AMMUT

AMMUT 

“Creature in the netherworld, usually depicted with the head of a crocodile, the foreparts of a lion (or panther) and the rear of a hippopotamus, whose principal epithets were ‘devourer of the dead’ and ‘great of death’. She is portrayed in vignettes illustrating Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. The scenes show her waiting beside the scales in the Hall of the Two Truths, where the hearts of the dead were weighed against the feather of Maat. It was Ammut who consumed the hearts of those whose evil deeds made them unfit to proceed into the afterlife.” 

Ian Shaw & Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt

I've drawn a ton of Egyptian gods and goddesses before because they were name dropped by Lovecraft. Now that I've moved into mythology for mythology's sake, without reference from an author, I've been drawing a lot of creatures that have been on my mind for a while. Ammut or Ammit with her very delineated, disparate parts has been a subject of fascination for me for some time. I really love how un-integrated her hippo, lion and crocodile parts are...there's basically a line where one stops and the other starts.



Here are two slightly different depictions of Ammut. The first (right) is from 

Papyrus Of Hunefer where Ammut is shown with a lions mane. The second (left) is from Papyrus Of Ani where Ammut is shown wearing a headdress. I chose the headdress style for my drawing since Ammut is always referred to with female pronouns and female lions don't have manes.

Ammut makes a ton of appearances in popular culture. My first thought is always of the

Mercyful Fate song Egypt:
Ammit, Eater of the Dead
Is devouring my heart
Will I pass on to Aaru
Or will I be condemned?
I'm burning inside to know

Ammut or Ammit in the MCU appeared in the Conan and Hellstorm comics before showing up in Moon Knight Volume 8 #1 penciled and inked by Greg Smallwood. She later wound up making an appearance in the 2022 TV series.

Ammit also shows up in Tomb Raider (as Ahmet), Magic the Gathering (illustration by Michael Bierek), Yu-Gi-Oh (Kazuki Takahashi) and Dungeons & Dragons (Al-Qadim Monstrous Compendium illustrated by Tom Baxa).

Tomorrow we dive into really obscure French lore!