Aminon

THE TEST IS A CONFESSION, NOT A WEIGHING. Aminon asks the dead what they did, and the answer itself decides: a liar is beaten on the lips with a blood-dipped broom and thrown into the river, while under a truthful speaker the log over that river widens into a bridge.

Domains

• gatekeeping of the underworld
• interrogation of the dead
• the bridge of the truthful

Relations

• gatekeeper for: Barastyr

Sources

• Reference treatment of Barastyr and Aminon: Barastyr is the ruler of the underworld, who assigns arriving dead souls either to paradise or to his own realm, and who is both a judge and a jailer for some of the dead and a hospitable host for others; Aminon is the gatekeeper of the underworld, who on Barastyr's orders opens its iron gates, which can only be reached before sunset; in other versions of the saga Aminon stands at the gates and asks everyone who approaches about the deeds the deceased has done during his life, and by evaluating those earthly affairs shows them the way either to heaven or to hell — if the deceased lies, Aminon beats them on the lips with a broom dipped in blood and throws them into the river, while under the feet of the one who spoke truthfully the log above the river dividing the world of the living from the world of the dead expands and turns into a beautiful bridge.