| colspan="2" valign="top" style="background:Template:Portal:Ägyptologie/Farbe1;" | Ammit in hieroglyphs | |
|---|---|
|
<hiero>a-m-m-t</hiero> | |
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; font-size:smaller; vertical-align:top; background-color:Template:Portal:Ägyptologie/Farbe3;" | | |
This detail scene from the Papyrus of Hunefer (ca. 1375 B.C.) shows Hunefer's heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth, by the jackal-headed Anubis. The Ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result. If his heart is lighter than the feather, Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife. If not, he is eaten by the waiting Ammit. Vignettes such as these were a common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.[1]
In ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit (also spelled Ammut and Ahemait, meaning Devourer or Soul Eater) was a female demon with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile— the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. A funerary deity, her titles included “Devourer of the Dead,” “Eater of Hearts,” and “Great of Death.”
Ammit lived near the scales of justice in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. In the Hall of Two Truths, Anubis weighed the heart of a person against Ma'at, the goddess of truth, who was sometimes depicted symbolically as an ostrich feather. If the heart was judged to be not pure, Ammit would devour it, and the person undergoing judgement was not allowed to continue their voyage towards Osiris and immortality. Once Ammut swallowed the heart, the soul was believed to become restless forever; this was called "to die a second time". Ammit was also sometimes said to stand by a lake of fire. In some traditions, the unworthy hearts were cast into the fiery lake to be destroyed. Some scholars believe Ammit and the lake represent the same concept of destruction.
Ammit was not worshipped, and was never regarded as a goddess; instead she embodied all that the Egyptians feared, threatening to bind them to eternal restlessness if they did not follow the principle of Ma'at.
Ammit has been linked[who?] with the goddess Tawaret, who has a similar physical appearance and, as a companion of Bes, also protected others from evil. Other authors[who?] have noted that Ammit's lion characteristics, and the lake of fire, may be pointers to a connection with the goddess Sekhmet.
See also[]
- Ancient Egyptian religion
- Book of the Dead
- Ma'at
- Sekhemet
- Lake of fire
- Anubis
- Tawaret
- Scales of justice
- Duat
References[]
als:Ammit bn:আম্মিত bar:Ammit bg:Амит ca:Ammut cs:Amemait da:Ammut de:Ammit es:Ammyt eu:Ammit fa:آموت fr:Ammout ko:암무트 hr:Ammut it:Ammit he:אמות (מיתולוגיה) lt:Amit hu:Ammut mk:Аммут nl:Ammit ja:アメミット no:Ammit pl:Ammit pt:Ammit ru:Амат simple:Ammit sk:Amemait sr:Амут fi:Ammit sv:Ammit tr:Ammit uk:Амміт zh:阿米特