at, the deceased was allowed to go on to the afterlife.



In life, it was the pharaohs' duty to uphold ma'at. "I have done Ma'at" has been spoken by several pharaohs, as well as being called "beloved of Ma'at".



The ruler who forcibly emphasizes his adherence to Maat on his monuments in Akhenaten — the very king whom later pharaohs considered to have deviated immensely from her laws.



Ma'at, as would be logical, was also was the justice meeted out in ancient Egyptial law courts. It is likely that a "Priest of Ma'at" referred to people who were involved in the justice system, as well as being priests of the goddess herself.



There is a small temple dedicated to Ma'at (in ruins) at Karnak. The temple is inside Precinct of Montu, the smallest of three enclosures at Karnak. The temple seems to have been built by Hatshepsut, then reconstructed by Thuthmose III. You can see a computer reconstruction of Ma'at's temple at www.ieuropa.com/.



Ma'at did not exist until Ra rose from the waters of Nun (various gods and goddesses of Chaos). She was known as a Neter goddess, and as such, was described as a daughter of Ra. But without Ma'at, Egyptians believed that Nun would reclaim the universe. She was also thought to be the wife of Thoth, moon god and god of the wisdom.



She was, really, the most important deity of them all.



Caroline Seawright is a full time worker, part time traveler, anime and manga lover and HTML programmer! She writes many articles on or about Egypt.

[bob12]

www.crystalinks.com/maat.html

Ma'at as a Goddess

The goddess Ma'at was the goddess of harmony, order, and truth represented as a young woman, 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.

Because it also was the pharaoh's duty to ensure truth and justice, many of them were referred to as Meri-Ma'at (Beloved of Ma'at). Since she was considered as merely the concept of order and truth, it was thought that she came into existence at the moment of creation, having no creator and made the order of the entire universe from the pandemonium.

When beliefs about Thoth arose in the Egyptian pantheon and started to consume the earlier beliefs at Hermopolis about the Ogdoad, it was said that she was the mother of the Ogdoad and Thoth the father.

In Duat, the Egyptian underworld, the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against her single Shu feather, symbolically representing the concept of Ma'at, in the Hall of Two Truths. A heart which was unworthy was devoured by the goddess Ammit and its owner condemned to remain in Duat.

The heart was considered the location of the soul by ancient Egyptians. 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 became part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition.



The weighing of the heart, pictured on papyrus, (in the Book of the Dead, typically, or in tomb scenes, etc.), shows Anubis overseeing the weighing, the lioness Ammit seated awaiting the results 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 posthumous Osiris who performed the weighing.

Ma'at was commonly depicted in ancient Egyptian art as a woman with outstretched wings and a "curved" ostrich feather on her head or, sometimes, just as a feather. These images are on some sarcophagi as a symbol of protection for the souls of the dead. Egyptians believed that without Ma'at there would be only the primal chaos, ending the world. It was seen as the Pharaoh's necessity to apply just law, following Ma'at.

[bob12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat

Maat themes found in the Book of the Dead and on tomb inscriptions

One aspect of ancient Egyptian funerary literature which often is mistaken for a codified ethic of Maat is Spell (Chapter) 125 of the Book of the Dead or Papyrus of Ani (known to the ancient Egyptians as The Book of Going Forth by Day). The lines of this spell are often collectively called the "Forty-Two Declarations of Purity" or the Negative Confessions. These declarations varied somewhat from tomb to tomb and so cannot be considered a canonical definition of Maat. Rather, they appear to express each tomb owner's individual conception of Maat, as well as working as a magical absolution—misdeeds or mistakes made by the tomb owner in life could be declared as not having been done, and through the power of the written word, wipe that particular misdeed from the afterlife record of the deceased.

Many of the lines are similar, however, and they can help to give the student a "flavor" for the sorts of things which Maat governed — essentially everything, from the most formal to the most mundane aspects of life.

The doctrine of Maat is represented in the declarations to Rekhti-merti-f-ent-Maat and the 42 Negative Confessions listed in the Papyrus of Ani. The following are taken from public domain translations made by E. A. Wallis Budge in the early part of the 20th century; more recent translations may differ in the light of modern scholarship.

[edit] 42 Confessions (Papyrus of Ani)

1. I have not committed sin.
2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
3. I have not stolen.
4. I have not slain men and women.
5. I have not stolen grain.
6. I have not purloined offerings.
7. I have not stolen the property of the god.
8. I have not uttered lies.
9 .I have not carried away food.
10. I have not uttered curses.
11 .I have not committed adultery, I have not lain with men.
12. I have made none to weep.
13. I have not eaten the heart [i.e I have not grieved uselessly, or felt remorse].
14. I have not attacked any man.
15 .I am not a man of deceit.
16. I have not stolen cultivated land.
17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
18. I have slandered [no man].
19. I have not been angry without just cause.
20. I have not debauched the wife of any man.
21. I have not debauched the wife of [any] man. (repeats the previous affirmation but addressed to a different god)
22. I have not polluted myself.
23. I have terrorised none.
24. I have not transgressed [the Law].
25. I have not been wroth.
26. I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
27. I have not blasphemed.
28. I am not a man of violence.
29. I am not a stirrer up of strife (or a disturber of the peace).
30. I have not acted (or judged) with undue haste.
31. I have not pried into matters.
32. I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
33. I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
34. I have not worked witchcraft against the King (or blasphemed against the King).
35. I have never stopped [the flow of] water.
36. I have never raised my voice (spoken arrogantly, or in anger).
37. I have not cursed (or blasphemed) God.
38. I have not acted with evil rage
39. I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
40 .I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the Spirits of the dead.
41. I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
42. I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god

***** *****

www.egyptsbookofthedead.com/cont.php

Page from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer
From Thebes, Egypt
19th Dynasty, around 1275 BC

The judgement of the dead in the presence of Osiris

This is an excellent example of one of the many fine vignettes (illustrations) from the Book of the Dead of
Hunefer. The scene reads from left to right. To the left, Anubis brings Hunefer into the judgement area. Anubis
is also shown supervizing the judgement scales. Hunefer's heart, represented as a pot, is being weighed
against a feather, the symbol of Maat, the established order of things, in this context meaning 'what is right'.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the seat of the emotions, the intellect and the character, and
thus represented the good or bad aspects of a person's life. If the heart did not balance with the feather, then
the dead person was condemned to non-existence, and consumption by the ferocious 'devourer', the strange
beast shown here which is part-crocodile, part-lion, and part-hippopotamus.
However, as a papyrus devoted to ensuring Hunefer's continued existence in the Afterlife is not likely to depict
this outcome, he is shown to the right, brought into the presence of Osiris by his son Horus, having become
'true of voice' or 'justified'. This was a standard epithet applied to dead individuals in their texts. Osiris is
shown seated under a canopy, with his sisters Isis and Nephthys. At the top, Hunefer is shown adoring a row of
deities who supervise the judgement.

[bob12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat

Maat as a principle


Maat was both the goddess and the personification of truth and justice. Her ostrich feather represents truth.


Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period the King would describe himself as the "Lord of Maat" who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart.

The significance of Maat developed to the point that it embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons, heavenly movements, religious observations and fair dealings, honesty and truthfulness in social interactions.

The ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of an underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious King could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual.[6] In opposition to the right order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet: chaos, lies and violence.

In addition to the importance of the Maat, several other principles within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to tradition as opposed to change, the importance of rhetorical skill, and the significance of achieving impartiality, and social justice. In one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c. 1664 BCE) text the Creator declares "I made every man like his fellow". Maat called the rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: "I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked" and "I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan".

To the Egyptian mind, Maat bound all things together in an indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by Maat.

The underlying concepts of Taoism and Confucianism resemble Maat at times.[9] Many of these concepts were codified into laws, and many of the concepts often were discussed by ancient Egyptian philosophers and officials who referred to the spiritual text known as the Book of the Dead.

[bob12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat

Maat and the law



There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules (as found in Mosaic law of the 1st millennium BCE). Maat was the norm and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty (c. 2510-2370 BCE) onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat and in later periods judges wore images of Maat.

Later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These spiritual texts dealt with common social or professional situations and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat. It was very practical advice, and highly case-based, so that few specific and general rules could be derived from them.

During the Greek period in Egyptian history, Greek law existed alongside Egyptian law. The Egyptian law preserved the rights of women who were allowed to act independently of men and own substantial personal property and in time this influenced the more restrictive conventions of the Greeks and Romans. When the Romans took control of Egypt, the Roman legal system which existed throughout the Roman Empire was imposed in Egypt.

[bob12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat

Maat as a goddess


Isis and winged Maat together with Horus and Nefertari.


Maat was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman, sitting or standing, holding a was scepter, the symbol of power, in one hand and an ankh, the symbol of eternal life, 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).

The sun-god Ra came from the primaeval mound of creation only after he set his daughter Maat in place of Isfet (chaos). Kings inherited the duty to ensure Maat remained in place and they with Ra are said to "live on Maat", with Akhenaten (r. 1372-1355 BCE) in particular emphasising 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 Egyptian pantheon and started to consume the earlier beliefs at Hermopolis about the Ogdoad, it was said that she was the mother of the Ogdoad and Thoth the father.

In the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against her single "Feather of Ma'at", 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 condemned to remain in the Duat. The heart was considered the location of the soul by ancient Egyptians. 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 became part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition.

The weighing of the heart, pictured on papyrus in the Book of the Dead typically, or in tomb scenes, shows Anubis overseeing the weighing and the lioness Ammit seated awaiting the results 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 posthumous Osiris who performed the weighing.

[bob12]

www.merciangathering.com/maat.htm



Maat, you who are within me and around me

Who offers us divine justice;

Let me breathe in the essence of Maat

Which is eternal truth

Let me live by Maat, for Maat and in Maat.

Maat is the Egyptian goddess of justice, divine order, cosmic harmony and balance. She is usually pictured standing or sitting on her heels, wearing an ostrich feather and holding a sceptre and the ankh, or key of life. She is called 'The Mother', the 'Lady of the Judgement Hall', the 'Virgin', and 'the Daughter of Ra'. Her law governs all the worlds and even the gods have to obey her rule.

She was present before the dawn of creation when Atum the creator, wishing that his heart might live, breathed in the essence of Maat, and everything began. Maat is often pictured as giving the breath of life to the pharaoh, as well as to the other gods and goddesses. Her husband and male counterpart is Thoth, the divine scribe, lord of books and learning, inventor of hieroglyphs and numbers, and the director of the planets and seasons.

It was the pharaoh's duty to maintain the rule of Maat, and Egyptian social organisation was meant to be a reflection of the divine and natural order. If the pattern should be transgressed against, then chaos and its consequences would follow. The pharaoh carried an effigy of the seated Maat as a sign that he represented her regime, which had not been disturbed since the day of its creation. Judges wore a lapis lazuli emblem of Maat on their breasts. The Egyptians were urged to 'Speak Maat, do Maat' and to live 'by Maat, in Maat and for Maat'. The goddess is righteousness embodied, incapable of envy, maliciousness, deceit, or evil.

At death, the human soul is conducted by Thoth, god of wisdom, into the Hall of Double Justice and the presence of Osiris, Lord of the Dead, together with the forty-two Assessors, or Judges of Maat, who pass final judgement on the soul. The heart, which represents the person's essence, is weighed in the Scales of Justice against the feather of Maat. If he or she has led a good life, then the scales will balance perfectly. If he or she has committed a crime against the forty two divine rules, then the scales will tilt and the heart is eaten by Ta Urt, a hideous monster from the underworld with crocodile head, hippopotamus body and lion feet. The soul had to declare that, in life, it was not a wrongdoer, a person of violence, evil minded, a rapist, a murderer, a cheat, a thief of sacred properties, a liar, a stealer of food, lazy, a transgressor, a killer of sacred animals, fraudulent, a land-grabber, an eaves dropper, a gossip, nosy, an adulterer, promiscuous, one who deliberately frightened others, a criminal, sharp tongued, one who was deaf to the suffering of others, coarse in behaviour, the cause of another's tears, prone to unnatural lusts, one who indulged their anger, one who cursed, aggressive, inconstant, cruel to animals, a doer of mischief, a traitor, a polluter of the environment, loud, a blasphemer, partial, greedy, or an offender of the gods.

The scales are a powerful symbol of Maat, since balance is the key to her nature. She abjures all extremes: greed, overindulgence, excess, laziness and slovenliness.

The god Atum said that when the heavens were sleeping he lived with his daughter Maat, 'one within me, the other around me'. This is the mystery of the 'double Maat' or union of opposites that creates harmony. Maat represents balance in all its aspects- male and female, black and white, night and day, Upper and Lower Egypt, fertile flood plane and barren desert: the perfect balance of two opposites that make a single, harmonious whole. The balance of Maat was the expression of the natural, immutable law of the universe, which is held in equilibrium. The feather of Maat is light, and the heart that is weighed against it must belong to one who has trod lightly on the earth.

Maat's justice is concerned with more than punishing the wrongdoer and vindicating the innocent. Though the scales of Maat are the familiar Scales of Justice, an image we still use today, they are also representative of her role as the keeper of divine balance and cosmic harmony. A crime against the rule of Maat was an offence that disturbed this unity, documented in the forty-two laws that included cruelty to animals and polluting the environment.

All actions, whether good or evil, carry the seeds of their own justice.

[bob12]

ISIS / MAAT RITUAL EXPLAINED

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9EFjbib9QM

[bob12]

42 Laws Of Maat (42 Negative Confession) Egyptian Book Of The Dead (From Medu Neter) Kalam EL

Kalam EL - 42 Laws Of Ma'at: Reading The Hieroglyphs (Live Lecture) Egyptian Book Of The Dead, Learning The Medu Neter, Hieroglyphs made simple, Recitation of the Negative Confessions, E.A Wallis Budge mistranslated corrections, Ancient Egyptian After Life Explained. Facts about Egypt

[bob12]

John Van Auken-Mysteries of Egypt Book of the Dead, Pyramids & Mayan Calendar

[bob12]

[bob12]

The Vatican Suppressed, Forbidden Bible, Book of the Dead, Science of Afterlife in Detail

[bob12]

Rosicrucian Grand Master Julie Scott talks about the ancient Egyptian concept of the afterlife and shows us around the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose California.

[bob12]

THE HALL OF MAAT JUDGEMENT SCENE---THE REAL MEANING

[bob12]

The Vatican Suppressed, Forbidden Bible, Book of the Dead, Science of Afterlife in Detail