What symbol represents the goddess Ma'at, often shown in the weighing of the heart?

The ostrich feather represents the goddess Ma’at and the truth, balance, justice, and cosmic order she embodied.

Ma’at was both a goddess and a central principle of ancient Egyptian thought. Egyptians believed that the gods had established order from primordial chaos, and that kings, officials, and ordinary people all had responsibilities to preserve it. Pharaohs were often portrayed presenting Ma’at to a deity, symbolizing their duty to rule justly and maintain harmony.

The feather is most famous from the Weighing of the Heart ceremony. After death, a person’s heart was weighed against Ma’at’s feather. A balanced heart indicated a life consistent with truth and righteousness; a heart found too heavy with wrongdoing faced destruction by the composite creature Ammit. This scene appears in funerary texts and illustrated Books of the Dead.

Ma’at should not be confused with the ankh, a sign of life, or the djed, a symbol associated with stability. The was scepter represented power or dominion, whereas the feather specifically signaled moral and cosmic truth.