‘it is the place of the Eight deities where Rā riseth’[riseth’] (Zeitschr., 1872, p. 8).
The same considerations apply to such names as those of Sutenhunen and Tattu.
The presence of the divine “Babe,” of the god “of long strides” (Rā), of the god “of Lion form,” of the goddess Bast, of Nefer-tmu, of the “Striker” (Ahi, a name of Horus), and of Nehebkau, not to mention others, among the Assessors, would of itself be sufficient to convince us that, in spite of the strange and terrific names of some of these personages, they are not to be looked upon as fiends, like Malacoda, Scarmiglione, and the rest of the demon crew in the Inferno of Dante. They are not evil spirits, but gods, all of them, “subsisting on righteousness;” there is “nothing wrong about them.”[[113]] They are the gods who accompany Osiris, and, according to Egyptian theology, are his Names, his Limbs, his Body. If the names of some of them appear harsh or cruel, it is because strict Justice is inexorable, and Mercy is a quality never thought of in Egyptian theology.
The exact notion of Maāt in Egyptian texts is discussed in another part of the present work. In this chapter I have translated it Righteousness, because the question here is about moral conduct: and conformity to the strict Rule of Right towards one’s fellow men, one’s own self and the heavenly powers is what is meant by Righteousness. And here it is opposed to moral transgression or sin, not to physical evil, which itself is a very frequent result from the operation of the inexorable Maāt.
But in the expression, “Hall of Righteousness,” the word in Egyptian is used in the dual number: hence the erroneous or inadequate translations, “the Two Truths,” or “Double Justice,” and the guesses which have been made as to their meaning.