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Egyptian Mythology
← The afterlife

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What it is

The heart: the seat of thought, memory, will and character, and the organ that testifies at the judgement.

What it needs after death

To stay in the body, which is why it was the one major organ left in place during mummification while the brain was discarded through the nose as waste.

What “soul” loses

That the Egyptians located thinking in the chest. Every phrase that English renders as a feeling, wide of heart, weary of heart, is closer to a statement about judgement or intention.

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