Egyptian Gods

Seshat is an ancient Egyptian Goddess of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Writing from Lower Egypt. She also known as Sacmis in Greek. The name Seshat also spelled as Safkhet, Sesat, Seshet, Sesheta or Seshata. As goddess of writing, she was seen as a scribe, and record keeper, and her name itself means “she who is the scribe”.

Seshat was referred as the goddess of architecture, mathematics, historical records, astrology, astronomy, building, measurement and surveying. She was given many titles, such as “Lady of Builders”, “Mistress of Books”, and “Foremost in the Library”.

Her appearance portrayed as women wearing a leopard skin dress and upstanding over her head is a stylized papyrus plant from the tip of the central stem or a seven pointed star with two down turned horns that looks like a crescent moon, which linking Seshat to the moon and hence to her husband Thoth, the moon god of writing and knowledge. The leopard skin dress represents the stars, symbol of eternity and associated with the moon.

She holds a palm stem in her hand to show the passage of time or sometimes, she holds the scribe’s pen and palette. She keeps track of the allotment of time the each pharaoh for which he ruled. She also records all the speeches the pharaoh made during the crowning ceremony and approving the inventory of foreign captives and goods gained in military campaigns.

When Thoth becomes more prominent, he was identified as a God of Wisdom. Seshat was identified as his daughter and later as his wife. After paring with Thoth the stylized papyrus of Seshat was shown surmounted by a crescent moon which, over the time shown as two down turned horns arranged to form a crescent moon shape. Sometimes, she was called as Safekh-Aubi which means “She Who Wears the Two Horns” and relates to the horns appear above Seshat’s head.