<Articles>Ancient Egyptian Goddesses Dual Maat: An Exploration of the Evolving Conception and Its Essence

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  • <論説>古代エジプトの「二柱のマアト」 --概念の変遷とその実体をめぐって--
  • 古代エジプトの「二柱のマアト」 : 概念の変遷とその実体をめぐって
  • コダイ エジプト ノ 「 ニ チュウ ノ マアト 」 : ガイネン ノ ヘンセン ト ソノ ジッタイ オ メグッテ

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Abstract

Dual Maat (Mꜣꜥty) are the Ancient Egyptian goddesses who personified theabstract Egyptian concept of maat (mꜣꜥt). These two goddesses had an impacton ancient Egyptian beliefs as they appeared in the scene of the judgementof the dead that forms one of the core themes of the Book of the Dead. Theyappear in various forms, such as the dual goddesses, a pair of male andfemale gods, or a single goddess with two feathers on her head. The essenceand reason for the transformation of Dual Maat have not been fullyunderstood, although scholars have focused on their iconography anddescriptions in the Book the Dead.Given this background, the author has returned to sources from the Oldand Middle Kingdom prior to the Book of the Dead, which he had dealt within previous works, and proceeded to analyze the origin and cases of thetransformation of the concept of Dual Maat before the New Kingdom. Basedon these findings, he considers changes in the meaning of the word mꜣꜥtythrough a comparison of the meanings and determinatives of the word, which suggest there was a change in the interpretation of the word aroundthe Middle Kingdom. Moreover, the paired relationship involved in Maat, attested in the Coffin Texts, indicates a clear notion of Dual Maat as a pairformed by two divinities that is depicted in New Kingdom sources hadalready developed in the Middle Kingdom.

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  • 史林

    史林 104 (3), 375-406, 2021-05-31

    THE SHIGAKU KENKYUKAI (The Society of Historical Research), Kyoto University

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