(Ammit, the Eater of the Dead)

One of the more terrifying Egyptian demons is Ammit, a monster with the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, forequarters of a lion, and head of a crocodile. All of these beasts were greatly feared by Egyptians, because they were all man-eaters. Ammit is a female demon known as the Eater of the Dead and the Dweller in Amenta, the place where the sun sets. The name Amenta was applied by Egyptians to their cemeteries on the western bank of the Nile.

It was the function of Ammit to wait in the Hall of Justice while the heart of the newly dead was weighed on the Great Balance against the feather of Maat. Thoth recorded the result. The desirable outcome was that the heart and the feather should weigh exactly the same, and the beam of the Balance should be horizontal (see Budge, The Book of the Dead, page 238). A soul whose heart passed this test was given "an abiding habitation in the Field of Offerings, as unto the Followers of Horus." If the heart proved to be "light in the scales," the soul of the dead was unfit to enter the presence of Osiris, and became prey for Ammit. Any soul whose heart was devoured by this monster vanished into oblivion. This was the worst fate for Egyptians, who went to extraordinary lengths to insure survival of the soul after death.