Maat
The ancient Egyptian story of how the world began, tells that iIn the Beginning, before existence came into being, all was Chaos. It was Ma'at, the principle of order, justice and balance, who was the first idea which separated from the primeval nonexistence. By the idea of Ma'at the basic laws for creation and structuring of the universe was formed.
"Maat is eternal
and has not changed since
the time when she came into being"
(Ptahotep)
The concept of Maat, personified as a female deity, is the focal point in the philosophy of the ancient Egyptians. It pervades thinking on all levels of existence: the cosmological level, the ideology of kingship, the social level and the individual level. It is too vast a topic to be more than touched upon briefly here but the concept of Maat is intimately connected to the oldest of the creation myths; Atum at Heliopolis, and is known as far back as the Old Kingdom.
When Atum had given life to Shu and Tefnut, by his androgynous powers, the Coffin Texts state him saying:
"Tefnut is my living daughter
and she shall be together with her brother Shu;
his name is Life and
her name is Maat."
Without Life and Maat there is no possibility of creation; movement, dynamics and differentiation must be guided by an ordering, structuring, regulating principle. Thus Maat is an integrated part of the Creator god himself:
The Eternal Return
Out of Creation the sun, Re, is born, to travel from east to west, measuring the time and growing older for every passing hour of the day, until he dies and disappears into the Underworld below the horizon. The ordering and structuring principle of Ma'at is thus at work, ensuring that things are balanced, and that there will be a Rebirth the next morning. Therefore Ma'at travels with Re in the day boat at day and in the night boat during the night, keeping the course and stopping the destructive forces from engulfing the boat.
Behind all this lay the perception of existence as eternal and circular. What had happened at the first moment of Creation, Zep Tepy ("the First Time"), would be repeated over and over again. From Predynastic times the Egyptians were a farming people, they were familiar with the fact that seeds planted in the ground returned as harvest the following year, just like the sun rose every morning. But when destructive forces like draught and famine threatened their existence, people believed the gods to have left them. It was the gods who guaranteed existence for the ancients, without the gods there would be no life, no order or prosperity, only chaos and disorder. Therefore it was vital to keep them satisfied and wanting to stay in Egypt, and this was an everyday occupation that had to be maintained. On the social level it was taken care of by the priesthood in all temples throughout the Two Lands, and on the individual level one turned to the village shrines of local gods and the personal shrines that probably existed in every Egyptian home.
"O Re, Lord of Maat
who lives by Maat
who rejoices in Maat
who is complete because of Maat
who persists because of Maat
who is praised by Maat
who is powerful through Maat
who rules through Maat
who is crowned by Maat
who ascends in Maat
who descends in Maat
who nourishes on Maat
who is joined with Maat
O Re, eternal in deed, perfect in plans
righteous in heart, who establishes Maat
in everything which he creates...!
To make a full turn back to where we began - the King as representative of the gods on earth, was the one responsible for upholding Ma’at and ruled by her authority. The foremost offering of the King was to present Ma’at to the gods, which can be seen on innumerable reliefs from all periods. Likewise it was common for to kings to use the name ‘Beloved of Ma’at’, as a reflection of their function for the Two Lands. By 'doing Ma'at' was the King fulfilling his responsibilities towards God and Man alike.
Sources:
Temples of Ancient Egypt - edited by Byron Shafer
The Priests of Ancient Egypt - Serge Sauneron
Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt - Rosalie David
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