In ancient Egyptian religion, Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased during judgment. He is the jackal-headed god associated with embalming, funerals, cemeteries, and protection of the dead.
In the judgment scene often represented in funerary papyri, Anubis places the deceased person’s heart on one side of a balance. The other side holds the feather of Ma’at, the principle of truth, justice, and cosmic order. The image expresses whether the person’s life was morally aligned with Ma’at.
Thoth, the ibis-headed god of writing and knowledge, records the result. Osiris presides as judge, while Ammit waits nearby to consume a heart found unworthy. Thus, Anubis performs the weighing, but he is not the final judge and does not decide the deceased’s destination alone.
The heart was especially important in Egyptian ideas of identity and memory. Unlike the brain, it was often retained during mummification because Egyptians regarded it as central to thought, character, and moral accountability.