Editing Seshat (section)

=== "Stretching the Cord" Ritual ===
Seshat held titles related to construction, including "Lady of Builders",<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Magdolen |first=Dušan |date=2009 |title=A New Investigation of the Symbol of Ancient Egyptian Goddess Seshat |url=https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/092611572_Magdolen.pdf |journal=Asian and African Studies |publisher=Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences |publication-place=Bratislava |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=169–189 |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref> as she was involved in planning the building and expansion of sacred sites, such as temples. 

The "stretching the cord" ritual, or ''pedj-sesh(r)'' ceremony, is one such example.<ref name="Belmonte Seshat2">{{cite book |last1=Belmonte |first1=Juan Antonio |title=In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy |last2=Miguel Angel |first2=Molinero Polo |last3=Miranda |first3=Noemi |date=2009 |publisher=Supreme Council of Antiquities Press |editor1-last=Belmonte |editor1-first=Juan Antonio |location=Cairo |pages=197 |chapter=Unveiling Seshat: New Insights Into The Stretching Of The Cord Ceremony |bibcode=2009iscc.book.....B |access-date=3 July 2022 |editor2-last=Shaltout |editor2-first=Mosalam |chapter-url=http://research.iac.es/proyecto/arqueoastronomia//media/Belmonte_Shaltout_Chapter_7.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202002609/http://research.iac.es/proyecto/arqueoastronomia//media/Belmonte_Shaltout_Chapter_7.pdf |archive-date=2020-12-02 |url-status=live}}</ref> This ritual related to laying out the foundations of temples and other important structures. It would have helped plan dimensions and align structures to astronomic or geographic features,<ref name=":7">Belmonte, "Unveiling Seshat," pp. 203-210.</ref> while fixing the ground plan and determining its corners.<ref name=":2" /> It involved the use of rope/cord, poles/stakes, and clubs/mallets. Depictions of the ritual typically showed Seshat and the king, across from another, holding these tools and "stretching" the cord between them. The god [[Horus]] is sometimes depicted alongside them.<ref name="Belmonte Seshat2" />

Text from the [[Palermo Stone]] indicates that this festival was performed at least as early as the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]], where it involved her priests.<ref name=":9">Magdolen, "Sign of Seshat - Part Three," p. 72.</ref><ref name=":8" /> The oldest iconographic depiction dates from the [[Second Dynasty of Egypt|Second Dynasty]], where Seshat and [[Khasekhemwy]] carry out the ritual.<ref>Belmonte, "Unveiling Seshat," pp. 200-201.</ref>
[[File:SFEC-RAMASSEUM-2009-11-14-0011.JPG|left|thumb|Depiction of Seshat, [[Thoth]], and [[Atum]] (not pictured) writing on the fruit of the sacred persea or ''ished'' tree. Sunken relief from the [[Ramesseum]], mortuary temple of [[Ramesses II]] (c. 1303–1213 BC).]]