The Papyrus of Ani: A Heart on the Scales

A scribe named Ani stands with his wife Tutu in a hall of judgment. In the centre stands a balance. On one pan lies Ani's heart. On the other lies a single feather, the sign of Ma'at: truth, order, rightness. The jackal-headed Anubis checks the plumb line. The ibis-headed Thoth stands ready with his palette to record the verdict. Crouched beside the scales is Ammit, the "Devourer", part crocodile, part lion, part hippopotamus, waiting to eat any heart heavier than truth. This scene, painted in the thirteenth century BCE, is the most famous image of judgment after death from the ancient world. It comes from the Papyrus of Ani.

The object

• A roll of papyrus about 24 metres long, made for Ani, a royal scribe and overseer of offerings at Thebes. It dates to the 19th Dynasty, around 1250 BCE.
• A copy of the "Book of Going Forth by Day", better known as the Book of the Dead. This is a collection of spells that helped the deceased pass through the dangers of the afterlife. The Papyrus of Ani is considered one of the finest surviving copies, and it has an unusually large number of painted vignettes.
• Acquired in 1888 in Egypt by E. A. Wallis Budge for the British Museum, from the antiquities trade. Budge cut the roll into sheets for display and study, a practice modern conservators regret.

Spell 125: the Negative Confession

The judgment scene illustrates Spell 125. There the deceased declares his innocence before Osiris and then, one by one, before forty-two divine judges, each named. He addresses each judge with a denial of one wrongdoing, which is why it is called the "Negative Confession". Among the denials, in this archive's working renderings:

I have not robbed with violence.
I have not killed man or woman.
I have not stolen the offerings of the gods.
I have not told lies.
I have not caused anyone to weep.

The standard of judgment is Ma'at, which is social as much as ritual: honesty, not cheating with weights and measures, not taking what belongs to others, not causing grief. The declarations are a documented ancient moral code in the first person.

True of voice. If the heart balanced against the feather, the deceased was declared maa-kheru, "true of voice" or "justified". Thoth recorded the verdict, and the dead person could pass on to the realm of Osiris.

Symbology and sacred encoding

Heart and feather. For Egyptians the heart (ib) was the seat of thought, memory and will, and it could testify against its owner. For that reason Spell 30B, often inscribed on heart scarabs placed on the mummy, commands the heart not to speak against the deceased. The feather is the hieroglyph for ma'at. The scene is a visual equation: a life is weighed against truth itself.

Words that work. The Book of the Dead's spells were effective by being written. Hieroglyphs themselves were considered potent, and in some tombs dangerous signs, such as snakes and scorpions, were drawn cut in half so they could not harm the dead. The papyrus is a ritual instrument, not only a book.

Connections

Egypt (ch02), the Underworld theme (ch47), the Weighing of Souls in later traditions (ch21, ch50), and the Emerald Tablet (V03), through the Hermetic afterlife of Thoth.

From The Divine Archives · https://getconexto.com/vault/papyrus-of-ani.html