Egyptian Hieroglyphic Maat Goddess

Maat at three inches, cold cast resin, with hieroglyphic detailing and the feather.

Maat is unusual among Egyptian deities because she is a goddess and a concept at the same time, and the concept came first. Maat is the word for the order of things: truth, balance, law, the reason the sun comes back and the river floods on schedule. A pharaoh's whole job description was upholding it. When the texts show a king offering a small figure of Maat to a god, he is not giving a statue, he is reporting that the world is still running properly on his watch.

The feather is the specific thing on this piece and it is the part people know. In the judgment scene, the heart of the dead is set on a balance against a single ostrich feather, Maat's feather. Not against a stone. Against the lightest thing anyone could think of. If the heart came down heavier, Ammit, the monster waiting beside the scale, ate it whole, and that was the end: not punishment, not an underworld, simply ceasing to exist. The Egyptians called it the second death.

She is the right figure for a desk where decisions get made, a place you do bookkeeping, or anywhere you want the standard visible rather than assumed.

Good to Know

Approximately 3 inches tall, with hieroglyphic detail. Cold cast resin, which holds fine detail and takes a painted finish well. It is not metal and we are not going to imply otherwise; the bronze look in the photographs is paint.

Try It With

The mini Bastet and the Winged Isis are the same shelf. Awakening Osiris is a translation of the Book of the Dead, which is where the weighing scene comes from. The pharaoh sandtimer if the theme is taking hold. More in home decor.