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The Kingdom of Osiris was situated in Sekhet-hetep

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, i.e., the "Field of Peace," a division of Sekhet

Aaru, or the "Field of Reeds." From the pictures of this region given in papyri we see that it was surrounded by a stream of water, and intersected by numerous canals, and, judging by the descriptions given in these pictures, it must have been considered to be a very fertile place. The wheat and the barley there grew to a great height, and plants, vegetables, and fruit trees abounded. The idea of the Sekhet-hetep was no doubt suggested by the fertile regions of the Delta and the Oases in the Western Desert.

In one part of this kingdom was placed the Judgment Hall of Osiris, and there sat the great judge of the dead. The soul of every man was brought there and weighed in in the "Great Balance" in his presence, by Thoth, the scribe of the gods. The soul was represented by the heart, and was weighed against the

Thoth in the form of an ape weighing the heart in the presence of Osiris.

The goddess Maat weighing the heart in the presence of the ape of Thoth. By her side is the Eater of the Dead.

feather, symbolic of righteousness (maat).

If the heart

failed to counterbalance the feather it was cast to an animal monster called Am-mit, i.e., "Eater of the Dead," which was part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus. When the heart and the feather balanced exactly Thoth announced the

fact to the gods of his company, and then the soul of the deceased was taken by Horus into the presence of Osiris, who rewarded him according to his deserts. Before the weighing of the heart took place the deceased was obliged, presumably, to pass along the Hall of Osiris, and to make the Negative Confession before the Two and Forty Assessors of the Dead, "who tried sinners, and fed upon their blood, on the day when the lives of men are reckoned up in the presence of "the Good Being" (Osiris). Apparently each of these beings

The Judgment of Osiris, from the Book of Gates.

A Osiris seated on a throne with nine steps.

B The scales in which the hearts of the dead were weighed.

C The pig, symbol of evil, in a boat under the charge of an ape, the companion of
Thoth.

D Anubis, the god of the tomb.

E Heads of gazelle, typical of the enemies of Osiris.

asked him the question: "Hast thou committed such and such "a sin"? For his answers, as given in the Book of the Dead (Chapter CXXV), take these forms:

"Hail, Long-strider, coming from Annu, I have not committed iniquity.

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"Hail, Eater of shades, coming from Qerti, I have not "stolen.

"Hail, Bad-face, coming from Re-stau, I have killed "neither man nor woman.

"Hail, Flame, advancing and retreating, I have not "robbed God.

"Hail, Uamemti, coming from the house of slaughter, I "have not committed adultery.

'Hail, Two-horns, coming from Saïs, I have not "multiplied words overmuch."

The forty-two sins enumerated in the Negative Confession represent the chief sins abominated by the Egyptians under the XVIIIth dynasty.

The texts connected with the examination of the dead show that the Egyptian idea of sin was different from that of Western nations. With the Egyptian the commission of sin was regarded merely as a breach of the ritual law, or of the law of the community, and could be atoned for by the payment of goods or possessions; this payment once made, the law-breaker considered that he was free from all obligation, real or moral. The idea of repentance finds no expression in Egyptian texts, and, curiously enough, there is no word in Coptic for "repentance.' The translators of

the New Testament from Greek into Coptic were obliged to use the Greek word μeτávoia. From the earliest times the Egyptians appear to have believed firmly that the righteous would be rewarded in the Other World, and the wicked punished, but there is no definite statement on this point in the texts until the XIXth dynasty, when the doctrine of retribution is clearly expressed. In the Second Part of the "Book of Gates" a number of beings are described as "those "who worshipped Rā upon earth, who spake words of power "against the Evil One (Apep), who made offerings to Rā, and "burnt incense to their own gods." Other beings are described those who spake truth upon earth, and who did not

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gave to them food and drink which should never fail, and decreed that their souls should never be hacked in pieces. Close by, in the same section of the work, are mentioned the "rebels against Ra, who blasphemed the god when they were upon earth, who thrust aside right, and cursed the god of the "horizon." As punishment for these deeds Ra decreed that they should be bound in chains, that their bodies should be cut in pieces, and their souls destroyed.

The rewards of the righteous were, moreover, graduated, for when Osiris decreed that such and such a soul was to receive an estate in his kingdom, the land measurers of

heaven took their measuring ropes with them, and going into the Elysian Fields measured out for those who were deemed righteous plots, which varied in size according to their merits. According to another view the blessed lived always with the Sun-god in his boat, and travelled with him across the sky day by day. The "gods" in heaven spent their lives in ministering to their god Osiris, or Rā, and in performing his commands, and the duty of a certain number of them consisted in singing to him and praising him at dawn and at sunset. The spirits and souls of

the righteous, in their glorified bodies, became "beings and messengers" of God, and they sat on the great throne by his side. They wore the finest raiment, and white linen garments and sandals, they ate of the "tree of life

and sat with the great gods by the side of the Great Lake in the Field of Peace, their bread and drink never grew stale, they neither thirsted nor hungered, and they enjoyed celestial figs and wine. In one portion of the kingdom of Osiris the blessed cultivated the divine plant Maat, whereon both they and Osiris lived, and eating the same food they became one with him, and shared with him his attributes of divinity, incorruptibility, and immortality.

The wicked who were in the Other World consisted of two classes: 1. The enemies of Ra, the Sun-god. 2. The

enemies of Osiris, i.e., the souls of sinful men and women. The former were gathered together each night and did their utmost to prevent the sun rising morning by morning, but they were always seized by the angels of Ra and dragged by them to the eastern portion of the sky, where they were cast into the fiery caldrons of the god and consumed in their flames. The heavy mists and clouds of the morning represented the smoke of these caldrons, and the red glare of dawn was the reflection of their flames. Opinions differed as to the way in which the enemies of Osiris were disposed of. According to some, those who were condemned in the Judgment were devoured by the monster Am-mit, the "Eater of the Dead"; but others held that they were dragged to the divine block of doom where they were beheaded by the headsman of Osiris, called Shesmu Sometimes their bodies were hacked

limb from limb by him, and sometimes they were seized upon by the "Watchers," who "carry slaughtering knives, and have cruel fingers," and cut the dead into pieces, which were thrown down into pits of fire, or into the great Lake of Fire. Here at one corner sat a monster who swallowed hearts and ate up the dead, himself remaining invisible; his name was "Devourer for millions of years."

The judgment of souls took place at midnight, and the righteous were rewarded, and the condemned punished before a new day began. The souls of all those who had died during the day were judged that day, and their cases disposed of finally; eternal happiness was decreed for the blessed, and annihilation, not everlasting punishment, for the wicked. In late times there are passages in the texts which suggest that certain souls who set out from this world for the kingdom of Osiris failed to reach it, either because the amulets which were buried with their bodies were not sufficiently powerful, or because their offerings to the gods were too few when they were on earth. There is no evidence that such souls were believed to suffer, or that the portion of the Other World beyond which they had been unable to proceed was a sort of purgatory. They dwelt in darkness during the greater part of each day, but the Sun-god passed among them each night, and spake words on which they lived until the next night; when he departed they wept as the doors of their abode closed on them, and shut him from their sight.