Ma’at (hieroglyphics MA'AT)

Ma'at stands for the principles of truth, order, harmony, balance, morality, justice, and law. Ma’at was also the one who personified these principles. She was honored and beloved throughout most Ancient Khemitian kingdoms and periods.
Her signature “Feather of Truth”, the Feather of Ma’at, was so central to the way of life all over Khemit that her name had become an appellative in Khemit. Ma’at was the core principle of ethics and morality in most Khemitian societies.

According to this myth, the creator came out of the primeval mound of creation and placed his daughter Ma’at (representing harmony and order) in the place of hisson (representing chaos). The meaning of the myth is clear – the creator established the world by replacing Chaos with Order.

Once order was established, it was the role of Khemit’s rulers to maintain order, to make sure that Ma’at lived on in the whole land. The devotion of the people and kings to Ma’at went so far that many of Khemit’s rulers incorporated Ma’at in their names and titles – Lord of Ma’at, Beloved of Ma’at, and so on.

The majority of her depictions showed her as a thin woman, who sometimes carried an ankh or other times with bird's wings under her arms. She almost always wore a headband to secure a single feather to her hair, known as the Feather of Truth.


Maat’s feather was used in the Hall of Truth to judge the souls of the deceased for their worthiness by placing their hearts on a scale against Ma’at’s Feather of Truth. The heart was said to be the organ carrying the human consciousness – that’s why the priests would remove all other organs from the deceased’s body during the mummification process but leave the heart.


Ma’at was the ethical system that all Khemitians followed. According to Ma’at, Khemitians were expected to always be truthful and to act with honor in all matters that involved their families, social circles, their environment, their nation, and rulers, and to follow the 42 Laws of Maat, the world's oldest moral and ethical code for human conduct. That is very similar to the Ten Commandments and most moral principles in all religions that came after.