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Original fileThe Weighing of the Heart, Tomb of Horemheb
La tombe de Horemheb Tribunal
About This Work
This wall relief, rendered in shallow incised lines, depicts a scene from the Egyptian funerary tradition. On the left, Osiris is seated on a throne, holding an ankh and a scepter, while a scale stands before him with a heart in one pan and the feather of Maat in the other. A line of figures, shown in profile, ascends a stepped platform toward the deity, while smaller figures, including a seated Anubis, are visible on the right. The background is densely packed with vertical columns of hieroglyphic text, creating a structured narrative space characteristic of New Kingdom wall decoration.
This scene depicts the psychostasia, or the weighing of the heart, a critical moment in the Egyptian funerary tradition for ensuring the deceased's passage into the afterlife. It is a central motif found in the Book of the Dead and royal tomb decorative programs during the New Kingdom, specifically the 18th Dynasty.
Inscriptions(Egyptian)
Multiple columns of Middle Egyptian hieroglyphs covering the register above the procession and the register below the staircase.
Translation
Standard funerary liturgical texts related to the judgment of the dead, pleas for the heart's silence, and declarations of innocence before the divine tribunal.
Connected Texts
Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)
The image illustrates the essential ritual of the judgment of the deceased described in spells of the Book of the Dead.
Collections
Provenance & Source
Object
relief (sculpture)
limestone
New Kingdom
Egyptian
religious