In Ancient
Egyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD...
,
Meskhenet, (also spelt
Mesenet,
Meskhent, and
Meshkent) was the
goddessA goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities in a pantheon. In some cultures goddesses are commonly associated with the Earth, motherhood, love, and the household, often reflecting the historical gender roles of that culture...
of
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
, and the creator of each child's
KaThe Ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body...
, a part of their
soulThe soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...
, which she breathed into them at the moment of birth. She was worshipped from the earliest of times by Egyptians.
In
ancient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
, women delivered babies while squatting on a pair of
brickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using mortar.-History:The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7,500 B.C. They have been found in Çayönü, in the upper Tigris region, and in south east Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. Other more recent findings,...
s, known as
birth bricks, and Meskhenet was the goddess associated with this form of delivery.
In Ancient
Egyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD...
,
Meskhenet, (also spelt
Mesenet,
Meskhent, and
Meshkent) was the
goddessA goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities in a pantheon. In some cultures goddesses are commonly associated with the Earth, motherhood, love, and the household, often reflecting the historical gender roles of that culture...
of
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
, and the creator of each child's
KaThe Ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body...
, a part of their
soulThe soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a living being, commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; distinct from the physical part. It is typically thought to consist of ones consciousness and personality, and can be...
, which she breathed into them at the moment of birth. She was worshipped from the earliest of times by Egyptians.
In mythology
In
ancient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
, women delivered babies while squatting on a pair of
brickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using mortar.-History:The oldest shaped bricks found date back to 7,500 B.C. They have been found in Çayönü, in the upper Tigris region, and in south east Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. Other more recent findings,...
s, known as
birth bricks, and Meskhenet was the goddess associated with this form of delivery. Consequently, in
artArt is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings...
, she sometimes was depicted as a brick with a woman's head, wearing a cow's
uterusThe uterus is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of most mammals, including humans. It is within the uterus that the fetus develops during gestation. The term uterus is used consistently within the medical and related professions; the Germanic term, womb is more common in...
upon it. At other times she was depicted as a woman with a symbolic cow's uterus on her headdress.
Since she was responsible for creating the Ka, she was associated with
fateDestiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos....
. Thus later she sometimes was said to be paired with
ShaiShai was the deification of the concept of fate in Egyptian mythology...
, who became a god of destiny after the deity evolved out of an abstract concept.
It was said that Meskhenet was present at the birth of triplets, and foretold in their fates, that they would each be pharaohs - the triplets in question were
SahureSahure was the second king of ancient Egypt's 5th Dynasty. He was a son of queen Neferhetepes, as shown in scenes from the causeway of Sahure's pyramid complex in Abusir.. His father probably was Userkaf. Sahure's consort was queen Neferetnebty. Reliefs show Sahure and Neferetanebty with their sons...
,
UserkafUserkaf was the founder of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt and the first pharaoh to start the tradition of building sun temples at Abusir.. Userkaf's name means "his Ka is powerful." He ruled from 2465-2458 BC and constructed the Pyramid of Userkaf complex at Saqqara.Userkaf's mother was thought by...
, and
Neferirkare KakaiNeferirkare Kakai was the third Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. His prenomen, Neferirkare, means "Beautiful is the Soul of Ra." His Horus name was Userkhau, his Golden Horus name Sekhemunebu and his Nebti name Khaiemnebty. Neferirkare was probably the brother of pharaoh Sahure and the...
, who were the first pharaohs in the
fifth dynastyThe Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom.-Rulers:Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Fifth Dynasty are as follows:...
(although Userkaf was not the sibling of the other two, but their father).
Meskhenet also was believed to be the earliest wife of
AndjetyAndjety is an Ancient Egyptian deity who is thought to have been a precursor of Osiris. Like Osiris he is depicted holding the crook and flail and has a crown similar to Osiris's Atef crown. King Sneferu of the 4th dynasty, builder of the first true pyramid, is shown wearing the crown of Andjety....
the god of rebirth in the underworld. Andjety appears to have been worshipped since pre-dynastic times at Andjet, and is thought by most Egyptologists to be the god who eventually became
OsirisOsiris was an Egyptian god, usually called the god of the Afterlife, underworld or dead.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations...
.