Creator
Seshat
sšꜣtHow it changed
She appears at the founding of temples, holding one end of the cord while the king holds the other, in a ritual called stretching the cord that set a building's alignment against the stars. She also records the years of a reign on a palm rib and the spoils of a campaign, which makes her the goddess of the fact that a thing was written down. She has no temple of her own, and the reason is structural: her place is inside everyone else's.
Cult centre
No independent temple; present in every foundation ritual
Best attested
Second Dynasty onward
Family
Variously the daughter, sister or consort of Thoth.
Epithets
- “Foremost in the house of books”
- “Mistress of builders”
How to recognise the figure
A woman in a leopard-skin robe, with a seven-pointed emblem above her head, holding a scribe's palette and a notched palm rib for counting years.
Others in this group