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Maat


Maat

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King Seti I offering a figure of the goddess Maat to Osiris, Isis, and Horus; relief in the temple …—Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society; photograph, The Oriental Institute, Chicago

In ancient Egyptian religion, the personification of truth, justice, and the cosmic order. Maat was the daughter of Re, the sun god, and she stood at the head of his bark as it traveled through the sky and the underworld. She was also associated with Thoth, the god of wisdom. The judgment of the dead was believed to be determined by the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a scale she balanced. In its abstract sense, maat was the divine order established at creation and reaffirmed at the accession of each new king of Egypt.

This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
For the full entry on Maat, visit Britannica.com.

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