Here the
deceased being lead by Anibus (the jackal) to the final judgment.
(Perhaps because of a jackal’s tendency to prowl around tombs, he became
associated with the dead) Anubis was worshipped as the inventor of
embalming, who had embalmed the dead Osiris, thus helping preserve him
in order to live again. His task became to glorify and preserve all the
dead. With Anibus leading, the deceased appears before a panel of 14
judges, depicted above him. It is here that he will make an accounting
for his deeds during his life. The ankh, the key of life appears in the
hands of some of the judges, note Anibus also holds the sacred ankh.
Anibus is then charged
with weighing the heart of the deceased in the left against the feather
of Ma’at, the goddess of truth and justice in the right tray. If the
heart of the deceased outweighs the feather, then it is a heart which
has been made heavy with evil deeds… and his ultimate fate would be
meeting the god Ammit, the god with the crocodile head and hippopotamus
legs will devour the heart, thus condemning the deceased to oblivion for
eternity. But if the feather outweighs the heart and the deceased has
led a righteous life he is presented to Osiris, the judge of the dead.
Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom stands ready to record the outcome.
Horus, the god with the falcon head, who is also carrying the ankh, will
lead him to Osiris.
Osiris, is shown wearing the
crown of Lower Egypt, the north. He holds the symbols of Egyptian
kingship in his hands – the shepherd’s crook to symbolize his role as
the shepherd of mankind, and the flail, representing is ability to
separate the wheat from the chaff. The sacred lotus flower is in front
of his throne. The Eye of Horus is holding the outcome of the deceased’s
life. Behind him stands his wife Isis, and her sister Nephthys. Together
they welcome the deceased to the underworld. |
