Bead Necklace with a Heart Amulet Pendant

A necklace of cylindrical blue Egyptian faience and several small round beads of different colours, which is decorated with a dark stone heart amulet. There was no difference in the depiction of the heart as an animal or human organ, but the shape of the amulets was more like that of an animal. It was typically represented as an ovoid vessel, broader at the top, with a handle-like element on each side, perhaps indicating veins and arteries, and a flared and flattened rim at the top. This amulet has an elongated shape with a loop for suspension.

For the ancient Egyptians, the heart (ib) was the centre of thought and the driver of feelings and actions. Thus, it was the organ, which remembered the deeds done in life, that played a significant role in helping the deceased to reach the afterlife. During the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony, the heart of the deceased was placed on a scale, while the other pan of the scale held a Maat feather, a symbol of justice. Meanwhile, the deceased made the “Negative Confession” of the sins he had not committed. If the scale did not move, the dead person could move on to the afterlife.

The most important guide to the afterlife, the Book of the Dead, which includes the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony, suggests the wearing of heart amulets, so they became widespread after the introduction of the Book of the Dead in the New Kingdom, and played a significant role within grave goods until the end of the Pharaonic period.