Project Description

Maat is a word, principle and goddess in Ancient Egyptian thought and religion. Maat was thought of as the embodiment of order, both in the cosmic sense, and in the social sense. On the one hand, Maat was perceived as justice and social hierarchy, and on the other – as truth and “physical” order (such as gravity, tide and sunsets). In this paper, I examined the textual references of Maat in the Old Kingdom, focusing on the second half of the fifth dynasty (2445-2345 BCE). This period is thought to be a time of great changes, both political and religious. In order to do so, I examined titles and personal names from the period that contain the word „Maat“, as well as a inscriptions from Ancient Egyptian tombs, both royal and non-royal.