 In early times the deceased pharaoh was believed to ascend to the sky and dwell among the stars.Over the course of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC), however, he came to be more closely associated with the daily rebirth of the sun god Ra and with the underworld ruler Osiris as those deities grew more important.In the fully developed afterlife beliefs of the New Kingdom, the soul had to avoid a variety of supernatural dangers in the Duat, before undergoing a final judgment, known as the "Weighing of the Heart", carried out by Osiris and by the Assessors of Maat.