<論説>古代エジプトの「二柱のマアト」 --概念の変遷とその実体をめぐって--

Abstract

｢二柱のマアト」は、古代エジプトに固有の抽象概念マアト(mꜣꜥ.t)の特殊な神格化である。この二柱の女神は、「死者の書」の核心部分である死者の裁判の場面に登場し、長きにわたり古代エジプト人の思想に影響を与え続けた「二柱のマアト」の実体や変化の理由の理解を目指す研究は「死者の書」の記述や図像の分析を中心に継続されてきたが、未だ見解の一致をみていない。このような背景から、筆者はこれまでに「死者の書」が登場する以前の時代の史料に遡り、エジプト古王国時代から中王国時代にかけての「二柱のマアト」を意味する語mꜣꜥtyの抽出と各事例の分析を進めてきた。本論説では、これらの成果を基盤として、mꜣꜥtyの語が示す意味と限定符の特徴の比較を通してmꜣꜥtyの意味の変遷を考察する。そして、「コフィン・テキスト」上の神々の同一関係を示す記述に注目し、中王国時代までに形成された「二柱のマアト」の実体解明を試みる。

Dual Maat (Mꜣꜥty) are the Ancient Egyptian goddesses who personified theabstract Egyptian concept of maat (mꜣꜥt). These two goddesses had an impacton ancient Egyptian beliefs as they appeared in the scene of the judgementof the dead that forms one of the core themes of the Book of the Dead. Theyappear in various forms, such as the dual goddesses, a pair of male andfemale gods, or a single goddess with two feathers on her head. The essenceand reason for the transformation of Dual Maat have not been fullyunderstood, although scholars have focused on their iconography anddescriptions in the Book the Dead.Given this background, the author has returned to sources from the Oldand Middle Kingdom prior to the Book of the Dead, which he had dealt within previous works, and proceeded to analyze the origin and cases of thetransformation of the concept of Dual Maat before the New Kingdom. Basedon these findings, he considers changes in the meaning of the word mꜣꜥtythrough a comparison of the meanings and determinatives of the word, which suggest there was a change in the interpretation of the word aroundthe Middle Kingdom. Moreover, the paired relationship involved in Maat, attested in the Coffin Texts, indicates a clear notion of Dual Maat as a pairformed by two divinities that is depicted in New Kingdom sources hadalready developed in the Middle Kingdom.