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| The goddess Seshat, wearing her enigmatic emblem on her head and a stylized scribal palette on her shoulder, writes upon the notched palm leaf rib which denoted the word for 'year' in the hieroglyphic script and which was symbolic of recorded time. The goddess was said to inscribe the length of the kings' reigns in this manner at their accession. 19th Dynasty. Luxor Temple. |
Female Anthropomorphic Egyptian Goddess
Mythology of Seshat
Seshat (literally, 'the female scribe') was the goddess of all forms of writing and notation, including record keeping, accounting, and census taking as well as being 'she who is foremost in the house of books': the patroness of temple libraries and other collections of texts. The goddess is known from as early as the 2nd Dynasty when she is attested assisting King Khasekhemwy in the ritual 'stretching the cord' ceremony, as Seshat was also the 'mistress of builders' and it was she who established the ground plan on the founding or expansion of every sacred structure. Beginning in the Old Kingdom Seshat is also found recording herds of different types of animals seized as booty, and from the Middle Kingdom she records the names of foreign captives in addition to their tribute, and in New Kingdom temple scenes she records the king's regnal years and jubilees on the leaves of the sacred ished or persea tree. Along with Nephthys, Seshat was said to restore the members of the deceased in the afterlife. The goddess was also associated with some few other Egyptian gods, mainly the god Thoth whose sister, consort or daughter she was variously said to be. In New Kingdom times Seshat was parallelled by the goddess Sefkhet-abwy whose characteristics and attributes seem to be virtually identical to her own. It is unlikely, therefore, that she is really anything but a form of Seshat.
Iconography of Seshat
Seshat was depicted in anthropomorphic form as a woman often wearing a leopard skin over her robe and with a headdress consisting of a headband with a tall extension upon which was an obscure emblem resembling a rosette-pointed star. This 'star' is often surmounted by a bow or crescent moon-like symbol resembling downturned horns, which was itself sometimes crowned by two falcon feathers. Usually the goddess holds a palm rib upon which the years were notched and which may terminate in a tadpole (the hieroglyphic number for 100,000) seated upon the shen (eternity) hieroglyph symbolizing an infinite number of years. In scenes where Seshat records the jubilees of the king, hieroglyphic signs for the festival are also suspended from the tip of the branch. When she is depicted alongside the king in the foundation ceremony, Seshat often holds the stake and mallet and stretches taut the line used to mark out the parameters of new buildings.
Worship of Seshat
By her very nature Seshat was a deity of official building, recording and writing projects and she rarely appears to have had no temple of her own, but by virtue of her role in the foundation ceremony she was a part of every temple building. In a similar manner she played no real part in popular religion, although she may have been held to be a patron goddess of sorts among scribes and builders.
