16 | Hor's coffin

This is the coffin of Hor, a ‘wab’ or purifying priest of Amun and craftsman of the Temple of Amun.

It is part of a set of two coffins, one outer and one inner, that originally contained the individual’s mummified body.

Carved out of wood into a human-like form, this coffin is highly and beautifully decorated.

Although it is around 2,600 years old, its colours remain brilliant and remarkably preserved, probably because of the climate and dryness of its burial place, at Thebes.

The mummified body of Hor, in the inner coffin, would have been placed in this sarcophagus.

And awaiting Hor is the large frontal image of the sky goddess Nut painted on its interior with the ankh-symbol of life in each hand and her arms open as if to welcome or embrace Hor, protecting him on his journey to the afterlife.

The decoration on the lid further ensures his safe passage to the realm of the dead.

At its very top, on the crown of the lid, is a hieroglyph of the sky, of Nut.

Look at the front, below the head, collar and winged solar disc, where you will observe a series of painted horizontal bands.

On the right side of the panel and facing right is the figure of Maat, the goddess with the feather on her head who watches the weighing at the balance scale in front of her.

The upper panel features the main event to occur in the Hall of Maat: it is the judgement of Hor, where the heart will be weighed against the feather of Maat.

On the right side of the panel and facing right is the figure of Maat, who watches the weighing at the balance scale in front of her, to ensure the deceased is worthy of entering the realm of Osiris. Here, you can see this judgement play out.

In his form of a baboon and sitting on the scale is wise Thoth, god of knowledge and of writing, who records the proceedings.

He is joined by the jackal-headed Anubis, god of embalming and protector of the dead, who will perform the weighing itself.

In front of him is the female goddess Ammit, with the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the head of a crocodile.

Here she is hungrily awaiting the outcome of the judgement – could this be her lucky day to devour a heart and deny Hor his afterlife?

Let’s look at the scales and see – in the pan on the left is Maat’s feather of order – in the other pan is Hor’s heart.

The heart does not weigh heavily. The scales are evenly balanced so the heart is as light as a feather and Ammit will not be able to eat it.

Hor has been deemed ‘true of voice’.

And so, to the left of the scale, we see Hor being led by Thoth, now in his form as an ibis-headed deity, to be vindicated before the gods of the tribunal, and to finally enter the realm of the dead.

These panels are filled with scenes from those filled with columns of text.

The hieroglyphs generally repeat spells calling for offerings to Hor.

The scenes, on the other hand, draw you in to the deceased’s hopes for the afterlife.