Sekhmet (Sekhet, Sakhmet, Nesert)
Mighty One
Symbols: lioness, cobra, Udjat (Eye of Horus)
Depiction: The lioness goddess of war and destruction, Sekhmet was depicted as a woman in red with the head of a lioness with the solar disk and the uraeus on her head.
Mythology: The name Sekhmet comes from the Egyptian word sekhem meaning “to be violent, mighty, and strong.” Together Sekhmet and Bastet were the Goddesses of East (Bastet) and West (Sekhmet). The wife and sister of Ptah, Sekhmet was born out of the fire of Re’s eye. Re created Sekhmet as a weapon of vengeance with which to destroy disobedient and wicked men. The ancient Egyptians feared the powers of Sekhmet and developed complicated rituals to appease the goddess. Every day of every year in the morning and afternoon, ancient Egyptian priests would perform these rituals in front of each of 700 statues of Sekhmet. The Egyptians believed that if the priests did not adhere to this strict regiment of rituals, Sekhmet would destroy them. Re had a change of heart and no longer wanted to destroy men, but could not stop his daughter from killing them. Instead of destroying Sekhmet, Re tricked her by disguising beer as blood which Sekhmet drunk. Sekhmet became so intoxicated that she could no longer kill men and was from then on known as Hathor.
