Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [45]
—Spell 30B, The Egyptian Book of the Dead
What was the “weighing of the heart”?
From the earliest of days, Egyptian life revolved around the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. What was true for the earth itself—with life coming from the Nile floods that allowed the crops to flourish—could be true for humans. Very early on in the Egyptian world, this fundamental duality between life and death and the hope for renewal became an essential part of Egyptian mythology. Initially, it was expressed in the life of the kings and royalty. Descended from the gods, they were destined to be reunited with the gods. But at some point in Egypt’s long history, the death and resurrection business went retail.
After death, Egyptians hoped to become one with Osiris, the god of resurrection and the underworld. The elaborate rituals of mummification and burial were all expressions of this desire. And the centerpiece of the elaborate rituals that guided the journey of the souls of the dead to the afterlife was the belief that the dead person would come to be judged by the gods in a ceremony known as the “weighing of the heart.”
As the deceased traveled to an encounter with the gods, there were thought to be many trials, mirroring the trials that Re went through each night as he passed through the dangerous underworld before reemerging the next day. Ultimately, however, the deceased was brought into the great hall of judgment, before Osiris, accompanied by Isis and Nephthys and foty-two other gods, each one representing the nomes—administrative provinces into which Egypt was divided. Standing before the gods on this judgment day, the dead person would attest to having lived a just life. Then his heart was weighed on the scales of justice against the feather of the goddess Maat, a daughter of Re, who was the personification of the Egyptian idea of maat, the philosophy, religious notion, concept of harmony, and code of behavior that served as the basis for the stability of Egyptian society. It was the cosmic order that came through justice and right living.
This was the Egyptian equivalent of coming to the Pearly Gates and standing before St. Peter. Or, in more traditional Christian terms, the Judgment Day at which God would judge “the quick and the dead.” If the deceased’s heart was heavy with sin and evil deeds, redemption and eternal life were lost. For those who failed the weighing of the heart, the fearsome Ammut, “devourer of the dead,” waited, eager to ravenously eat the heart of the deceased. An eternity in a sort of limbo followed. If the heart was in balance with the feather of truth, the soul of the deceased was saved and could join Osiris and the other gods.
By the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BCE), the possibility of achieving immortality was opened up to at least the upper and middle classes who could afford elaborate burial—the hope of the afterlife in eternity had gone retail and was available in The Book of the Dead. Produced on papyrus scrolls by scribes, these elaborate books were purchased by the families of the deceased and then entombed with the mummified body. Depending on the wealth of the dead person, they might contain as many as two hundred pages. This manual for immortality ensured that the deceased would know the proper words to say when confronted by the feather of truth.
WHO’S WHO OF EGYPTIAN MYTHS
In addition to the gods already singled out, there was an enormous Egyptian pantheon consisting of hundreds of major and minor deities. Some were ancient local gods, patrons of cities, towns, and