AMMIT

Name:  Ammit, Ammut

Features:  Female demon that is part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile.

Source:  Egyptian Mythology 

Habitat:  The Egyptian Underworld, known as Duat

In Ancient Egyptian religion, the Ahemait was a tremendously feared female creature that had a crocodile head, the torso and forearms of a lion and the bottom half of a hippopotamus.

This particular collection of creatures represented the three largest man eating animals on earth feared by the Egyptians at the time. 

This feared mythical creature had many titles such as the “Devourer of the Dead” and the “Eater of hearts”.  She represented all that the Egyptians feared the most.

Ammut resided close to the scales of justice found deep in the Egyptian underworld called Duat.  Duat is in the realm of god Osiris and is also where people’s souls went after death to await their judgment.

There one by one, in the Halls of Two Truths is where Anubis would weigh the hearts of those passing judgement on the scale of Maat.  The heart of the victim was weighed against the feather of the goddess of truth and justice

In pictures, this feather was often represented as an ostrich feather found in the headdress of the goddess Maat.

If the heart was heavier than the feather, the heart was deemed not pure and the creature Ammit would devour it.  If the heart was lighter than the feather of truth and justice - the individual was then allowed to pass on into the afterlife. 

Persons whose hearts were devoured were not allowed to continue their journey towards immortality.  Instead, their hearts remained inside her, without rest and for eternity.  To the Egyptians, this was referred to “dying for a second time”.

Sometimes, Ammut was said to stand by a fiery lake and cast out the unworthy souls into it to be destroyed for once and for all.

Return to Top of Ammit page

Return to Mythical Creatures A-Z page

Return to Mythical Creatures and Beasts Home Page