Editing Maat (section)

== As rhetorical concept ==
[[File:Maat (Goddess).png|thumb|Winged Maat, depicted in The Tomb of Nefertari (1255 BCE)]]
Although little mythology survives concerning the goddess Maat, she was the daughter of the Egyptian Sun god [[Ra]]; and the wife of [[Thoth]], the god of wisdom who invented writing, which directly connects ''Maat'' to ancient Egyptian rhetoric.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=80}} ''Maat'' (which is associated with solar, lunar, astral, and the [[Nile|river Nile's]] movements) is a concept based on humanity's attempt to live in a natural harmonic state.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=81}} ''Maat'' is associated with the judgment of the deceased and whether a person has done ''what is right'' in their life.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|pp=80-81}} Thus, to do ''Maat'' was to act in a manner unreproachable or inculpable.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=81}} So revered was the concept of ''Maat'' that Egyptian kings would often pay tribute to gods, offering small statues of ''Maat'', indicating that they were successfully upholding the universal order: the interconnection among the cosmic, divine, natural, and human realms.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=81}} When rhetors are attempting to achieve ''balance'' in their arguments, they are practicing ''Maat.''

George Kennedy, a history of rhetoric scholar, defines rhetoric as the transmission of emotion and thought through a system of symbols, including words, to influence the emotions and thoughts of others.{{sfnp|Kennedy|1991|p=7}} ''Maat'' sought to influence its audience to action as well. Scholars have closely examined this relationship between ancient Egyptian rhetoric and the concept of ''Maat'',{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=79}} using three specific areas: 1) ancient Egyptian texts that actually taught ''Maat;'' 2) ancient Egyptian letter writing that embodied the performance of ''Maat;'' 3) ancient Egyptian letter writing that used ''Maat'' as persuasion{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=79}}

=== In ancient Egyptian texts ===
The Egyptian elite learned how to be part of the elite class through instructions text, such as ''[[The Maxims of Ptahhotep|The Instructions of Ptahhotep]],'' that used ''Maat'' as the basis of concrete principles and guidelines for effective rhetoric. A passage from ''Ptahhotep'' presents Maat as instruction:

{{poemquote|
Be generous as long as you live
What leaves the storehouse does not return;
It is the food to be shared which is coveted,
One whose belly is empty is an accuser;
One deprived becomes an opponent,
Don't have him for a neighbor.
Kindness is a man's memorial
For the years after the function.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=82-83}} }}

Another passage emphasizes the importance of Maat and how wisdom was also to be found among the women at the grindstones.{{sfnp|Simpson|2003|pp=129-131}}

The lesson learned through ''Maat'' here is beneficence: the reader is advised to be benevolent and kind. An even stronger argument is being made – if you do not feed people, they will become unruly; on the other hand, if you take care of your people, they will take care of your memorial or tomb{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=83}} The excerpt from ''Phahhotep'' employs ''Maat'' to teach the reader how to be a more effective king. The Tale of [[The Eloquent Peasant]] is an extended discourse on the nature of Maat{{sfnp|Allen|2015|p=234}} in which an officer under the direction of the King is described as taking the wealth of a nobleman and giving it to a poor man he had abused.{{sfnp|Allen|2015|p=329}} Another text describes how the divine King:

{{poemquote|
educates the ignorant to wisdom, 
and those who are unloved become as those who are loved. 
He causes the lesser folk to emulate the great, 
the last become as the first. 
He who was lacking possessions is (now) the possessor of riches.{{sfnp|Simpson|2003|pp=176-177}} }}

=== Performance in ancient Egyptian letters ===
Letter writing became a significant part of the daily function of ancient Egyptian citizens.{{sfnp|Assmann|2002|p=48}} It became the means of communication between superiors and families; thus, Egyptians became incessant letter writers.{{sfnp|Kemp|1989|p=131}} Letters were not merely "mailed" to their recipients; they were ''performed'' by scribes who often wrote them on behalf of a king.{{sfnp|Silverman|1997|p=102}} Since language is the basis by which a community identifies itself and others,{{sfnp|Hogan|2008|p=xv}} the scribes would perform ''Maat'' to build upon a community's language to become more persuasive.

=== Persuasion in ancient Egyptian letters ===
James Herrick states that the major objective of rhetoric is for a rhetor to persuade (to alter) an audience's view to that of the rhetor; for example, an attorney uses rhetoric to persuade a jury that his/her client is innocent of a crime.{{sfnp|Herrick|2017|p=12}} ''Maat'' in letters written to subordinates to persuade allegiance to them and the pharaoh; subordinates would evoke ''Maat'' to illustrate a desire to please.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=91}} To directly disagree with a superior was considered highly inappropriate; instead, inferior citizens would indirectly evoke ''Maat'' to assuage a superior's ego to achieve the desired outcome.{{sfnp|Lipson|2004|p=91}}

===Temples===
The earliest evidence for a dedicated temple is in the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] (c. 1569 to 1081 BCE) era, despite the great importance placed on Maat. [[Amenhotep III]] commissioned a temple in the [[Karnak]] complex, whilst textual evidence indicates that other temples of Maat were located in [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] and at [[Deir el-Medina]].{{sfnp|Redford|2003|p=190}} The Maat temple at Karnak was also used by courts to meet regarding the robberies of the royal tombs during the rule of [[Ramesses IX]].{{sfnp|Redford|2001|p=320}}