What are the scales of judgment in ancient Egypt?

The scales of the judgment hall, where the heart is weighed against the feather of Maat while Thoth writes down the result.

What the sign shows: A balance with two pans.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: He also reads the scales in the sky: the sign of the Balance marking the equinox, the point of even day and night.
Where you see it today: The scales of justice outside a courtroom carry the same idea.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 76 times across the book. Book VI, p. 333b: “Tom Thumb and the two lions”; Book XI, p. 709: “Scales, sickle and the true witness”; Book V, p. 297: “The scales and the scorpion”.
Signs that look like it: Djed pillar, Stairway and Boat of the sun. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “The balance is a symbol of maat and its oneness in duality.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book X, p. 678)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › The scales. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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