Peseshet

Who is Peseshet?

Peseshet, who lived under the Fourth Dynasty, is often credited with being the earliest known female physician in ancient Egypt, though another, Merit-Ptah lived earlier. Her title was "lady overseer of the female physicians," but whether she was a physician herself is uncertain.

She had a son Akhethetep, in whose mastaba at Giza her personal stela was found.

She may have graduated midwives at an ancient Egyptian medical school in Sais; midwifery must have existed, even though no ancient Egyptian term for it is known. The Hebrew Bible – while not a proven source for historical events prior to the 7th century BCE – refers to midwives in Exodus 1,16:

"And he said: ʻWhen ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools...’"