Meskhenet
Template:Short description Template:Infobox deity 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 mythologyEdit
Template:Ancient Egyptian religion 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Consequently, in art, she was sometimes depicted as a brick with a woman's head, wearing a cow's uterus upon it.<ref name="Wilkinson" /> At other times she was depicted as a woman with a symbolic cow's uterus on her headdress.<ref name="Wilkinson">Template:Cite book</ref>
Since she was responsible for creating the Ka, she was associated with fate.Template: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.<ref name="Wilkinson"/>
Meskhenet features prominently in the last of the folktales in the Westcar Papyrus.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Just after each child is born, Meskhenet appears and prophesies that he will become king of Egypt.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
GalleryEdit
- Meskhenet.svg
Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick
- Shay egyptian god personification.png
Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick in Weighing of the Heart in the Papyrus of Ani
- JuicioDeLasAlmas.jpg
Meskhenet depicted as a birth brick in a Weighing of the Heart scene painted on a coffin
- Temple of Deir el-Medina 20.JPG
Meskhenet as a birth brick depicted above the scales in a Weighing of the Heart scene in Ptolemaic temple at Deir el-Medina