Page "Maat" Paragraph 24

One aspect of ancient Egyptian funerary literature which often is mistaken for a codified ethic of Maat is Spell ( Chapter ) 125 of the Book of the Dead or Papyrus of Ani ( known to the ancient Egyptians as The Book of Going Forth by Day ).

The lines of this spell are often collectively called the " Forty-Two Declarations of Purity " or the Negative Confessions.

These declarations varied somewhat from tomb to tomb and so cannot be considered a canonical definition of Maat.

Rather, they appear to express each tomb owner's individual conception of Maat, as well as working as a magical absolution — misdeeds or mistakes made by the tomb owner in life could be declared as not having been done, and through the power of the written word, wipe that particular misdeed from the afterlife record of the deceased.