The two statues of goddess Sekhmet

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The word Sekhmet itself means the power from which came the word Sekhmty for the double crown meaning the two powers. We also have the Sekhem scepter which was a symbol of power and authority. Osiris had he epithet of “great sekhem” who dwells in the Thinite nome in the shape of fetish. In the hieroglyphic language it was often used as a determinative in words associated with positions of authority.

Goddess Sekhmet was the lioness goddess she was a member of the triad of Memphis consisting of Ptah as the father, Sekhmet as his counterpart and their son Nefertum (Lotus god). She was called the great lady, beloved of Ptah, holy one, powerful one. She was both wife and sister of Ptah, a common situation in Egyptian mythology. Usually she as depicted with the body of a woman and the head of a lioness. Her head piece consisted of a solar disk, which associated her with the sun god and a uraeus; and she was often dressed I red. Her physical description and her name which meant to be strong, mighty, violent reflected her character she renowned for her violence and power. The book of the dead attributed her power to her use of the destructive forces of the sun’s heat and also associated her with the hot winds of heaven. Other sources associated her with the hot winds of the desert with her breath. She was a goddess of war and accompanied the king into the battle her weapons were arrows, darts and the fiery heat of her own body which supposedly derived from the heat of the sun. Apparently her power was great enough not only to assist Osiris but at times to dominate even him; according to the Book of the Dead, at the times of storms and great floods she had power even over the great gods of the underworld. Sekhmet’s father was said to have been Re himself and many of her attributes connected her with the sun god. In the early Egyptian writings she was often called the eye of Re.

The legend of the destruction of Mankind

Her destructive character is revealed in the myth of the destruction of mankind. In this legend the sun god Re gets angry because his people started to mock him (his appearance). He has grown old, his flesh was of silver and his bones were of gold and his hair of Lapis Lazoly. He wanted to revenge against their behavior towards him. He met with the counsel of the gods and he was told to remove one of his eyes and to use it for punishing the people, he removed his left eye which was goddess Hathor and asked her to punish the people but she refused as she was a kind goddess.

He sent her to Dendara and Sekhmet was appointed for the mission instead

<!--When Hathor refused to do the mission Re changed her to Sekhmet who was just another aspect

<!--From the beginning he sent Sekhmet

As Hathor killed and drank their blood after a while Re wanted to stop this revenge and he asked Sekhmet to stop killing the people but she refused as she became addicted to the human blood. Re for the second time met with the council of gods and asked their advice. He ordered the priests of Heliopolis to obtain a plant called Mandrake from Elephantine near the first cataract. The juice of this plant has a red color and brings slumber. They mixed its juice with wine and made about seven thousand jars of this mixture. They spread the mixture in the way of Sekhmet. All of this was done during the night while she was asleep. In the morning she mistook it for blood and drank it then she fell into a deep sleep and when she woke up she was completely cured from her addiction and she returned back to the form of Hathor. Hathor decided to return to her position but she found that it was taken. One to this she became very angry and she left her father and settled alone in Nubia. After wards her father went to her and honored her by placing himself over her head.

Goddess sekhmet was adopted by the pharaohs as a symbol of their own bravery in battle. She was considered as the goddess of war which suits her destructive nature. She accompanied the king to battle and was often described as his mother. She breathes fire against the king’s enemies, her flames and the heat of her body which is derived from the sun scorches the bodies of enemy soldiers. She spread terror every where, her weapons were arrows with which she pierces hearts, beside the great fire coming from her body. The hot desert winds were regarded as the goddess’ hot breath. Her title “lady of bright red linen” which on the surface is a reference to the color of her home land of Lower Egypt and because of her war like nature it may refer to the blood soaked garments of her enemies. In contradiction with her destructive and war like nature sxmt was regarded as a healer goddess and she who knew now to kill also knew how to heal because of her knowledge of magic as she was regarded as the one “great of magic” and her priests were also regarded as equals to physicians, the presence of one of her priests to recite prayers to the goddess was as part of the treatment like the practical performed by the physician. She was often depicted holding or carrying the anx sign.

Here we are in front of two of her statues made out of black granite, found in Karnak cachette in 1901-1906. She is represented with the solar disk above which a representation for the ureaus. Also she represented wearing the Hathoric hair wig and a long narrow tight dress with a collar over her chest. She is placing both hands over her knees, one is holding the anx sign and the other is free. Because of the representation of the solar disk, it is believed that these statues are related to the legend of the destruction of mankind since Sekhmet was never represented with the solar disk except this time, so it was a form of identification between goddess Hathor and Sekhmet because Sekhmet carried the action which Re had ordered and thus he placed a solar disk over her head