The story of Osiris told Egyptians that the dead could live again. But they believed there was a test first, held before Osiris himself.
Key idea
Egyptians believed a dead person's heart was weighed on a scale against the feather of Maat, which stood for truth and right. If the scale balanced, the person had lived a good life and could go on to the afterlife.
Why it works
To Egyptians the heart was where your thoughts and your deeds were kept, so it remembered everything you had done. Wrongdoing made it heavy. A good, honest life kept it as light as the feather. The test taught that how you treat others matters. In paintings, the jackal god Anubis checks the scale, and Thoth, the ibis, writes down the result.
Worked example: Who does what?
In a painting of the weighing, one god with a jackal's head works the scale, and one with an ibis's head holds a pen. Who are they?
- Jackal head: Anubis.
- Ibis head, with a pen: Thoth, god of writing.
Answer: Anubis checks the scale; Thoth records the result.
Common mistake
Thinking the heart had to be heavy to pass. The heart had to balance the feather: as light as the feather, free of wrongdoing. Egyptians wrote spells for the test in the Book of the Dead, and the dead person declared, "I have not stolen, I have not lied."
Beside the scale waited a creature called Ammit, part crocodile, part lion and part hippopotamus. Egyptians hoped never to meet her!