Mammisi-Birth House
The word 'mammisi' is an artificial Coptic word, meaning 'birth-place' or birth'house. It was invented by Jean-Paul Champollion in the 19th Century, to denote this specific structure attached to certain Late Period temples (Philae, Edfu, Dendera). These mammisi were a kind of chapel where rituals ascertaining the divine heritage of the king were carried out. The only persons allowed to be present at these rituals were the king and certain members of the priesthood. These chapels helped emphasize the theocratic and political structure of the stae and were not intended for use by ordinary people.
Deities associated with Childbirth
While Het-Hert (Hathor) from the earliest times appears as a universal cow goddess, her primary function was as mother and protector of the hawk-god Heru (Horus). By time she became a protector and Mother deity for all women and children, which trait she shared with Aset (Isis) from the Middle Kingdom onwards. In time these two goddesses merged into the same deity and both were then accordingly appealed to in matters of childbirth and the caring of children.
Aset originates as the symbolical mother of the king but when the myth of Osiris gained importance during the Middle Kingdom, her popularity as a protective goddess for women and children began to spread. From having been a deity emerging in the royal funerary cult as the source of the 'Living Horus' (i.e. the new ruler), her cult developed and gained popularity among common people, especially women, first across Egypt, then in the Late Period all across the Mediterranean and far beyond. In the process her original fierceness seems to have been watered down until she appears as a benevolent mother deity for everyone.
The Seven Hathors were seven cow deities, sometimes considered seven aspects of Het-Hert, whose task it was to predict the destiny of the newborn child. Depictions of these can be found in tombs, and in the Book of Going Forth By Day.
Bes was the name for a combination of several dwarf-deities protective of women and children. His grotesque features was carved on household items and particularly on bedroom furniture. He is often seen holding the Sa symbol or a knife in his raised hand, prepared to scare off evil with his uglu looks.
Tawaret, in the figure of a pregnant hippopotamus, with a tail of a crocodile and arms and legs of a lion, is another deity connected to the protection of pregnancy and childbirth. She too carries a knife to ward off evil. Statuettes and amulets of Tawaret were very popular among pregnant women.
Heqat, or Heqet, the frog goddess, is also associated with fertility and giving birth. Amulets and scarabs inscribed with her image were also used by pregnant women. First mentionings of Heqet in connection with childbirth occurs in the Middle Kingdom.
Meskhenet is a personification of the so called birthing bricks upon which women squatted during childbirth. She helps to protect the delivery, and further predicts the future of the infant.
Khnum was the creator of humans´ bodies on his potters wheel and breathed the life force into the child. A detailed description of how he went about creating humans is found at the Temple at Esna. It describes in detail how he orders the bloodstream to cover the bones, the skin to enclose the body and how after that he created the respiratory system and the food digestion system.
The Westcar Papyrus
In the Westcar Papyrus from The Middle Kingdom, we find the story of the woman Reddjedet, which is the most detailed account we have of a childbirth. It is told how the woman, miraculously giving birth to triplets, fathered by Re, used a portable birthing-stool, with a hole in it for the baby to pass through. There were also five deities; Aset (Isis), Nebt-Het (Nephtys), Heqet, Meskhenet and Khnum, all disguised as female musicians, arriving to assist her. The papyrus says that they 'sealed' the room with her (and them) in it and that:
"Aset placed herself before of her, Nebt-Het behind her, Heqat ‘hastened’ the birth."
The papyrus further reports that Aset said:
"Be not strong (user) in her womb, in this your name as a powerful man (user) indeed (word play on the name Userkaf). The child rushed forth into her two arms as a child of one cubit (i.e. 52 cm)..."
Then it goes on to say that the goddesses cut the navel cord, washed the child and laid it on a pillow of cloth. Meskhenet then told the fortune of the newborn and Reddjedet purified herself with a purification of 14 days. More detailed descriptions of the proceedings than that are lacking.
Medical Papyrii
There is no known word for ‘midwife’ or gynecologist etc., and no evidence for physicians being regularly or singularly involved in childbirth or childcare. However medical spells and remedies exist which were used to predict fertility and pregnancy or to help in childbirth. There are also many medical papyri with sections for gynaecology which include spells and treatments for female ailments and childgiving. The oldest of them is the Kahun papyrus, dating from about 1800 BC, and which is probably a copy of an older text. It´s first two-three pages state 17 prescriptions and instructions of a gynaecological nature, as well as for assessing pregnancy. The Kahun papyrus can therefore be called the first textbook on gynaecology.
Papyrus Ebers
There is also the Papyrus Ebers, dating from 1526-1505 BC, which includes a group of remedies like: ‘For speeding up the childbirth of Aset’, which tells the deities what disasters will happen if Aset fails in giving birth when her time has come. Another one is ‘... a contraction of the uterus’ and ‘To cause a woman to give to earth’. The remedies are taken by mouth or placed in the vagina, applied to abdomen or bandaged around it.
’Birth Bower’
Ostraca from Deir-el-Medina show a ‘birth bower’ resembling an airy tent, decorated with garlands and festive bowers, which might have been built with the purpose of a woman giving birth there. However it is believed this might have had a more symbolical than practical meaning, or that perhaps this bower was used by the more wealthy people and town officials. There are also fragments of plaster showing that this ‘bower’ was included in decorations of some of the houses in the village. It seems to be built of columns of papyrii form, decorated with garlands of convulvulus vines and with the roof made of matting.
There are also ostraca showing a woman either sitting on a stool or a bed, nursing her newborn. When seated on a stool she is wearing only a collar and a girdle around her hips, her hair is bound up on top of her head and falls down in thick heaps. She is attended by young women dressed the same way. When seated on a bed, she usually wears a linen dress and a wig with an ointment cone on top of it. Female servants often hold mirrors and wash her feet, sometimes cosmetic jars are shown beside.
'Birth Box'
In the front room of almost half of the workmens´ houses at Deir el Medina, an enclosed platform was found. This platform is believed to have served as a so called 'birth box'. It was a rectangular mud brick construction, partially enclosed but with an opening on its long side, with a couple of steps leading up to it. There were traces of plaster with painted images of Bes and Tawaret.
The Placenta
The placenta probably held a special significance. There is early evidence of the royal placenta depicted on an Old Kingdom royal standard and even earlier. On the Narmer Palette it is probably the placenta we see depicted as carried on a pole in procession in front of the king. In the 5th Dynasty, the reliefs in the Sun temple of King Niuserre show this standard being carried by a priest of Aset, the mother the Living King in the form of Heru (Horus). These indications of a 'cult of the royal placenta' in early times seem to stay associated with the King all throughout Egyptian history.
Among common women, the placenta, as it was thought to be directly linked to the child´s life, was probably buried either under the threshold of the house or thrown into the Nile to ensure that the child survived. Other speculations are that as it was rich in iron, a piece of it might have been eaten by the mother or even offered the child.
After Birth
The story of Reddjedet in the Westcar Papyrus tells that after giving birth Reddjedet paid the midwife-deities in corn and ‘cleansed herself in a purification of fourteen days’. It seems that the woman as well as the child was entitled to some rest and even seclusion after the delivery, a habit which is practiced still today among certain peoples. Other female occupants of the household shouldered her part of the work so that the mother could occupy herself with the newborn.
Naming
The dangers to a newborn child were many. There could be sudden fevers and diseases of different kinds and few people could afford to pay a doctor. The lack of effective medical remedies made life hazardous and even the treatments themselves often made the situation worse. The child was named by the mother immediately after birth as having no name meant that you did not truly exist. It must also have been important to name the child in case it would not survive, as the deceased person would have an eternal life as long as its name was remembered. Non-royal persons had mostly only one name, but it was quite common to chose the name after a favorite deity, local or not, or even after a royal person. Long names were common, and so were also nicknames. Family names did not exist, instead a person was defined as being the son of a certain person; i.e. Amenhotep, son of Hapu.
Breast-feeding
Children were breast fed up to three years. Breast milk was a highly nutritious additive to regular food and its contraceptive qualities were most likely not overlooked. A nursing woman was a sign of successful womanhood, and these are frequently depicted. There are also medical papyrii saying that the quality of the milk should be tested before given to the child. If the milk smelled like dried manna, it was good, but if it smelled like fish it was bad. Mother´s milk, especially from a woman who had given birth to a boy, was considered having high medical value, both for feeding children, for treating burns and for fertility.
Wet-nurses
Mothers who for some reason were unable to breast-feed and those of noble origin, resorted to a wet-nurse. Due to the high death-rate for birth-giving women as well as for newborn infants, wetnurses were often needed, they were well-paid and enjoyed a good status. Parents could draw up legal papers for a wet-nurse who had to bind herself to nurse a child for a certain number of years. During this period she could not herself risk a pregnancy as it would jeopardize her lactation. In the higher social layers, and especially in the royal family, the position as wet-nurse was a coveted one, being one of the most influential that a non-royal woman could ever hope for. These royal wet-nurses were often married to high court officials. In the Roman days the importance of royal wet-nurses diminished however.
Summary
As the family was the founding institution of ancient Egyptian society, children were desired and important. To have many children meant being blessed by the gods and women doubtlessly spent a major part of their time rearing and caring for children. Adoption was a common way of dealing with childlessness, for no doubt old age would look less sinister if there were children to support and help you. Activities such as giving birth and caring for young children hasn´t left much hard archaeological evidence. But carved wooden animals or clay dolls tell us of loving parents and playing children. Spells and remedies speak of concern and worry about sickness and bad luck, amulets and images of deities bear witnesses of where the ancients turned for support and protection. All this taken together lets us glimpse the humans which once lived and had the same experience as we, with all the joy and worry that goes with it.
