Meskhenet

Mythology of Meskhenet

Picture: The goddess of childbirth and destiny Meskhenet withthe characteristic sign on her head that probablyrepresented the uterus.18th Dynasty. Temple of Hatshepsut. Deir el-Bahari.

Meskhenet is a goddess primarily associated with childbirth, Meskhenet also affected other aspects of a person's life accounting to ancient Egyptian belief. Beyond presiding over an individual's birth, the goddess was said to decide the life destiny of the child. The Westcar Papyrus describes how the goddess assured the infants Userkaf. Sahure and Neferirkare, the first three kings of the 5th Dynasty, that they would all come to rule Egypt. Meskhenet also played a role in the afterlife. She is often depicted in funerary vignettes closet to the scales upon which the deceased's heart was weighed - in order to assist in the rebirtht of the individual entering the afterlife.

Iconography of Meskhenet

The iconography of this goddess depicts her in the form of a rectangular brick (upon which ancient Egyptian women squatted to give birth) with the head of a woman at one end. She may also be depicted anthropomorphically as a woman with a brick upon her head, though this form is less commonly found. A symbol having two loops at the top of a vertical stroke which as used to represent the goddess almost certainly depicted the stylized uterus of the cow.

Worship of Meskhenet

Although without a formal cult, Meskhenet was an important household deity and is mentioned in a number of known hymns and prayers. A text in the temple of Esna mentions four protective Meskhenets associated with the creative god Khnum, but apart from this there are few instances of the goddess's presence in temple settings except in ritual birth scenes.