Ib (jb)

Heart — seat of moral character

Ib — the heart, considered the seat of intellect, will, and moral character; the source of speech, and the organ that will be weighed against the feather of Maʿat in the judgement hall of Osiris. It is the only internal organ retained inside the body during mummification (the brain was discarded; lungs, liver, stomach and intestines went into canopic jars; the heart stayed in place). Spell 30B of the Book of the Dead is addressed directly to the ib, asking it not to rise up against its owner at the weighing: 'O my heart of my mother, O my heart of my different forms — do not stand against me as a witness in the presence of the Lord of Things.'