Meskhenet
Meskhenet was an ancient Egyptian goddess who assisted at childbirth. In the Papyrus Westcar, she appeared as a traveling dancer in disguise alongside Isis and Nephthys, helping the wife of a priest of Amun-Re give birth to sons destined for fame and fortune.
↻ synthesized from 3 sources
When
- First attested
- 3000 BCE
- Attested period
- -3000 – 300
- Historical notes
- Mentioned in Papyrus Westcar as one of the goddesses assisting at childbirth.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Iunit, Raet-tawy, Beset, Anat, Kebechet, Nebethetepet, Iusaaset, Qed-her, Nehmetawy, Abaset, Khereduankh, Baalat Gebal, Hatmehit, Henet, Pelican, Iabet, Iat, Meret, Nehbet-anet, Ay, Nebtuwi, Ahmose-Nefertari, Ahti, Amathaunta, Amn, Anet, Anhefta, Anit, Anuke, Aperet-Isis, Bairthy, Besna, Esna, Hedetet, Heptet, Heret-Kau, Hert-ketit-s, Hert-Nemmat-Set, Hert-sefu-s, Heru-pa-kaut, Heset, Hetepes-Sekhus, Iaret, Ipy, Iw, Ken, Khefthernebes, Matit, Nakith, Perit, Pesi, Qerhet, Rekhit, Amesemi, Mehit, Qetesh, Astarte, Ammit, Meretseger, Mehet-Weret, Khensit, Mafdet, Ištar
- consort of
- Shai
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Papyrus Westcar recounts the story of Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, and Heqet as traveling dancers in disguise, assisting the wife of a priest”
#11351 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“and Meskhenet was the goddess associated with this form of delivery. Consequently, in art, she was sometimes depicted as a brick with a woman's head, wearing a cow's uterus upon it. At other times she was depicted as a woman with a symbolic cow's uterus on her headdress”
#23444 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Meskhenet – A goddess who presided over childbirth”
#24986 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5