The Judgment of the Dead

The tradition of the Judgment of the Dead was introduced after the
collapse of the Old Kingdom, during which the king as son of Horus had
been immortal and as god beyond reproach. In the yramid Te!ts it was
the king who was acting rather than being acted upon, and the role of the
gods was to protect and not to "udge him
#$%
&
Teti will decide matters,
Will judge between two,
Teti will command one greater than he!
Re will purify Teti,
Re will guard Teti from all evil!
'. (ichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, )ol.*, p.++
,ut, as ordinary mortals began to hope and prepare for eternal life,
-deification- was made conditional on the moral conduct of the deceased
when he had still been ali.e. It became possible for all righteous people
to attain immortality in their own right / after successfully passing the
e!amination of the gods.
The 0offin Te!ts speak of the day of judgement when you enter the
further world
#+%
, and the 1th dynasty nstruction of !eri"are contains the
following warning to the li.ing&
The #ourt that judges the wretch,
$ou "now they are not lenient,
%n the day of judging the miserable,
n the hour of doing their tas"&
t is painful when the accuser has "nowledge,
'o not trust in length of years,
They view a lifetime in an hour!
'. (ichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, )ol.*, p.*2*
Once the deceased had been "ustified in the eyes of the immortals he
became worthy of di.ine protection and guidance&
!ay sis "neel over you and wash your newborn form, may she set you
on the good path of those who are judged innocent
in the face of any enemies who(d accuse you before the judges of Tomb)
world,
on the blessed day you pass beyond&
0offin Te!ts, 0T 1
Jacob 3abinowit4, sle of *ire, In.isible ,ooks, p.52
and he became a "udge of men himself&
shall see lightland! shall dwell in it& shall judge the poor and the
wealthy&
shall do the same for the evil)doers+ for mine is life, am its lord, and
the scepter will not be ta"en from me&
0offin Te!ts, 0T *262
'. (ichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, )ol.*, p.*67
During pre/historic times and the Old Kingdom there had been
attempts at preser.ing / mainly royal / corpses. The practice became
more common during the 8irst Intermediate eriod and the 'iddle
Kingdom as the concept of immortality was de.eloped. 'ummification
through embalmment reached a technical peak during the 9ew Kingdom
when it was still a.ailable to small numbers of people only. The spells
protecting the deceased, one could almost speak of technical literature or
manuals, had at first been inscribed on the tomb walls of kings :,yramid
Te-ts;, later on the coffins of commoners :#offin Te-ts; and finally,
during the 9ew Kingdom, been gathered and e!panded in illustrated
scrolls commonly known under the title .oing *orth by 'ay or
popularly as /oo"s of the 'ead, which were buried with the deceased.

The folowing is based on such a /oo" of the 'ead, the ,apyrus of Ani.
Preliminaries
The deceased has been mummified, his heart and other organs
remo.ed and placed into the appropriate canopic "ars. Incense has been
burnt and offerings of food and drink made. The use of his mouth has
been returned to him by the opening of the mouth ceremony& He can and
must defend himself successfully, otherwise he will be destroyed for
e.er.
0omage to you, .reat .od, the Lord of the double !a(at!
have come to you, my Lord,
have brought myself here to behold your beauties&
"now you, and "now your name&
The ,ook of the Dead, 0hapter *7$
#*%
There is nobody at whose mercy he can throw himself, confessing
transgressions, e!pressing repentance and performing acts of contrition.
<rongdoings must therefore be denied, as in the not .ery aptly named
negati.e confessions, and through the magic of denial become as if they
ne.er ha.e happened&
#6%

The negative
confessions
He has to confront a formidable
array of gods& ,one/0rusher,
=hining/Tooth, ,lood/0onsumer,
8lint/>yes, >ntrail/
0onsumer
#*%
and many others with
less frightening names assembled
here from many places all o.er
>gypt. He declares himself
innocent of wrong/doing towards
the gods and his fellow men.
These protestations of
guiltlessness of trespasses against
society and cultic rules remained
remarkably unchanged during the
course of history. They, and
similar passages in the
Instructions literature, are
accepted as being the standard of
ancient >gyptian ethical
beha.iour.
#?%

The writing down of these
declarations and the knowledge of
the gods@ names was
powerful magic, forcing the gods
to accept his protestations of
innocence, abo.e all when they
were repeated&
am pure&
am pure&
am pure&
am pure&
The ,ook of the Dead, 0hapter *7$
#*%

The weighing of the
heart
Anubis,
master of
ceremonies,
leads the
deceased by his
hand to the
scales in the Hall
of 'aat. In his left hand he holds
the an"h, the symbol of life.
,ay good heed to the weighing in
the /alance of the heart of the
%siris, the singing)woman of
Amen, Anhai, whose word is truth,
and place thou her heart in the
seat of truth in the presence of the
.reat .od&
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
,
from the speech of the dweller in the embalmment chamber
:Anubis;












The scales are topped by 'aat,
goddess of Justice, Truth and
Order, wearing a feather on her
head. Ammut, De.ourer of the
Dead, whose
&&& forepart is li"e that of a
crocodile, the middle of her body
is li"e that of a lion, her hind
1uarters are li"e those of a
hippopotamus
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
,
from the description of the beast Am/mit
is ready to destroy the deceased if
his heart should be full of sin and
conseBuently too hea.y.
The deceased, well aware that
he has not led a life as completely
blameless as one might ha.e
hoped, implores his heart not to
gi.e him away, reminds it that
their fate is intertwined, promises
bliss in the hereafter, and e.en
appeals to its altruism& a "udge is
happiest when his decision is
fa.ourable to the deceased.
% my heart of my being!
'o not rise up against me as
witness,
'o not oppose me in the tribunal,
'o not rebel against me before
the guardian of the scales!
$ou are my ka within my body,
The 2hnum who prospers my
limbs&
.o to the good place prepared for
us,
'o not ma"e my name stin"
before them,
The magistrates who put people in
their places!
f it(s good for us it(s good for the
judge,
t pleases him who renders
judgment&
'o not invent lies before the god,
/efore the great god, the lord of
the west,
Lo, your uprightness brings
vindication!
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
'. (ichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, )ol.7 p.*7*
A "ar containing the heart is
placed on one of the pans, while
the other is weighed down by the
feather of 'aat. Anubis does the
weighing, gi.ing the scales a
nudge in the right direction with
the an"h.

The recording of the
judgment
Thoth, god of
wisdom who had gi.en
mankind the
hieroglyphs, writes
down the decision. Just
as the >gyptians in this world
liked to document e.erything, so
did their gods in the ne!t.
3#ome,3 says Thoth, 3why have
you come43
3 have come and press forward
so that may be announced&3
3What now is your condition43
3 am purified from evil things,
am protected from the evil deeds
of those who live in their days5
am not among them&3
36ow will announce you& /ut
who is he whose heaven is fire,
whose walls are cobras, and
whose floor is a stream of water4
Who is he, say43
30e is %siris&3
3#ome forward, then, you will be
announced to him& $our ca"es will
come from the Eye of Ra, your
beer from the Eye, your meals of
the dead from the Eye& This has
been decreed for the %siris the
overseer of the house of the
overseer of the seal, 6u,
triumphant&3
The ,ook of the Dead, 0hapter *7$
#*%
Horus leads
the way, holding
an an"h. The
deceased follows
him freely to
meet Osiris, with
whom he will be
identified as one
of his followers.
0is heart is righteous, and it hath
come forth from the /alance+ it
hath not sinned against any god
or any goddess& Thoth hath
weighed it according to the decree
pronounced unto him by the
#ompany of the .ods, and it is
most true and righteous& .rant
thou that ca"es and ale may be
given unto him, and let him
appear in the presence of the god
%siris, and let him be li"e into the
*ollowers of 0orus for ever and
ever&
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
,
from the speech of Horus to Osiris introducing Ani to him


He is recei.ed by the god of
the 'uat, the 3ealm of the Dead,
and his two sisters, Isis and
9ephthys. The four sons of Horus
stand on a lotus flower growing
out of the waters o.er which
stands the throne of Osiris.
/ehold, am in thy presence, %
Lord of Amentet 7the West8& There
is no sin in my body& have not
spo"en that which is not true
"nowingly, nor have done
anything with a false heart& .rant
thou that may be li"e unto those
favoured ones who are in thy
following, and that may be an
%siris greatly favoured of the
beautiful god, and beloved of the
Lord of the Two Lands, who am
a veritable royal scribe who
loveth thee, Ani, whose word is
true before the god %siris&
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
,
from the speech of Ani
And now begins the dangerous
"ourney of the new Osiris through
the Cnderworld. Thanks to the
Opening of the 'outh ceremony
he is capable to utter the spells
necessary to complete his "ourney
/ehold, will gather together to
myself this charm from the person
with whom it is 9and from the
place: wherein it is 9and it shall
come to me: 1uic"er than a
greyhound, and swifter than light&
0ail, thou who bringest the
*erry)/oat of Ra, thou holdest thy
course firmly and directly in the
north wind as thou sailest up the
river towards the sland of *ire
which is in 2hert)6eter 7the
necropolis, i&e& the realm of the
dead8&
/ehold, thou shalt gather together
to thee this charm from
wheresoever it may be, and from
whomsoever it may be with 9and it
shall come to me: 1uic"er than a
greyhound, and swifter than light&
t 7the charm8 made the
transformations of !ut+ it
fashioned the gods 9or: "ept them
silent+ by it !ut gave the warmth
9of life: to the gods& /ehold, these
words of power are mine, and
they shall come unto me from
wheresoever they may be, or with
whomsoever they may be, 1uic"er
than greyhounds and swifter than
light&
The apyrus of Ani
#7%
,
from the 0hapter of bringing words of power to the Osiris Ani

# % The pictures on this page are e!cerpts,
courtesy Jon ,odsworth
#6% The fourteen gods whom Ani faces in the
top picture are& 3a , Atem, =hu, Tefnut, Deb,
9ut, Horus, Isis, 9ephthys, 9ourishment,
Knowledge, =outhern ath, 9orthern ath,
<estern ath
#+% 0offin Te!ts +, Jacob 3abinowit4, sle of
*ire, In.isible ,ooks, p.E7
#$% The ,lace of Annihilation already e!ists in
the $th dynasty Cnas yramid Te!ts
:Ctterance 62?;, but its doors should not be
opened for Cnas who does not need "udging.
Just to make sure, a long line of gods are told&
0e has not been judged, this ;nas has not
been judged! 0e judges, this ;nas judges!
Ctterance 7*5
J.D. Degreef after te!ts from translations by 8aulkner,
iankoff and =peleer
#1%
In Ctterance 712, line 6*1, it appears as if the
king wished to be "ustified for ha.ing li.ed a
blameless life. ,ut his wanting to be "ustified
could refer to the court case in line 6*?
ad"udicated by the Two Truths which is not a
"udgment of the dead.
:6*1; To say the words 5 (% .eb, /ull of 6ut,
0orus is ;nas, the heir of his father& ;nas is
he who went and came bac", the fourth of
these four gods who have brought the water,
who have made a purification, who jubilate
over the strength of their fathers& 0e wishes to
be justified in what he has done
himself& :6*?; ;nas, the small orphan, went to
law with the sister 7Tefnet8& The Two Truths
judged, while <hu was a witness& The Two
Truths have decreed that the thrones of .eb
should come to him and that he should raise
himself to what he wanted&
J.D. Degreef after te!ts from translations by 8aulkner,
iankoff and =peleer
#1%
#?% =tadler, 'artin A., 722E, -Judgment after
Death :9egati.e 0onfession;- in Jacco
Dieleman and <illeke <endrich :eds.;, ;#LA
Encyclopedia of Egyptology, (os Angeles.