Psychos tas i a

It was an accepted belief from the very earliest ages that every one must be brought into the Hall of Double Truth, and there be judged by Osiris for their course of conduct during life. The soul, after first making the negative confe ion before the Forty-Two A e ors of the Dead, is conducted into the presence of Osiris. The heart or conscience, in the form of a small vase, is placed in the scale opposite to the feather of Truth; upon the beam of the balance sits the little cynocephalus (q.v.), the attendant of Thoth. Anpu is usually standing close by to examine or test the indicator. Above is seen the soul of the deceased resting upon the top of a pylon(?). Near at hand stands Shai, or Destiny, and behind him Meskhent and Renenet, the two godde es who presided over the birth and education of children. Beyond is Thoth, "the scribe of the gods," reed-pen and palette in hand, ready to inscribe the result of the weighing of the heart. Behind him is a hideous composite animal, Amam, with the body of a lione , the head and forequarters of a crocodile, and the hind-quarters of a hippopotamus; she is called the "Devourer of the Wicked." The soul is then taken by the hand by Horus, and conducted to Osiris, who is seated on a throne beneath a canopy; before him are the "four children of Horus," standing upon an opening lotus flower; and behind him are Isis and Nephthys. Judgment is then pronounced, and the deceased is either permitted to join the cycle of the gods in the Fields of Peace, or else is seized upon and consumed by the "Devourer of the Wicked." There are a great many representations of the judgment scene extant, all of them varying slightly in detail. The papyrus of Ani in the British Museum is one of the finest in Europe, and there is a splendid bas-relief of it upon the walls of the temple of Der el Medineh at Thebes.