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Ancient Egyptian Goddess Maat

The Ancient Egyptian goddess Maat was worshipped throughout Egypt. Maat translates as ôthat which is straight,ö and Maat was often considered anything that is true, ordered, or balanced, (Maat, p. 1). Maat was thought to chart the daily course of the sun god Ra, along with her male counterpart Thoth. Maat is also an important figure from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, for it was in the ôHall of Maatö where the judgment of the dead occurred (Maat, p. 1). In the Hall of the Dead, the heart of the deceased was weighed against the weight of the ôfeather of Maatö (Maat, p. 1). If the deceasedÆs heart weighed less than the feather of Maat, they were judged as worthy of encountering Osiris in the afterlife. If the heart of the deceased was found to be heavier than the feather of Maat, the deceased was judged as unworthy of meeting Osiris and their heart ôwas devoured by Ammutö (Maat, p. 1). This analysis will discuss the implication if the myth and ritual of Maat were brought to life today.

According to Jasmine Zine (p. 167), construction of womanhood is ôbased on Western, liberal, and secular notionsö promoting a racist and feminist epistemology. In contemporary America, though racism and patriarchy have been undermined by changes in social institutions, law and public attitudes, the bringing to life of the myth and ritual of the Goddess Maat would likely cause enormous controversy. This is because, as Zine (p. 167) maintains, gender and race have been historically constructed in the U.S. by a specific ôsocial, demographic and class composition.ö This composition is primarily white, male and Protestant.

Because of the history and origins of constructions of race and gender in U.S. society, the values, norms and beliefs of primarily male, white Protestants continue to pervade U.S. attitudes, laws and social institutions. Bringing the myth and ritual of Maat alive in contemporary soc

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Ancient Egyptian Goddess Maat. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 20:24, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1711258.html