Pub. date: 2009 | Online Pub. Date: January 26, 2009 | DOI:
10.4135/9781412964623 | Print ISBN: 9781412936361 | Online ISBN:
9781412964623| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this
encyclopedia Molefi Kete Asante Maat represents the
personification of a cluster of concepts that introduce the
world to abstract ideas of philosophy, such as order, truth,
balance, harmony, justice, reciprocity, and propriety.
Represented in ancient Egyptian literature as a goddess, Maat is
unlike the familiar goddesses of Hathor, Nebhet, and Auset, in
that she was more a concept than a goddess to be worshipped. It
was believed by the ancient Egyptians that Maat existed as long
as Ra existed and that when the universe was created it was only
Maat with Ra. Without Maat, chaos would reign, evil would
conquer, and injustice would be the state of the world; thus, it
was necessary that Maat exist from the beginning of the universe
and come into being as the food of Ra. Because Maat was harmony
and order, she was what was correct, an