Facts about Ma`at Goddess in Ancient Egypt

• 16 / 5 / 2023

The goddess Maat is also credited with controlling the seasons of the year and the movement of the stars, that's why Egypt was named in ancient times (the land of the Nile and MAAT).

the balance in the cuff and the feather of the goddess Maat in the other cuff. If the feather is weighted, he enters paradise in their beliefs, but if the heart is weighted, he goes to the courtyard, which the ancient Egyptian beliefs represented in the form of an imaginary predatory beast named amamut, whose head is the head of a crocodile, his body is the body of a lion and the back part of the body of a hippopotamus. The court of the other world consisted of 42 judges from the provinces of Egypt, headed by Osiris. 

 If the heart of the deceased is heavier than the "feather of truth" (Maat), this means that the deceased was a disobedient and lying mighty man in his life in this world doing evil deeds, then his heart is thrown and devoured by the mythical monster amamet, who is waiting by the balance, and this is his eternal end. The ancient Egyptians imagined about the day of judgment that Anubis would accompany the deceased to the courtroom, and the judges would begin to question the deceased about his actions in the world, and whether he was following the MAAT (the right way) or was one of the guilty. The deceased begins to defend himself and says: I did not kill anyone, I did not expose a human being, I did not complain to a worker to his boss, I did not steal.

The law 

There are not many writings left that describe the practice of ancient Egyptian law. Maat represented the ordinary and fundamental values that formed the background of Justice, which must be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. 

Thoth was the patron of the scribes, described as"he who reveals MAAT and calculates Maat; he loves MAAT and gives Maat to the doer of Maat". The urge to live according to Maat was emphasized so abundantly that this kind of educational text was called "Maat literature".

As a goddess

Maat, the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth, was represented as a young woman. Sometimes she is depicted with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head.

The sun god Ra placed his daughter Maat in the place of isfit (chaos). The Kings inherited the duty to ensure that Maat remained in place, and it was said that they (along with RA) "lived on Maat." Akhenaten (reigned from 1372 to 1355 BC) especially emphasized that concept to such a degree that the King's contemporaries considered it fanaticism. Some kings incorporated Maat into their names, and they were referred to by such names as Sayyid Maat, or Miri Maat (beloved Maat). Maat also had a pivotal role in the tradition of weighing the heart.

The negative confessions that one may make after death can be individual, that is, different from person to person. These are the confessions found in the Ani papyrus.

 I didn't make a mistake. I didn't steal. I didn't loot. I didn't kill people. I didn't damage the food on offer. I did not steal God's property. I didn't lie. I didn't steal food. I wasn't frowning. I did not weigh with adulterers. I didn't make anyone cry. I was not hypocritical. I'm not used to. I didn't make a profit on pills. I didn't steal a piece of land. I didn't pass on the secrets. I did not file lawsuits. I didn't argue at all about the property. I have never had sex with a married woman. I have never had sex with a married woman. (He repeats the previous assertion, but it is addressed to another god). I did not have intercourse (unlike nature). I didn't cause horror. I have not violated the law. I was not sharp (- temper). I did not ignore sincere words. I didn't smell. I wasn't violent. I didn't change (the truth). I was not impatient. I didn't argue. I wasn't babbling about things. I have not done evil. I did not argue with the King. I didn't go into the water. My voice was not loud (he spoke arrogantly or angrily). I didn't curse a God. I wasn't showing off. I did not harm the food of the gods. I didn't steal the Blessed khanfu cakes from the deceased. I did not steal hanfu cakes from young people, and did not restrain the God of my city. I didn't kill the sacred cattle. 

Temples 

The oldest evidence of the existence of a temple dedicated to the cult of Maat dates back to the New Kingdom era (approximately 1569 to 1081 BC). Because of the great importance attached to Maat, Amenhotep III ordered the establishment of a temple to her in the Karnak complex, and textual evidence indicates the existence of other temples to Maat in MANF and Deir Medina. The MAAT temple in Karnak was also used as a meeting Court in connection with the robberies of the royal tombs during the reign of Ramses IX.