Seshat, She Who is Foremost in the House of Books, Mistress of Builders, Mistress of the House of Architects. Her name literally translates as “The Female Scribe”. Seshat, like Hapi, is one of the gods who is seemingly omnipresent but also never quite there. She had no cult centre, nor any temples dedicated to her in Ancient Egypt, yet was present in every one them, as the one who assisted the Pharaoh in the Stretching of the Cord ceremony that marked the start of construction work on a new temple.

A quiet, unique figure in the world of Ancient Egypt, Seshat is the only female, human or divine, depicted in the act of writing. Indeed her position predated that of Thoth, who later came to eclipse her, and even with his arrival she retained her exclusive title as being the “Foremost” in the House of Books. Thoth was the scribe to Ra, Amun and the other great and good, but Seshat would quietly maintain the libraries, records and accounts of the gods, and though her Old Kingdom priests, their earthly counterparts, as well as record the jubilees and reigns of the Pharaohs throughout Egyptian history. With her quiet omnipresent status, and cool, calm, slightly detached aspects, she bears are striking similarity to another goddess closely related to Thoth, Ma’at. That ultimate Ancient Egyptian personification of order, law and justice, who likewise ruled over a small, official, male class of civil servants. In her case, judges.

Origins:

Seshat is first recorded in the 2nd Dynasty where she is mentioned by Khasekhemwy in the Stretching of the Cord on a new temple building. She has never been a “goddess of the people”, except as a possible patroness of scribes and architects, and so it seems unlikely that she enjoyed recognition or following before the establishment of both the institutions of a scribal class and some form of kingship. The location of her origins remain unknown.

Characteristics & Responsibilities:

As mentioned, Seshat has never been a “goddess of the people”. She is very much a goddess of the state, distant and official in her responsibilities as the scribe, where she is depicted being involved in the census taking, recording of accounts, notation and all kinds of writing and recording. Her title as She Who is Foremost in the House of Books also gives her a role as patroness of libraries in general.

She is also associated with the ceremonies of architecture, including the Stretching of the Cord ceremony and her title as Mistress of Builders and Mistress of the House of Architects bears out her responsibilities with regards to building and architecture. She is mentioned as being associated with census taking and the Stretching of the Cord from the Old Kingdom onwards.

Another of her key roles is recording the reigns and jubilees of the Pharaohs, as part of her responsibilities as a goddess of the scribal tradition, and she is often depicted with the notched palm stem that is used for recording time in precisely this role.

Also characteristically, Seshat has an unusual crown and attire. The seven pointed figure surmounted by a downward curving line, with a notch at the top of the curve, has been variously interpreted as a papyrus plant (pointing to it’s obvious scribal associations) or a seven pointed star surmounted by a downward pointing object, possibly horns or a bow. This may be an earlier pre-dynastic divine or royal standard.

Along with this she is seen wearing a leopard skin as worn by priests, or a long, tight fitting, leopard skin patterned dress, along with a diadem. In some depictions her dress, rather than a leopard skin design, has a pattern of stars. It is believed that the leopard skin was associated with a starry sky, and therefore the heavens and time (including eternity), hence it’s relevance to the priesthood, and to Seshat. Occasionally, the bottom of her palm stem bears the Sn (“shen”) hieroglyph, ideogram for eternity, accompanied by a tadpole, the numerical hieroglyph for the value 100,000. Curiously, this was not the highest numerical glyph the Egyptians used, so it’s association here with eternity is quite interesting. When recording the jubilees and celebrations of the Pharaoh, her palm branch is often dressed wit the symbols of the celebration. She is also sometimes depicted with the surveyors cord and mallet, as used in the Stretching of the Cord.

Seshat is always depicted as a anthropomorphic female.

Associations and Prominence:

As a goddess so heavily associated with the formal arts and professions of state, she doesn’t appear to have had much popular following amongst the commoners. However we do find a reference to there being a priesthood for the goddess. Prince Wep-em-Nefret, from the reign of Khufu in the 4th Dynasty, records on his funerary stela found at Giza that he was a priest of Seshat as well as Overseer of Royal Scribes. This may imply that amongst scribes and architects Seshat enjoy a “patroness” like status giving her a degree of public worship in addition to a full formal priesthood. On the other hand it is also possible that certain scribes held the title “Priest of Seshat” in the same way that judges were considered “Priests of Ma’at”, in that in performing their duties there were honouring the goddess, as opposed to being priests in the literal sense of the term. Although most scholars today believe she did enjoy a formal priesthood, there are no known temples dedicated to her. However, Seshat is present in every temple due to her role as Mistress of Builders and in her role as assisting the Pharaoh with the Stretching of the Cord. She is particularly prominent at Abydos, and a particularly beautiful and well known depiction of her can be found in Luxor temple. As such, a dedicated temple of her own may well have been seen as somewhat redundant.

Seshat has a relatively simple set of associations, most obviously with Thoth, who eclipses her in the New Kingdom, but never replaces her. There are conflicting stories of their precise association, it being recorded that he is her husband, brother or father. Another name for Seshat, Sefkhet-Abwy, is mentioned in later texts, form the New Kingdom onwards.

She is also associated with Nephthys in the realm of Tuat, probably due to her role in recording reigns and lives. As a result of this association, it should be no surprise that she is also associated to some degree with Isis, though less explicitly.

Titles:

  • She Who is Foremost in the House of Books
  • Mistress of Builders
  • Mistress of the House of Architects
  • The Female Scribe (her name)

Decline:

Due to her crucial role in the Stretching of the Cord, and recording of jubilees and other official events, Seshat’s profile remained steady throughout the life of state backed Ancient Egyptian religion. Alas, her fortunes dived with it, for unlike Hapi, she never enjoyed such a significant role in common religion.

Modern Revival:

Interestingly, in modern times, Seshat has had something of a turnaround in her fortunes. One of the highest ranking priests of the Ancient Egyptian re-constructionist religion Kemetic Orthodoxy created a “virtual temple” dedicated to Seshat on the internet (link here), and general awareness of her role and the relatively prominent positions granted her in many books on Egyptian religion mean her profile now is actually quite high. Welcome back, Seshat.

Note – Image of Shesat by Jeff Dahl, GNU license, sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Further images from the authors own work to follow.