Ma’at is a complex ancient Egyptian goddess who represented the energy of balance, order, and harmony that governed the universe and was the personification of that “natural order.” She was also the personification of the feather of Ma’at, against which the heart of the deceased was weighed in the weighing of the heart ceremony, allowing them to pass into the afterlife.
Ma’at as Balance and Harmony
Ma’at appears early in Egyptian history, in the Old Kingdom Pyramid texts dating to around 2375 BCE. She represents the perfect balance of nature and how things “should be” and is therefore the antithesis of chaos. Her role in creation was to prevent the world from returning to the chaos (Isfet) from which the gods and life emerged. Isef did not have a human form but was often considered the equivalent of the monster Apep/Apophis. Consequently, Ma’at appears in Ra’s sun barge, where he fights Apophis each night.
Ma’at eventually came to embrace all aspects of existence, from the cycle of the seasons to the movement of the heavenly bodies to the observance of religious rituals. All things moved together in harmony within Ma’at. To disrupt Ma’at was considered a heinous crime.
Over time, Ma’at was paired with the god Thoth as her male counterpart. He was the god of knowledge and wisdom in all its forms, from mathematics to magic. As the sun god Ra increased in popularity, she also became Ra’s daughter. When he emerged from the primeval mound at creation, he established his daughter Ma’at.
The Pharaoh often appeared holding emblems of Ma’at to emphasize their role in ensuring that Ma’at was maintained. They are often said to live “on Ma’at” with Ra. The Pharaoh was also called the “Lord of Ma’at.”
Even though Ma’at was important from early in Egyptian history, she had very few temples and she had no official clergy. Like Heka (magic), Ma’at was all pervasive and therefore not confined in her worship and so usually worshipped in the temples of other gods.
Ma’at and the Dead
Ma’at also played an important role in the Egyptian afterlife since the Duat, created for Osiris where he was joined by the other dead, was an important part of the ordered and balanced nature of the universe.
Ma’at came to represent the ethical and moral principles that all people were expected to live by. Over time the idea that one had to earn a place in the afterlife developed, and this included a ceremony in which the gods weighed the heart of the deceased against the feather Ma’at, which represented the weight of truth and balance. If a person lived a worthy life, their heart would match the weight of the feather, but if they did not, their heart would be heavier than the feather. Rather than being let into the afterlife, they would be devoured by the beast Ammit and cease to exist, a fate worse than death.
In most papyrus records of the Book of the Dead, Anubis oversees the weighing of the heart ceremony, but the final outcome is assessed by 42 deities, listed in the Papyrus of Nebseni. The deceased would have to make a negative confession to each of these gods, stating “I have not committed robbery, I have not stolen grain, etc.” Rather than being the more well-known gods of ancient Egypt, these gods represented each of the nomes (territories) and Egypt and were often called the “hidden Maati gods.”
In some ways, it was also possible to “cheat” the system, engaging certain spells to ensure that your heart would pass the test, despite your actions.
Iconography of Ma’at
Ma’at was usually depicted as a young woman, often with wings on each arm and an ostrich feather on her head.
While Ma’at was closely linked to the feather, in writing she was actually represented by a plinth, which is the lowest part of the base of an architectural column. The symbol of a plinth was often seen below the thrones of deities but was not used to give their personal names. That Ma’at was represented by the plinth suggests that she was the foundation on which Egyptian society was built.
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