Ammit (Ammut Ahemait)

An Egyptian demon; sometimes clearly female and human, sometimes with the head of a crocodile, the torso of a wild cat and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus.

Ammit ("devouress of the dead") sits under the Scales of Justice, in the Hall of the Two Truths, in the House of Osiris.

When a person dies and after performing the necessary rituals, he is taken there by Anubis, in his role as psychopomp ("conductor of souls"), to be weighed. Here he will have a chance to defend his deeds in his previous existence.

The role of the prosecutor is for Thoth, the god of wisdom. Osiris sits on his throne as the judge, accompanied by the goddesses Isis and Nephthys.

Eventually the heart of the deceased will be placed on one of the scales and a feather, from the headband of Ma'at the goddess of truth on the other. If the heart under the weight of its sins, weights more than the feather, then Ammit will appear from underneath the scales to devour it. This means the end of the soul and there will be no chance for a further existence.

The name of Ammit in hieroglyphs:

The Encyclopedia Mythica