The Various Names for "She Who Scribes"

As you can see in the title of this blog there are many variations for the name which describes the women who were writers. This culture of women is depicted as the Goddess Seshat. This is not because the early Egyptians were confused or she has changed but because different writers who tell her story wrote it in different ways. I am still seeking clarity on this matter..

However, I do know that in early text the sounds s and sh are represented. The t sound on the end was added in later Dynasties to denoted the feminine form the of what had then become a root word for writing. So Ssh3 began to be written as Ssht.

There are few text that go into detail about Seshat in the English language. However, scholars have written about her in German. If you want to search Seshat in order to pull up the wealth of German research use the spelling Seschat.

The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth

Although my main interest in Seshat are the representations from Pre-Dynastic Egypt and the Old Kingdom, I can not keep my hands off the Book of Thoth. I have literally had this book checked out of Vanderbilt's Divinity Library for a year now. Each time I open the book I gain new insights.

The text I have been reading, "The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth: A Demotic Discourse on Knowledge and Pendant to the Classical Hermetica," was written by Richard Jasnow and Karl-Theodor Zauzich in 2005. It provides the locations of transliterations and provides translations with commentary of the ancient text. It provides one of the most comprehensive discussions of the papyri I have found.

The papyri it primarily draws from is located in the Berlin Museum. There are also important papyri of the Book of Thoth in Yale, Florence, Vienna, Paris, and Copenhagen it references. This text includes, among other things, papyri fragments B01, B02+, C01+, F01+, L01, V01, and Y01. I will discuss more details about this text and its importance to the recorded history of Seshat so follow me for updates.

**This book should not be confused with the Book of Thoth published in recent years about tarot and the paranormal. The copyright of the early Egyptian text has apparently run out :> and others have published books of the same name, but they are completely different and should not be mistaken as related or the same.

Pantherfell carrier of 4th Dynasty (pyramids of Giza)

Seshat of the Old Kingdom Egypt

For over the past year I have been researching Seshat, which means "she who scrivens". I find the story of the women who were writers in Africa to be fascinating. So fascinating I want to share it with the world and will be blogging about my research on this culture of African women who were authors dating back at least 7,000 years ago.