The Weighing of the Heart (Papyrus of Ani)

This scene from the Egyptian Book of the Dead is divided into two registers. The upper register shows twelve deities seated in a row, observing the proceedings. The lower register features the central weighing ceremony: Anubis kneels to adjust the balance scale, while a small human figure representing Ani stands to the left, and Thoth, holding a scribe's palette, stands to the right. The crocodile-headed monster Ammit, possessing the forequarters of a lion and hindquarters of a hippopotamus, waits at the far right. The figures are rendered in profile on a papyrus background, with abundant columns of hieroglyphic text integrated into the composition.

This scene is the definitive visualization of the Egyptian afterlife trial, known as the 'Psychostasia' or weighing of the heart, which determined whether a soul was worthy of entry into the Field of Reeds. It is drawn from the funerary literature collectively known as the Book of the Dead, specifically the late 18th-Dynasty papyrus created for the royal scribe Ani.