Seshat was the Egyptian goddess of writing, measurement, record-keeping, architecture and knowledge — the divine scribe and librarian who recorded the deeds and reigns of pharaohs, measured out the foundations of temples, and kept the records of all things. The female counterpart to Thoth, she is the goddess of the written record, the keeper of the archives of the gods.
The Goddess of Writing and Records
Seshat (Egyptian Seshat, “the female scribe”) was the goddess of writing, record-keeping, measurement, mathematics, architecture and knowledge. She was depicted as a woman wearing a distinctive headdress — a seven-pointed star or rosette beneath a bow-shaped emblem — and clad in a panther- or leopard-skin robe, holding a scribe's palette and a writing reed or a notched palm-rib for counting years. As the divine scribe, she recorded the words and deeds of the gods and the pharaohs, and she was the keeper of the divine library and archives, the goddess of the written record and of all that was set down and remembered in writing.
The Recorder of Reigns and Deeds
Seshat had a special role in recording the reigns and achievements of the pharaohs. She was believed to inscribe the name of each new king and the length of his reign upon the leaves of the sacred ished tree (the tree of life), and to record the king's deeds, his jubilees, and the spoils and tributes of his victories. She kept the count of the years of the king's reign and recorded his great accomplishments for eternity. As the keeper of the royal records, she ensured that the deeds of the pharaohs were written down and remembered forever — the divine archivist of kingship and history.
The Measurer of Temples
Seshat was the goddess of measurement and architecture, and she played a key role in the founding of temples and sacred buildings. In the ancient ceremony of “stretching the cord” (pedj shes), which marked the laying out of a temple's foundations, Seshat assisted the pharaoh in measuring and aligning the building — stretching the measuring cord and using the stars to orient the structure correctly. As the goddess of measurement, mathematics and architecture, she ensured that temples were laid out with precise and sacred proportions, properly aligned with the cosmos. She was thus the patron of architects, surveyors and builders, the divine mistress of measurement and design.
The Keeper of Knowledge
Seshat endures as the Egyptian goddess of writing, measurement, records and knowledge — the divine scribe and librarian, the recorder of the pharaohs' reigns and deeds, the measurer of temples, the keeper of the archives of the gods. Often regarded as the female counterpart, consort or daughter of Thoth, she shared with him the domain of writing and wisdom, but was especially the goddess of measurement, record-keeping and the precise written archive. She embodies the Egyptian reverence for writing, measurement and the careful recording of knowledge and deeds; and she stands as the great divine archivist and measurer, the goddess who wrote down the reigns of kings, measured the foundations of temples, and kept the records of all things for eternity.
The divine scribe and measurer who records the reigns and deeds of pharaohs, stretches the cord to lay out the temples, and keeps the archives of the gods.