Cult of Gods

Maat

Egyptian tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
truth, order, justice
Symbols and attributes
Ostrich feather
Parents (per the sources used)
Ra
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.

Key myth

Maat is both a goddess and the principle that the kings had to uphold. In the judgment of the dead, the heart is weighed against her feather.

Primary sources

  • Book of the Dead, Spell 125

All sources for the Egyptian pantheon

Lineage in the sources used: Ra.

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

NunAtumRaAmunShuTefnutMaatHathorSekhmetPtahGebNutAnubisThothSobekOsirisIsisSethNephthysHorus

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorseA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.HinduFolio 309r of the Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin), c. 800.Celtic (Irish)

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Maat: wisdom, writing and divination. This is overlap in one area only.

Norse

Odin

wisdom, poetry, war

Norse

Frigg

foresight, marriage, motherhood

Mesopotamian

Enki / Ea

fresh water, wisdom, craft

Mesopotamian

Marduk

Babylon's patron, king of the gods in the first millennium

Hindu

Varuna

cosmic order (ṛta), waters

Hindu

Vishnu

preservation, the universe's order

Compare across cultures