Seschat
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Seschat |
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| transcription | Sš3t | ||||||
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Seschat (also Seschet ; Egypt. The writer ) was an ancient Egyptian deity who was active in the areas of writing, bookkeeping and ancestor cult . In this role she was also the patroness of the king ( Pharaoh ), the temple libraries and the builder.
Myths
The cult of the Seschat has been documented since the 2nd dynasty . The goddess laid down the floor plan for the construction of sacred structures and oversaw the cord-tensioning ceremony.
From the Old Kingdom onwards , Seschat took on additional accounting tasks in Egyptian mythology , for example the registration of spoils of war.
In the New Kingdom she was shown in various temple scenes, as she recorded the years of reign and anniversaries of a king with the help of notches in bars or panicles. The goddess Sefchet-Abwi is also documented for the New Kingdom , who resembles Seschat in meaning and representation. Egyptologists therefore consider it a mere variant of the Seschat.
Seschat also played a role in the cult of the dead . Together with the goddess Nephthys , she was supposed to ritually cleanse the limbs of the deceased in order to prepare the deceased for later life in the duat . It should also be related to the god Thoth . However, the character of this relationship changed, so that she was portrayed as his sister, daughter, and wife.
presentation
Seschat was represented as a woman. Like the Sem priesthood , she often wore a panther's skin and a headband with a seven-petalled flower or a seven-pointed star emblazoned on the extension.
This symbol is spanned by an arch and was also part of the hieroglyphic writing of the name of the Seschat. Usually she holds a notched palm stick in her hand. If she was guarding a building project as the patroness, she could also hold a hammer and stake in her hands for the string tensioning ceremony.
cult
In addition to her activities as the goddess of writing and building projects, the goddess played an important role in the royal cult in the Old Kingdom. Together with Min , she was involved in organizing the Sedfest , which had the character of rebirth for the ruling king.
Their connections to Mafdet , which also exist in equations in Egyptian mythology , are iconographically recorded in the Sneferu Temple in connection with the erection of the Djed pillar or, for example, in the representations of the world chamber in the sun shrines of Userkaf and Niuserre .
Her own temples can no longer be proven, although she also acted as patroness when building other temples. Possible connections with Meret sanctuaries have so far not been adequately developed archaeologically .
See also
literature
- Manfred Lurker : Lexicon of the gods and symbols of the ancient Egyptians: Handbook of the mystical and magical world of Egypt. Special edition, 1st edition, Scherz, Bern / Munich / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-502-16430-4 , p. 184.
- Richard H. Wilkinson : The world of the gods in ancient Egypt. Faith - Power - Mythology. Theis, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1819-6 , pp. 166-167.
