Anna Runnfeldt 6-7 Period History March 1, 2013 Egypt Research Maat, The Egyptian Goddess In history class,

we sadly dont have enough time to learn about each and every god, goddess, and pharaoh in Egypt. Since we didnt spend too much time on gods and goddesses, I really wanted to look into them. I searched around and chose my favorite. I chose Maat. Before I started researching, I had a lot of questions that needed answering. Who is Maat? What is she the goddess of? Why was she so important? Was she a goddess that people looked up to for good things? Did she have any out of the ordinary or special powers? Fortunately, I got all my questions answered. While researching all about Maat, I found some very interesting things about her. She is the goddess of truth, balance, justice, and order all in one. Maats name actually meant truth in Egyptian. People thought that if Maat had never existed, that the world would become crazy and out of hand once again. People thought that Egypt was a sad place without Maat. Everyone loved Maat because she brought peace to Egypt. All of Egypt was very pleased to have Maat because she made the chaos end and made peace throughout Egypt. Maat was shown as a tall woman with an ostrich feather in her hair. She wore, just like the other gods and goddesses, the black makeup around her eyes to show her high-ranking status. All civil laws in Egypt were held up to the Law of Maat. There were forty-two laws of Maat. You had to obey these laws. Every morning you had to pray to Maat and say, I will not and say every one of the forty-two laws. Every night you had to say, I have not and say every one of the forty-two laws. If you disobey Maats laws, you would get one hundred strokes of the cane or five bleeding cuts. A lot of times, the entire family of the one person guilty suffered as well.

There was only one temple for Maat, but she was still worshiped in all Egyptian temples. In every Egyptian temple, one area was called the hall of two truths. In the hall of two truths, Maat weighed a mans heart against the feather of truth to see if the man would have eternal afterlife or if the devourer would eat his heart. If the dead persons heart weighed more then her feather, then that meant that the person lied and did bad things when they were alive. When that happened, the heart was devoured by a monster and was not allowed into the afterlife. If the persons heart weighed less then the feather, then they could go into the afterlife. When I started this project, I had a tough decision to make. At first, I wanted my topic to be just Egyptian Goddesses, but it was too broad. So, I narrowed it down to just one Egyptian goddess, Maat. I had to research many different goddesses to figure out which one would be the most interesting to learn a lot about. The one fact that really came to my attention about Maat was the weighing of the heart. I think thats really cool, but a little startling at first glance. For a while, I couldnt find enough to write about Maat. The topic was just too little to talk about. I had to ask my friends, my teachers, my parents, and even my sisters to see if they knew any interesting things about her. Ms. Corcoran told me to search religious beliefs, rituals, and temples about her, and that really helped! I had many questions before I started my project. I gladly got them all answered. Who is Maat? Maat is an Egyptian goddess. What is she the goddess of? She is the goddess of truth, balance, justice, and order. Why is she so important? She is important because she made all the chaos in Egypt stop by her laws that made everyone, except slaves, equal. Did she have any special powers? Yes, one of her powers was she gave the gods the ability to breath air. I actually enjoyed learning about Maat because she made all the Egyptians happy and peaceful, so it was a very happy topic to write about.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Maat (Egyptian Goddess)." EgyptPast.com - Facts and Information About the History of Ancient Egypt. N.p., 17 Dec. 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.egyptpast.com/gods/maat.html>.

Seawright, Caroline. "Egypt: Ma'at, Goddess of Truth, Balance, Order." Egypt Travel Guide - Tour Egypt. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/maat2.htm>.

Shafer, Byron, Serge Sauneron, and Rosalie David. "Ancient Egyptian Religion 1: Ma'at and the Eternal Return." AncientWorlds. N.p., 27 Oct. 2007. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/999655>.

"THE SHRINE OF MA'AT." I.M.T.A.L.T.A.R. TEACHING ORGANIZATION . Isis Moon Temple, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.isismoontemple.com/temple08fmaat.html>.