The Ancient Egypt

The purpose of the ceremony is to judge how a dead person did in his/her life. Because the Egyptians believed that if you did good things in life then you would have good times after you died. But they also think that if you haven’t behave well then you will be punished and you will have to suffer afterlife!!

Thoth (the scribe of the God) will be recording their Anubis’s judgments. And he will be deciding where the dead person will go. Anubis (the god with the head of a jackal) Guarded the dead. He is the one who weigh the heart of the dead person against a feather. And the 42 gods are the ones that questioning the heart. Suggesting its owner of sins, crimes…etc.

The book of the dead also known as “The spells for going out by day”. The book of the dead promises to reveal the secrets of the underworld. It is because in the underworld, the dead people has to go through these gates with horrifying Gods. And the book of the dead taught the dead people about the names of these Gods in the underworld and it has the power to enter the gates. This was a map showed directions through horrifying areas where they were lakes of fires or flame- spitting serpents.

First, the dead person will have to swear that they haven’t done anything bad during life. Then there will be 42 gods questioning the heart, suggesting its owner of sins. This is to find out if the heart was lying or not. Afterwards, god Anubis will be putting the heart on one side of a giant scale, the feather of the goddess of truth in the other. Anubis will weigh the heart against the feather. And Thoth will be recording the findings. Thoth would be deciding which way you would go. You would either go to the kingdom of Orisis or either get chewed up by God Ammut. And that depends on how you have behaved during life.

The person that passed away needs to swear that he didn’t commit any sins during life. And 42 gods will question the heart. And Thoth will be the one who decides where the dead person will go to. Anubis will then weigh the heart (usually looks like a naked man) of the dead man against Matt (shown as a woman with a feather on her head): which is the symbol of godness trust, order and justice. If the dead man’s heart is balanced with the feather, that meant that the decease would be granted a place; fields of Hetep/Iaru. But if the dead’s man heart is heavier than the feather with the weight of bad things that he/she had done in his/her life then there would be this horrifying monster that was made of crocodile, lion and hippopotamus called Ammut will be waiting for the ones who had failed the truth test and Ammut shall eat the bad person up and destroy their after life.

Websites: ghingsouls.htm Books: Ancient Egypt by George Hart Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Harris and Delia Pemberton