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| The judgement of the deceased in the Hall of Justice from the 19th-dynasty Book of the Dead of Hunefer, British Museum. Hunefer is shown undergoing the weighing of the hear, before the throne of Osiris, and also kneeling before a variant of the Heliopolitan Ennead with certain additional deities. Other vignettes of the Book of the Dead show some or all of the 42 Egyptian gods who were believed to oversee this judgement. |
Reference to an afterlife judgement by a tribunal of gods may appear as early as the Pyramid Texts (PT 317, 386, etc). Such references are clear in the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, and by the time the Book of the Dead became the chief funerary text, this judgment was seen as the crucial event in the deceased's entrance to the afterlife. Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead gives the so-called "negative confession" or "declaration of innocence" of the deceased before a tribunal of 42 gods who were the assessors who judged the dead in the netherworld Hall of Justice or "Hall of the Two Truths". The declaration takes the form of an address by the deceased to each judge - who is named along with the protestation of innocence regarding the specific crime judged by that god. The gods were listed according to their individual names and usually either a geographical area or some other identifying characteristic. Together, the 42 deities "who hear cases" were apparently believed to represent all possible types of evil. The names of some of these deities are reminiscent of more well-known gods (such as Nosey of Hermopolish = Thoth; White of Teeth = Sobek) whom they may represent.
The council of assessor gods is frequently depicted in vignettes illustrating Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, though only occasionally are all 42 of the gods shown. More frequently a representative selection of the deities is made. The gods may be shown squatting in the position of the "seated god" hieroglyph, or standing, and may hold knives or maat feathers as symbols of their judicial power.
Name of God - Identification - Crime Judged
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Far-strider - Heliopolis - falsehood
Fire-embracer - Kherara - robbery
Nosey - Hermopolis - rapaciousness
Swallower of shades - the cavern - stealing
Dangerous One - Rosetau - murder
Double lion - the sky - destruction of food
Fiery eyes - Letopolis - crookedness
Flame - Came forth backwards - stealing offerings
Bone Breaker - Herakleopolis - lying
Green of flame - Memphis - taking food
You of the cavern - the West - sullenness
White of teeth - Fayum - transgression
Blood-eater - the shambles - killing a sacred bull
Eater of entrails - House of Thirty - perjury
Lord of truth - Maaty - stealing bread
Wanderer - Bubastis - eavesdropping
Pale One - Heliopolis - babbling
Double evil - Andjet - disputing
Wememty-snake - place of execution - homosexuality
See whom you bring - House of Min - misbehavior
Over the Old One - mau - terrorizing
Demolisher - Chois - transgressing
Disturber - Weryt - being hot-tempered
Youth - heliopolitan nome - unhearing of truth
Foreteller - Wenes - making disturbance
You of the altar - the secret place - hoodwinking
Face behind him - cavern of wrong - copulating with a boy
Hot-foot - the dusk - neglect
You of the darkness - the darkness - quarrelling
Bringer of your offering - Sais - unduly active
Owner of aces - Nedjefet - impatience
Accuser - Wetjenet - damaging a god's image
Owner of horns - Asyut - volubility of speech
Nefertem - Memphis - wrongdoing, beholding evil
Temsep - Busiris - conjuration against the King
You who acted willfully - Tjebu - wading in water
Water-smiter - the abyss - being loud voiced
Commander of mankind - your house - reviling God
Bestower of good - the Harpoon nome - doing...?
Bestower of powers - the city - making distinctions for self
Serpent with raised head - the cavern - dishonest wealth
Serpent who brings and gives - the silent land - blasphemy
