Ammit

Ammit is a hybrid of three fierce Nile creatures: crocodile, lion, and hippo. Ammit devours the hearts that are heavier than the feather of Ma'at during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony.

Ammit was the Egyptian idea of the punishment of the soul. The name means "devourer" or "soul-eater." Ammit was usually known as 'The Devourer of the Dead' or the 'Eater of Hearts'. Ammit was believed to eat any souls found to have sinned. They would then be digested for eternity in acid. Or, Ammit, who was believed to be the guardian of a lake of fire, would place the soul into the liquid fire for all eternity.

Ammit appears as mix of the crocodile, lion, and hippo. Rather than being worshipped, Ammit was feared. She was not viewed as a god, but she was viewed as a good force because she destroyed evil. Although Ammit is seen as a devouring entity, she is neutral and strictly serves at the whim of the other deities to take souls that have sinned against the gods and send them into oblivion. She was known as the crocodile goddess also known as Estriedia.

Ammit was believed to be Anubis's equal but She wanted to enter the real world and devour the souls of the living.

In Popular Culture

Ammit also intermittently appears as Ammit the Devourer in The Kane Chronicles. In the trilogy, it was kept at bay with Anubis. Ammit was also the antagonist of the television show Moon Knight.

Ammit Media

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  One of the earliest images of Ammit, the being who devours condemned souls in the afterlife, in the Book of the Dead.

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  Ptolemaic depiction of Ammit standing on top of a pedestal left of the scale. She has the head of crocodile, the mane of a lion, and the body of a dog. From a Book of the Dead papyrus (c. 2nd century BCE) in Thebes.

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  Judgment of the Soul based from the Papyrus of Ani. Shows heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth, by the jackal-headed Anubis. Ammit stands ready to eat the heart if it fails the test. The ibis-headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result.

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  Wall carving of Ammit on a pedestal in a scene depicting the Judgment of the Dead from the Temple of Hathor in Deir el-Medina

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  Full view of the Weighing of the Heart from the Papyrus of Ani. Ammit is shown at the far right, near Thoth. c. 1250 BCE, Nineteenth Dynasty.

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  Full view of the Weighing of the Heart from the Papyrus of Hunefer. Ammit is shown next to the scale. Anubis is on her left, and Thoth on her right. c. 1275 BCE, Nineteenth Dynasty.

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  Full view of the Weighing of the Heart from the Temple of Hathor in Deir el-Medina. Thoth is seen to the right of the scale, while to the right, Ammit sits on top of a pedestal.