“Beloved of Maat”

Let’s read some hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! 

This inscription 𓏟𓏛𓏥 is very simple because it contains the shortened variant of both of the words! 

𓌺 – Beloved (𓌻𓂋𓇌)

𓁧 – Ma’at (𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧)

I haven’t spoken about Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 in a while, so let’s learn a bit more about her! So why would a pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 want to be the “Beloved of Maat 𓌺𓁧?”

Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧, the goddess 𓊹𓏏 of truth 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓆄, justice 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓆄𓏜, harmony and was an extremely important goddess 𓊹𓏏 in the Egyptian pantheon. 

Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 was not only a goddess 𓊹𓏏 but also a concept in ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 – to live 𓋹 by Ma’at 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 was to always act truthfully and with good intentions, as opposed to chaotically – which is how the ancient Egyptians viewed other societies at the time. The goddess Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 was the personification of these concepts and of cosmic order. 

Being a “Beloved of Maat 𓌺𓁧” was the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 taking the place of Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 in the creation myth. When Ra 𓇳𓏺𓁛 emerged from the primeval mound, he set his daughter 𓅭𓏏 Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 in the place of chaos and to keep cosmic order. One of the roles of the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 was to do the same. 

Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 is always portrayed as having a feather 𓆄𓏺 on her head, whether in reliefs or even in hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪! You can always tell that an image 𓏏𓅱𓏏 is of Maat 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 by looking for the feather 𓆄𓏺! 

Maat’s 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 most important role was in the judgement of the dead 𓅓𓏏𓏱.  The god 𓊹 Anubis 𓇋𓈖𓊪𓅱𓁢 would weigh the heart 𓇋𓃀𓄣 of the deceased against Maat’s 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁦 feather 𓆄 to see if they lived a true 𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓆄 and just life 𓋹. If the deceased’s heart  𓇋𓃀𓄣 was balanced with the feather 𓆄, they were declared “true of voice 𓐙𓊤,” and could meet Osiris 𓁹𓊨𓀭. 

Also, notice the similarities between all of these words that have to do with Maat – the determinatives are different, which changed the meaning of the word, but they would have been pronounced the same! 

𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓆄 – Truth

𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓆄𓏜 – Justice

𓐙𓌴𓂣𓏏𓁧 – Maat