In Egyptian mythology, Ammit devoured the hearts of people who failed the afterlife judgment.
Ammit was a fearsome composite creature with the front of a crocodile, the middle of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus. These animals were among the most dangerous creatures known to Egyptians, making the hybrid an appropriate symbol of ultimate destruction.
During the judgment scene, Anubis supervised the balance that compared the deceased person’s heart with the feather of Ma’at. Thoth recorded the result, and Ammit waited near the scales. A heart judged unworthy was given to her, ending the person’s hope of entering the blessed afterlife.
Ammit was not exactly a goddess of the underworld or a devil. She acted as an executioner of cosmic justice. Her role is also sometimes simplified as “hell,” but Egyptian belief focused on annihilation or the loss of continued existence rather than a single place of eternal fiery punishment.