God Osiris sits on the throne and the balance with its two pans is put in front of him. In one of the two pans, there’s a feather of justice; which is known as “Maat”. In the corresponding pan, the heart of the dead person is placed. If the heart pan is heavier than the feather pan, the dead person crosses safely to the afterlife and vice versa. Horus; son of God Osiris is there in every trial to give a helping hand to the dead person; whether man or woman.
Source: Hawass Reveals Secrets of Pharaonic Book of Dead – Sada El balad
4.5
Would you know if there is more on the sides to this piece or is this all that has survived?
What creature is next to thoth the scribe ibis on the left?
The stars along in a line, what exactly do they portray I have seen those exact stars many many moons ago
why is there two aspects of thoth, the scribe and the ape?
by helping hand does that mean osiris actually determines the outcome?
what dynasty does this piece come from? I have never seen maet so teeny tiny before.
“Helping hand” is from Horus possibly assisting the outcome not Osiris. “Why is there two aspects of thoth, the scribe and the ape?” The second one is the Cynocephalus or “Ape of Thoth|”, who chatters nonsense instead of wisdom – and is a sort of Janus – reverse/mirror image “The stars along in a line”, maybe represents the course of a particular transit of some sort… The feather of Maat in the pan is very LIGHT – has to be!