NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using. Its most important function was to provide a means by which certain concepts or events could be brought into existence. AMONG SESHATS RESPONSIBILITIES WERE RECORD KEEPING, ACCOUNTING, MEASUREMENTS, CENSUS-TAKING, AND PATRONESS OF LIBRARIES & LIBRARIANS. It is well substantiated that women could be, and were, scribes in that we have names of female physicians and images of women in important religious posts such as Gods Wife of Amun; both of these occupations required literacy. The floor plan of the temple was laid out through the stretching the cord ceremony after an appropriate area of land had been decided upon. "margin-left": "0px", Like her father, she was the . Seshat Goddess Seven-Pointed Star The Greek designation hieroglyphics for the Egyptian writing system means "sacred carvings" and is a translation from the Egyptian phrase medu-netjer, "the god's words". She is often shown offering palm branches (representing many years) to the pharaoh to give him a long reign. In the famous story of Osiris and his murder by Set it is not Osiris who is the hero of the tale but his sister-wife Isis. } Hermes is also known as the Roman god, Mercury. There may be Isis-Nephthys parallelism in this spell from the Book of the Dead in which the deceased is seated beside the Great of Magic (possibly Isis) while Seshat (possibly Nephthys) is seated before the dead person: "Thou coolest thyself on the cedar tree beside the Great of Magic, while Seshat is seated before thee and Sia [Divine . Credited with the invention of writing and the alphabet. A large renpet (hieroglyph) for YEAR, precedes the register (forms its starting border). Seshat - This name comes from the goddess of wisdom and writing, and is associated with knowledge, intelligence, and creativity. Thoth was the god of wisdom and Seshat is often viewed as his feminine counterpart. "Mistress of the House of Books" is another title for Seshat, being the deity whose priests oversaw the library in which scrolls of the most important knowledge were assembled and spells were preserved. The cord refers to the masons line which was used to measure out the dimensions of the building. } GODDESS HATHOR 2 Pages, Egyptian Goddess Magic Correspondences, Hathor Prayer Chant, Egyptian Mythology Cow Deity, Mother Goddess Altar 5 out of 5 stars (11.4k) . Seshat seemed not to have any temples specifically dedicated to her and no documentary evidence has been found that such temples ever existed. In the Coffin Texts, a collection of funerary spells written beginning in the First Intermediate Period (c.2181-c.2055), spell 10 states: Seshat opens the door of heaven for you. function loadScript() { The daily life of an individual was only part of an eternal journey which would continue on past death. ca. [CDATA[*/ Seshat. She was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians for accounting, astronomy, architecture, building . "button": true Unfortunately, in all cases but one, the woman is sitting with her husband or son in such a way that it would cramp the available space to put the kit under the man's chair, and so it may have been moved back to a place under the woman's. Thoth had given the gift of writing to humanity and it was a mortals responsibility to honor that gift by practicing the craft as precisely as possible. So one cannot be sure that the scribal kit belonged to the woman. In this way, she helped the souls who had just arrived in the underworld to recognize and understand the spells contained in the Egyptian Book of the Dead so that they could succeed on their journey into the afterlife. One needed to know how to avoid demons, how to transform ones self into various animals, and how to address the entities one would meet in the next world and so the spells had to be precise in order to work. Goddess Seshat, ca. (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(script); "styles": { "img": false, Unique Statue of Goddess Seshat goddess of writing & measurement and the ruler of books wearing headband star with two cobras-made in Egypt 5 out of 5 stars (959) According to one myth, the god Thoth was self-created at the beginning of time and, in his form as an ibis, lay the primordial egg which hatched creation. }, if (window.ShopifyBuy) { Seshat (Sesha, Sesheta or Safekh-Aubi) was a goddess of reading, writing, arithmetic, and architecture who was seen as either the female aspect of Thoth, his daughter, or his wife. Amun. 99. Seshat was also given the epithet Mistress of the House of Architects and from at least the Second Dynasty she was associated with a ritual known as pedj shes (stretching the cord) which was conducted as part of the foundation rituals when erecting stone buildings. Seshat "Goddess of Writing" Seshat Goddess of Writing - Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddess - Egypt Tours Portal. . amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Seshat is the goddess of wisdom, knowledge, and writing. Sign up now for weekly facts, the latest blogs, and interesting features. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Her name literally means "female scribe" and she is regularly depicted as a woman wearing a leopard skin draped over her robe with a headdress of a seven-pointed star arched by a crescent in the form of a bow. "@media (min-width: 601px)": { Even in the New Kingdom, where literature was more cosmopolitan, literature still adhered to a basic form which elevated Egyptian cultural values. She was portrayed as a female wearing a headband with horns and a star with her name written on it. } else { script.async = true; Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. "@media (min-width: 601px)": { Seshat was also associated with architecture, astrology, astronomy, mathematics and accounting. Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley writes: Although the only Egyptian woman to be depicted actually putting pen to paper was Seshat, the goddess of writing, several ladies were illustrated in close association with the traditional scribes writing kit of palette and brushes. The crescent above her headdress, resembling a bow, could represent dexterity and precision, if one interprets it along the lines of archery, or simply divinity if one takes the symbol as representing light, along the lines of later depictions of saints with halos. The Egyptian goddess Seshat is one of the lesser-known Egyptian deities, and yet she was an enduring one. Thoth is the messenger much like the Greek god, Hermesa transmutation made from Egyptian to Greek mythology. Although the best-known creation myth features the god Atum standing on the ben-ben at the beginning of time, an equally popular one in Egypt has the goddess Neith creating the world. Seshat (also given as Sefkhet-Abwy and Seshet) is the Egyptian goddess of the written word. It dates from around 1250 BCE. Best Answer. } She was variously considered to be the sister, wife, or daughter of Thoth. Thoth was worshipped as early as the Pre-Dynastic Period (c. 6000- c. 3150 BCE) at a time when Egyptian writing consisted of pictographs, images representing specific objects, prior to their development into hieroglyphics, symbols representing sounds and concepts. Seshat was also a patron of writing in all its forms including auditing, accounting and most tasks to do with letters and numbers. Historian and Egyptologist Margaret Bunson describes their function: Research was conducted in the House of Life because medical, astronomical, and mathematical texts perhaps were maintained there and copied by scribes. World History Encyclopedia. 1630 bce) depict her as the recorder of quantities of foreign captives and booty in the aftermath of military campaigns. Bastet, goddess of the hearth, home, womens health and secrets, was popular among both men and women and the goddess Hathor was regularly invoked by both at festivals, parties, and family gatherings. (function () { "Seshat." It is known, for example, that the female pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. 1479-1458 BCE) hired a tutor for her daughter Neferu-Ra and that Queen Nefertiti (r. c. 1370- c. 1336 BCE) was literate as was her mother-in-law, Queen Tiye (r. 1398-1338 BCE). Papyrus LansingThe Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA). She was the ancient Egyptian goddess of healing, fertility, love, the moon, and magic. The spells of The Egyptian Book of the Dead are the best examples of this concept. During the New Kingdom, she was involved in the Sed festival held by the pharaohs, who could celebrate thirty years of reign, recording the regnal years of the king and his jubilees on leaves of the ished or persea tree. "cart": { Her name literally means female scribe and she is regularly depicted as a woman wearing a leopard skin draped over her robe with a headdress of a seven-pointed star arched by a crescent in the form of a bow. Her skills were necessary for surveying the land, to re-establish boundary-lines after the annual floods. Representations of her typically show her dress to be a plain sheath covered by a long panther skin, with the . The words of Isis "come to pass without fail;" the words of Thoth are "Truth." She also kept track of tribute owed and tribute paid to the king and, beginning in the New Kingdom (c. 1570-1069 BCE), was closely associated with the pharaoh recording the years of his reign and his jubilee festivals. apiKey: 'f97587f900f36918a9a61c58e6050144', Many were ranking priests in the various temples or noted physicians and served the various kings in many administrative capacities. Get it as soon as Monday, Oct 17. For example, in the Pyramid Texts she is given the epithet The Lady of the House (nbt-hwt, ie Nephthys) while Nephthys is described as Seshat, Foremost of Builders. Seshat is only one of a number of female deities venerated in ancient Egypt reflecting the high degree of respect given to women and their abilities in a number of different areas of daily life. . According to the texts, the king was assisted in this ritual by Seshat (or Sefkhet-Abwy), the scribal goddess of writing and measurement (Temples, 38). }, Later demoted in pantheon of Egyptian deities to consort of Thoth. }, In this light, the goddess Seshat held great signficance and was revered for her wisdom and capabilities. Seshat featured prominently in the concept of the eternal life granted to scribes through their works. surmounted by horns. Text is available under the . or write down information. The written word was considered a sacred art. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Seshat/. "footer": { One needed to know how to avoid demons, how to transform one's self into various animals, and how to address the entities one would meet in the next world and so the spells had to be precise in order to work. if (window.ShopifyBuy.UI) { Her name literally means "female scribe" and she is regularly depicted as a woman wearing a leopard skin draped over her robe with a headdress of a seven-pointed star arched by a crescent in the form of a bow. Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson notes how Seshat appears in reliefs and inscriptions in the Early Dynastic Period as a goddess of measurements and writing, clearly indicating she was already an important deity at that time: Representations show the king involved in a foundation ritual known as "stretching the cord" which probably took place before work began on the construction of a temple or of any addition. This site uses functional cookies and external scripts to improve your experience. Together with Thoth, she bore a child named Hornhub, (Golden Horus). She was the consort of the god Djhuty (Thoth), and both were divine scribes (sesb). Isis has always been considered a wise Goddess. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. While there were several other female characters depicted with a palette and a brush in their hands, giving the idea that they were capable of writing, none were shown in the act. "max-width": "100%", In the Pyramid Texts, Seshat was given the epithet Lady of the House and she was given the title Seshat, Foremost of Builders. moneyFormat: '%24%7B%7Bamount%7D%7D', For her wisdom and writing and no documentary evidence has been found that such ever. The scribal kit belonged to the masons line which was used to out. And goddess - Egypt Tours Portal so one can not be sure that the scribal kit belonged to the and. 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