Meskhenet
| Meskhenet | |
|---|---|
 Meskhenet as a woman with a symbolic cow's uterus (Peseshkef) on her head | |
| Symbol | Cow's uterus |
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Meskhenet, (also spelt Mesenet, Meskhent, and Meshkent) was the goddess of childbirth, and the creator of each child's Ka, a part of their soul, which she breathed into them at the moment of birth. She was worshipped from the earliest of times by Egyptians.
In mythology
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In ancient Egypt, women delivered babies while squatting on a pair of bricks, known as "birth bricks", and Meskhenet was the goddess associated with this form of delivery.[1][2] Consequently, in art, she was sometimes depicted as a brick with a woman's head, wearing a cow's uterus upon it.[3] At other times she was depicted as a woman with a symbolic cow's uterus on her headdress.[3]
Since she was responsible for creating the Ka, she was associated with fate.[citation needed] Thus later she was sometimes said to be paired with Shai, who became a god of destiny after the deity evolved out of an abstract concept.[3]
Meskhenet features prominently in the last of the folktales in the Westcar Papyrus.[2] The story tells of the birth of Userkaf, Sahure, and Neferirkare Kakai, the first three kings of the Fifth Dynasty, who in the story are said to be triplets.[2] Just after each child is born, Meskhenet appears and prophesies that he will become king of Egypt.[2][4]
Gallery
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Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick -
Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick in Weighing of the Heart in the Papyrus of Ani -
Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick in a Weighing of the Heart scene painted on a coffin -
Meskhenet as a birth brick depicted above the scales in a Weighing of the Heart scene in Ptolemaic temple at Deir el-Medina
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Nifosi, Ada (2019). Becoming a woman and mother in Greco-Roman Egypt: women's bodies, society and domestic space. Medicine and the body in antiquity. London New York: Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-367-73182-3.
- ^ a b c d Spieser, Cathie (2011-12-15). "Meskhenet et les sept Hathors en Egypte ancienne". Études de lettres (3–4): 63–92. doi:10.4000/edl.141. ISSN 0014-2026.
- ^ a b c Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 152–153. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.
- ^ Lichtheim, Miriam (2006). Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 220–222. ISBN 978-0-520-24842-7.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Meskhenet at Wikimedia Commons
