Symbol of Truth, Balance,and Cosmological Order.  Maát is
ethical principles collectively embracing the values of truth,
justice, harmony, balance, cosmological order, reciprocity and
propriety.  Personified as a goddess, Maát is depicted as a
woman wearing an ostrich feather on her head, a symbol of the
principles she represents. Controlling the movement of the stars
and the seasonal flooding of the Nile River, Maát also had codes
of tradition and customs. For all Egyptians to live in a happy,
prosperous and peaceful environment, they had to live within the
order established by Maát. The pharaoh, as absolute ruler, was
the individual most responsible to manifest in life, through all
his actions, the entire concept of Maát. Deviation from the
tenets of Maát could prove disastrous for the pharaoh.  Maát was
central to funerary practices in which if the deceased had been
found to not have followed the concept of Maát during his life
(if he had lied or cheated or killed or done anything against
Maát) his heart w