Guardian demons that appeared as a hybrid of animals were an amalgamation of traits meant to be feared and to differentiate them from deities associated with humanity. Their appearance was based on a hybrid of an animal or a human and was denoted so the dead could recognize them. A guardian demon was tied to a specific place, such as Duat. In the case of Ammit, she was a guardian demon. Demons in ancient Egyptian religion had supernatural powers and roles, but were ranked below the gods and did not have a place of worship. During the New Kingdom, deities and demons were differentiated by having a cult or center of worship. Instead, Ammit was feared and believed to be a demon rather than a deity, due to her role as the 'devourer of the dead'. Unlike other gods featured in ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit was not worshipped. 300-250 BCE) from the Ptolemaic Period, portrayed Ammit with the head of a crocodile, and the body of a dog. The coffin lid of Ankh-hor, a chief from the twenty-second dynasty featured Ammit bearing the head of a hippopotamus, and the body of a dog with rows of paps. Around the twenty-first dynasty, the Judgment of the Dead scene was painted on the interior and exterior of coffins. A stylistic shift occurred, during the Third Intermediate Period. In this scene, Ammit is shown with other Egyptian gods in Duat, waiting to learn if she can consume the heart of the deceased. She appeared in scenes showing the Judgment of the Dead, in tombs and funerary papyri. During the eighteenth dynasty, the crocodile-lion-hippopotamus hybrid was the conventional depiction of Ammit. Versions of the Book of the Dead from the New Kingdom started to include Ammit. Iconography Īmmit showed at the Weighing of Ani's heart from the Papyrus of Ani. In ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit played an important role during the funerary ritual, the Judgment of the Dead.Īmmit ( Ancient Egyptian: ꜥm-mwt Ʒmt mwtw ) means 'devourer of the dead" ('Devoureress of the Dead' ) or ' Swallower of the Dead', where ꜥm is the verb 'to swallow', and mwt signifies 'the dead', more specifically the dead who had been adjudged not to belong to the akhu 'blessed dead' who abided by the code of truth ( ma'at). JSTOR ( March 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īmmit ( / ˈ æ m ɪ t/ Ancient Egyptian: ꜥm-mwt, " Devourer of the Dead" also rendered Ammut or Ahemait) was an ancient Egyptian goddess with the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the head of a crocodile-the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |