a[=a]ti were the two goddesses Isis
and Nephthys, and they were so called because they represented the ideas
of straightness, integrity, righteousness, what is right, the truth, and
such like; the word Ma[=a]t originally meant a measuring reed or stick.
They were supposed either to sit in the Hall of Ma[=a]t outside the
shrine of Osiris, or to stand by the side of this god in the shrine; an
example of the former position will be seen in the Papyrus of Ani (Plate
31), and of the latter in the Papyrus of Hunefer (Plate 4). The original
idea of the Hall of Ma[=a]t or Ma[=a]ti was that it contained forty-two
gods; a fact which we may see from the following passage in the
Introduction to Chapter CXXV. of the Book of the Dead. The deceased says
to Osiris:--

"Homage to thee, O thou great God, thou Lord of the two Ma[=a]t
goddesses! I have come to thee, O my Lord, and I have made myself to
come hither that I may behold thy beauties. I know thee, and I know
thy name, and I know the names of the two and forty gods who live with
thee in this Hall of Ma[=a]ti, who live as watchers of sinners and who
feed upon their blood on that day when the characters (_or_ lives) of
men are reckoned up (_or_ taken into account) in the presence of the
god Un-nefer. Verily, God of the Rekhti-Merti (_i.e._, the twin
sisters of the two eyes), the Lord of the city of Ma[=a]ti is thy
name. Verily I have come to thee, and I have brought Ma[=a]t unto
thee, and I have destroyed wickedness."

The deceased then goes on to enumerate the sins or offences which he has
not committed; and he concludes by saying: "I am pure; I am pure; I am
pure; I am pure. My purity is the purity of the great Bennu which is in
the city of Suten-henen (Heracleopolis), for, behold., I am the nostrils
of the God of breath, who maketh all mankind to live on the day when the
Eye of R[=a] is full in Annu (Heliopolis) at the end of the second month
of the season PERT. [Footnote: _i.e._, the last day of the sixth month
of the Egyptian year, called by the Copta Mekhir.] I have seen the Eye
of R[=a] when it was full in Annu; [Footnote: The allusion here seems to
be to the Summer or Winter Solstice.] therefore let not evil befall me
either in this land or in this Hall of Ma[=a]ti, because I, even I, know
the names of the gods who are therein."

Now as the gods who live in the Hall of Ma[=a]t with Osiris are two and
forty in number, we should expect that two and for