The weighing of the heart is the ancient Egyptian depiction of what happens at death. Anubis brings the Initiate (who in this papyrus was altered to be for the Theban scribe Ani) before Osiris, who is one of forty-two divine judges, to have his heart (symbolizing the way he has spent his life) weighed upon the scales of justice against that of the feather (representing Ma’at – the universal order). If the scales are balanced, he has been judged to have achieved eternal life, but if weighing more, his heart is devoured by the crocodile Ammit and he is sent to the lake of fire (hell).
