Judgement of the Dead
Describe a judgement belief shown in Egyptian Book of the Dead pictures. Anubis tended scales weighing a heart against Ma'at's feather, and Thoth recorded the result. Explain the passing balance, the threat of Ammit, the Field of Reeds, funerary spells, and the connection between preserving the body and beliefs about the ka and ba.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe the weighing of the heart ceremony and name the gods involved
- Explain the role of the Book of the Dead as a guide through the underworld
- Distinguish the ka, a life force, from the ba, an individual aspect often called personality, and explain why preserving the body mattered in afterlife beliefs
1 · Read
You have learned why Egyptians preserved bodies for the afterlife. Many also believed the dead faced judgement. In a familiar scene, Anubis tends scales holding a heart and Ma'at's feather. Ma'at was a goddess linked with truth, justice and order. Thoth records the result. The weighing represents judgement of how the person lived.
A heart that balanced the feather passed the test. The dead person could enjoy an afterlife in the Field of Reeds. Ammit, a creature shown beside the scales, threatened to devour a heart that failed. This meant losing the hoped-for afterlife. The test concerned honest living, not the amount of food someone ate.
The Book of the Dead was a collection of spells, prayers and pictures intended to help a dead person in the afterlife, including at judgement. Some people had copies buried with them, often on papyrus scrolls. Copies could contain different selections. Not everyone could afford one.
Egyptians described several parts of a person. The ka was a life force. The ba was an individual aspect, often called personality and shown as a human-headed bird. The ba could leave the tomb and reunite with the body. Preserving the body mattered in these beliefs. This does not mean that the ka and ba both flew away each day.
A surviving Book of the Dead belonged to Hunefer, a scribe rather than a pharaoh. Its judgement picture shows Anubis at the scales and Thoth recording. Horus leads Hunefer to Osiris, ruler of the dead. The picture is evidence of beliefs and hopes. It cannot prove that an afterlife trial really happened.
Judgement pictures show a heart tested against Ma'at's feather. Spells and a preserved body supported Egyptian hopes for an afterlife.
Reading written for this dataset. Video: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: A guidebook for the underworld, by Tejal Gala, TED-Ed.
More to read
What Hunefer's scroll tells us
Hunefer's Book of the Dead includes a judgement picture. Look for different jobs in the account: Anubis attends the scales, Thoth records, and Horus brings Hunefer to Osiris.
A historian can use this scroll to study beliefs expressed for its owner. Its pictures and spells show hopes about life after death. They do not give us a witnessed report of an event in the afterlife.
Keep the owner in view too. Hunefer was a scribe, not a pharaoh. His scroll provides a non-royal example of judgement imagery. It does not establish that every Egyptian owned the same texts or had the same burial.
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