| Sekhmet | |
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Real Name |
Sekhmet |
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First Appearance |
Egyptian Mythology |
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Created by |
Egyptian Mythology |
Origin[]
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine. She is also a solar deity, sometimes given the epithet 'the eye of Ra'. She is often associated with the goddesses Hathor and Bastet.
Sekhmet is the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and is among the more important of the goddesses in the Egyptian Pantheon. Sekhmet acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra's power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet is said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She is also believed to cause plagues (which were described as being her servants or messengers) although she is also called upon to ward off disease and heal the sick.
In a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends the goddess Hathor, in the form of Sekhmet, to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's bloodlust was not quenched at the end of battle, and this led to her going on a bloody rampage that laid Egypt to waste and almost destroyed all of humanity. To stop her, Ra and the other gods devised a plan. They poured out a lake of beer dyed with red ochre or so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, Sekhmet drank it all and became so drunk that she gave up on the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra.
n other versions of this story, Sekhmet grew angered at the deception and left Egypt, diminishing the power of the sun. This threatened the power and security of the world—thus, she was persuaded by the god Thoth to return and restore the sun to its full glory. Sekhmet's feline attributes and her iconography sometimes make it difficult to differentiate Sekhmet from other feline goddesses – mainly Bastet.
Sekhmet was considered the wife of the god Ptah and mother of his son Nefertum. She was also said to be the mother of the lion-headed war god, Maahes. She was also considered to be the sister of the cat goddess Bastet. In addition, Imhotep was known as the "Son of Ptah", his mother was sometimes claimed to be Sekhmet, the patron of Upper Egypt whose consort was Ptah.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Sekhmet published before January 1, 1930 are in the public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Gods of the Egyptians; or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology (1904)
- The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians (1914)
- Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Lewis Spence (1915)
- Ancient Egyptian Legends (1920)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Funny Pages v1 #6, 8-10: Jimmie Murray goes to Egypt to seek the treasure known as The Sapphire Eye of Sekhmet. He meets and late is accompanied in his journey by Princess Nadja.