Unlike other
gods featured in
ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit was not
worshipped. In the case of Ammit, she was a guardian demon. Throughout the
First Intermediate Period and the
Middle Kingdom, a collection of spells was created to form the
Coffin Texts. In Spell 310,
Khonsu burned
hearts heavier than the
feather of ma'at during the
Judgment of the Dead. In Spell 311, Khonsu devoured the hearts of the gods and the dead. Divine hearts were devoured for their power. Hearts deemed impure during judgment were devoured, leaving the deceased trapped in
Duat. These spells were among those adapted into the
Book of the Dead starting in the New Kingdom. Spells 310 and 311 of the Coffin Texts are referred to in
Chapters 79, and 125 in the
Book of the Dead. Chapter 79 refers to the burning of the heart, while the scene of judgment and devouring of hearts is found in Chapter 125.
Weighing of the heart of Ani. Shows heart being weighed on the scale of
Maat against the
feather of truth, by the
jackal-headed
Anubis. Ammit stands ready to eat the heart if it fails the test. The
ibis-headed
Thoth,
scribe of the
gods, records the result. The
Book of the Dead was a collection of
funerary texts used to guide the dead to
Duat, the Egyptian
underworld. The process of the
Judgment of the Dead was described in
Chapter 125. The
heart of the deceased was weighed against the
feather of Ma'at, the goddess of truth. In
Chapter 125 of the
Book of the Dead, the deceased is given a series of declarations to recite at the Judgment of the Dead.
The Declaration of Innocence was a list of 42 sins the deceased was innocent of committing.
The Declaration to the Forty-two Gods and
The Address to the Gods were recited directly to the
gods, proclaiming the deceased's purity and loyalty. == In popular culture ==