| In Egyptian
mythology, Seshat (also spelt
Sesat, Sesheta, and Seshata) was originally
the deification of the concept of
wisdom, and so became a goddess of
writing, astronomy/astrology, architecture,
and mathematics. As goddess of writing,
she was seen as a scribe, and record
keeper, and her name itself means
(she who) scrivens (i.e. she who is
a scribe). When Thoth
also became a god of wisdom, Seshat
was identified as Thoth's
daughter, or variably as his wife.
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In art, she was depicted as a woman, with a stylised papyrus
plant above her head, symbolising writing, since the egyptians
wrote on a material derived from papyrus. The plant, her symbol,
was shown having 6 spurs from the tip of the central stem,
making it resemble a 7 pointed star. After the association
with Thoth, who had originally been a moon god, the stylised
papyrus was shown surmounted by a crescent moon, which, over
time, degenerated into being shown as two horns arranged to
form a crescent shape between them. When the crescent symbol
had degenerated into the horns, she was sometimes known as
Safekh-Aubi, meaning (she who) wears the two horns.
Usually, she is also shown holding a palm stem, carrying
notches to denote the recording of the passage of time. She
is frequently dressed in a leopard-skin, a symbol of funerary
priests, because the pattern of the skin represents the stars,
both a symbol of eternity, and associated with the moon.
| As the divine measurer, and scribe,
she was believed to appear to assist
the pharaoh in both these practices.
It was she who recorded, by notching
her palm, the time allotted to him
by the gods for his stay on earth,
and during the New Kingdom, she was
involved in the pharaoh's jubilee
festival - the Sed festival. She also
assisted the pharaoh in the stretching
the cord ritual, as well as recording
the speeches the pharaoh made during
crowning, and the inventory of foreign
captives and goods gained in militay
campaigns. |
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