Book of the Dead – The Hall of Judgment

Material: Papyrus of Ani
Date: ca. 1.250 B.C.
Findspot: Egypt
Current Location: British Museum, London, EA10470,3

Centrally placed is a balance, holding in its two pans Ani’s heart on the left and a feather on the right which represents Maat, the divine personification of truth and order. Thoth, in human form with ibis head, is the scribe of the gods. He holds a scribe’s palette and a reed brush, ready to note down the results of Ani’s interrogation. Anubis, here shown as a jackal-headed, human-bodied, kneeling deity, holds the cord of the right-hand pan and steadies the plumb bob of the balance. Shay, the Egyptian god of fate, is standing to the left of the balance.

Book of the Dead - The Hall of Judgment, Papyrus of Ani, ca. 1.250 B.C., Egypt, British Museum, London, EA10470,3 © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Book of the Dead – The Hall of Judgment, Papyrus of Ani, ca. 1.250 B.C., Egypt, British Museum, London, EA10470,3 © The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)