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Ammut

Ammut, also spelled Ammit or Amemet, is an ancient Egyptian mythological figure associated with the afterlife. She is typically depicted as a composite creature with the head of a crocodile, the body of a hippopotamus, and the hindquarters of a lion. Known as the Devourer of the Dead, Ammut functions as a symbol of divine punishment rather than as a benevolent guardian.

In Egyptian belief, the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of Ma'at, the goddess

Ammut is not consistently portrayed as a central god but rather as a mythic figure tied to

Her iconography and role helped standardize the concept that moral failure in life had immediate consequences

of
truth
and
order,
in
the
Hall
of
Two
Truths
under
the
judgment
of
Osiris
with
the
help
of
Anubis.
If
the
heart
was
light
and
pure,
the
soul
could
proceed
to
the
afterlife.
If
the
heart
bore
the
weight
of
sin,
Ammut
would
devour
it,
preventing
the
deceased
from
attaining
immortality.
This
act
signified
the
denial
of
eternal
life
and,
in
some
depictions,
the
“second
death.”
the
judgment
process.
She
appears
in
various
papyri
and
tomb
inscriptions
from
different
periods
of
ancient
Egypt,
reinforcing
the
moral
dimension
of
the
afterlife
in
which
ethical
conduct
and
adherence
to
Ma'at
were
crucial
for
success
in
the
afterlife.
in
the
afterlife,
reinforcing
a
core
aspect
of
ancient
Egyptian
religion:
the
weighing
of
the
heart
as
a
determinant
of
eternal
fate.