Furthermore, once an evil was committed, there is no evidence until the Late Period that the individual could be cleansed of such a sin, though certain spells were created to perhaps help the deceased overcome his transgressions and there was also the heart, that could be weighed, perhaps allowing the deceased's good deeds help overcome any evil that he had participated in.

Judgment of the deceased in the Hall of Justice from the 19th Dynasty Book of the Dead of Hunefer

Spell 125 in the Book of the Dead provides what Egyptologist refer to as the "negative confession" or "declaration of innocence" so that the deceased could announce his innocence before the forty-two who were the assessors that judged the dead in the netherworld Hall of Justice, also known as the "Hall of the Two Truths". Hence, this spell takes the form of an address to each of these "judgment gods", who is named along with the specific plea before each god. These names of these gods were listed, together with an identification that was either a geographical region or some other identifying characteristic. 

The tribunal of assessor gods is frequently depicted in the illustrations accompanying Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead, though only occasionally are all forty-two gods represented at once. More commonly, a representative selection of the gods is made, normally in the squatting position common to "seated god" hieroglyph, or standing. Sometimes they may hold knives, and at other times the feathers of ma'at as symbols of their judicial power. 

Above and Below, from Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead in the Papyrus of Ani

These forty-two gods apparently were believed to judge all forms of evil, though some might overlap to some extent. For example, two gods represented robbery and stealing, respectively, but apparently stealing offerings, food and bread specifically each deserved the attention of an individual member of the tribunal.

However, it should probably be noted that these evils did not include all taboos specifically, which might include anything that upset ma'at. Ma'at has generally been described as "world order" or truth, but which also implied plenty and abundance of food. As an example, fairly early in Egyptian history it was considered to be an affront to ma'at, to enter a temple unless having abstained from sexual activity, observed certain rules of cleanliness and avoided various foods. Of course, all such acts could have come under general classifications of evil such as misbehavior or transgression.

The Judges and Evils of Ancient Egypt

See Also:

• Ethics in Ancient Egyptians

References: