Feather of Maat
A single ostrich feather, the emblem of Maat: right and truth, against which the heart of the dead was weighed.
Meaning
In the judgment of the dead, the heart was weighed in a balance against the feather symbolic of right and truth. Budge describes a painted Hall of Maat whose cornice is formed of uraei and feathers, with the heart of the dead in one scale of the balance and the feather in the other.
One plume or two
Petrie thought the single plume was probably the emblem of Maat. Pairs of ostrich plumes, he wrote, citing Kurt Sethe, were believed to fly away in the wind bearing the king’s soul, and so were provided as a vehicle for the soul of the dead.
Write in hieroglyphs
stringmash.comHieroglyphics translatorSpell a name in Egyptian hieroglyphs, letter by letter, and put it in a cartouche.Read next
- Next in Egyptian hieroglyphicsWinged sun diskThe sun disk with outstretched wings, carved above temple doorways: the form Horus of Behutet took, in Egyptian myth, to fight the enemies of Ra.
- In Bird symbolismFeather symbolismA white feather has meant cowardice in English since at least 1811, from cockfighting, and in the First World War it was handed to men not in uniform. In ancient Egypt the feather of Maat, truth, was weighed against the heart of the dead; eagle feathers have religious uses for Native Americans.
See also
Ma’at, Gods of death, Eye of Horus, Scarab, Djed pillar, Was sceptre.
Sources
- Amulets, illustrated by the Egyptian collection in University College, London, W. M. Flinders Petrie, 1914, Constable and Company, London (Internet Archive), No. 39
- Egyptian Magic, E. A. Wallis Budge, 1901, Internet Archive (Getty Research Institute copy), Amulet 1
- Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, E. A. Wallis Budge, 1899, Project Gutenberg, Chapter on the judgment
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 25, 2026. How we research
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