Ammit , The "Eater Of Hearts "
~ By Joy Mooooolina . (:
Yes, I said moo , as in cow.
When a person dies that person is taken
to have their hearts weighed. The heart will be
placed on a scale , and feather . If the heart weighs lighter than the feather then Ammit will than appear under the scales and devour it. So, the soul can no longer exist after. The ones who judged on the hearts were Anubis and Ma'at. They were both Gods . Anubis was the original god of the dead before Osiris .
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As you can see, the heart and the feather are on opposite sides.
(Anubis is the one with the Jackal head.)
She is usually called the " eater of hearts" because she eats the body , and she will forever have a evil soul into her stomach. She devoured those souls for they were unworthy.
Ammit lived in the underworld , at the scales of justice.
In the book , " The Book Of The Dead" , it says that Ammit performed the test of weighing the hearts in the hall of Ma'at .
The hearts of those who were given the test and failed were sent to Ammit for her to devour them. Which lead them to Eternal restlessness, for the second death. For those who didn't fail, and weighed exactly the same as the feather they will be given a habitation in the fields of offering.
Ammit was formed into the
animals that the Ancient egyptians considered most dangerous. She had
the head of a crocodile , the front as some sort of leopard and the behind formed as a hippopotamus.
This is what she looks like. (:
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Also ,Ammit was usually
referred as a demon . Ammit was
told to guard the lake of fire, where the
unworthy, useless hearts were . She was more of a Guardian than a destroyer.
Ammit was never worshipped, infact she was known as the
devourer . Most ancient egyptians were terrified of Ammit
for her threatening words of saying tha she will bind them
of forever restlessness if they do not follow Ma'at , the god of
Truth , balance and moral law. Ma'at's symbol was an Ostrich feather .
Ammit has several different names .
She is known as the devourer, eater of hearts , devourer of millions , Bone eater and the greatness of death. As you can see Ammit is usually known as someone evil . Although , some people believe that she was destroying evil for good. Also , her name means devourer , so it takes her role.
Ammit is always waiting to consume all useless hearts. She would wait quietly to be called to have those unworthy souls in her stomach .
Overall , this is why Ammit was very important in the underworld in Ancient Egypt .
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This is the book, " The Book Of The Dead "