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 Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:52 am
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* what did the Greeks call her, and what was her name in the Egyptian language?
They simply called her Sekhmet. This Name is one the Greeks did not change. This goddess’ name literally translated means “Mighty One,” or “Powerful One.” Her name is derived from the Egyptian word “sekhem,” which means “power” or “might.” Some of Sekhmet’s titles were “Powerful of Heart,” “The Scarlet Lady,” “Avenger of Wrongs,” “Lady of Flame,” “The One Before Whom Evil Trembles,” “Eye of Ra,” and “Lady of Slaughter.”
* why was she important to the ancient Egyptians and their culture?
Sekhmet is a goddess of many things: Healing, plague, power and protection. Since she is the Goddess who can cause plague, she can also cure it, much like vaccinations in thee days, where a patient is treated by injecting a small amount of the virus in question into the patient so that the patient 's immune system will build a defense to it. Although well-known for Her wrath, Her wrath was mostly directed towards what the Kemetic beieved were evil spirits that caused sickness and disease, an many, if not all, of Sekhmet's preists and preistesses were doctors, and they were at the highest calibur of thier trade at the time. Sekhmet s also known as the power of the sun as you will see in the next paragraph. Sekhmet is known also as the protector of the just and deliverer of divine retribution, or as we know it today, karma. Everything one does, one recieves back ten fold from this Goddess. It is also said that She personally protected the Pharoahs. Hot desert winds were believed to be this goddess’s breath, and her body was said to take on the bright glare of the midday sun. A very important goddess, it has been estimated that over seven hundred statues of Sekhmet once stood in the funerary temple of Amenhotep III, on the west bank of the Nile. Each statue was dedicated to a particular day of the year. During the Festival of Sekhmet, men and women “freed themselves of all unpleasant feelings, resentment, and repressed, angry passion” by drinking great quantities of wine. The white wine of Lower Egypt was the Wine of Bast; the more potent blood-red wine of Upper Egypt was called the Wine of Sekhmet. Similar festivals of Sekhmet were celebrated at the end of battle, in order to pacify the Goddess of War, so that there would be no more destruction. On such occasions, people danced and played music to soothe the wildness of the Goddess.
* what myths is she involved in?
This one myth deals specifically with one of the major turning points in history and is the most well-known about Sekhmet. Humans had become too full of themselves, thinking themselves etter than the very Gods and Goddesses that created them. This troubled Ra greatly, but He held off His anger until He could tlerate no more. He called forth His daughter, Sekhmet, and charged Her to wipe out only the rebellious sects of humans. Sekhmet did as She was told but began to develope a bloodlustand began hunting down all humans. Ra was greatly troubled by this and set a plan in motion. Near where Sekhmet was hunting, Ra poured red beer dyed with pomogranite juice to make it the color of blood. In Her crazed state, She did mistake the beer for blood and began consumng it until she became too drunk. Her rage left Her along with Her bloodlust, but She knew She had been duped. Angry, Sekhmet left the world. After She had departed, the sun began to lose it's strength. Ra went to Tehuti to ask for help, and Tehuti went under a guise to Sekhmet, wining her over with wordsof praise and flattery. Eventually, Sekhmet returned and became a power to protect the just and smite isfet.
* where were her major cult centers were (if she had any)?
The center of Her cult was in Memphis.
* what were her sacred animals or symbols, and why?
Lions are sacred symbols to Her, as they are the representation of power.
* how did you learn about her?
I learned of the Goddess from the Goddess Herself. She was the one who brought me into the Kemetic Orthodoxy. However, my learning did not stop with my personal experience with Her. I have read up on this lovely Goddess, though some books are grossly inacurate (The book "The Goddess Sekhmet" potrays Her as more of an evil deity with a throne of bones, flesh and blood. That would be more accurate to prior of the afore mentioned myth, but certainly not how She is today. Make no mistake though, She is frightening when She is angry, though I thankfully have never incurred her full wrath ^.^)
* what do you admire about this goddess, and/or why did you chose her?
I admire many things about her. She can be as compassionate as Aset, yet she will not hesitate to put you back on course (mess up and She'll give you a wake-up call you won't forget). She is very beautiful and always willing to help those who call upon Her (I usually do so during my physical training (PT) She has yet to ever let me down ^.^). I chose her as my topic because She is the Goddess I am closest to. It is rather hard to type about her as nothing can truely do Her justice, as many might feel about a God or Goddess they are closest to
* what other gods and goddesses is she related to- by family ties, or by any other association?
She is th Daughter of Ra, and She also has some sort of connection to Asar, as many who are called by Her into the Kemetic Orthodoxy end up gravitating to Asar, myself included. She is the wife of Ptah and mother of Nefertem.
* anything else which you find interesting!
The “Hymn of Sekhmet” says: “Mine is a heart of carnelian, crimson as murder on a holy day. / Mine is a heart of corneal, the gnarled roots of a dogwood and the bursting of flowers. / I am the broken wax seal on my lover's letters. / I am the phoenix, the fiery sun, consuming and resuming myself. / I will what I will. / Mine is a heart of carnelian, blood red as the crest of a phoenix.”
In all of my experiences with Sekhmet, She is very protective of those of us who seek Her protection and very caring of us. She will not hesitate to dicipline us, and any who seek to harm us She will turn her terrible wrath upon them.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:02 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:42 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:26 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:04 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:26 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:00 pm
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On Sekhmet's name, I've read that the Greeks did have one for Her: they called Her Sachmis.^_^ Judging by the fact that She is known by Her Egyptian name in egyptological circles, however, She must have been a later addition to our pool of knowledge. In the early days of egyptology- and I mean the early, early days- we had not yet learned to read hieroglyphs and so we could only know the deities by references to Them in contemporary Greek or Roman texts. So egyptologists got used to using Greek names, and even after we cracked the hieroglyphic code they continued using those names in order to avoid confusing the literature by having some books refer to the gods by Greek names while others used the Egyptian ones. All deities discovered after we learned to read hieroglyphs, however, are referred to with transliterated versions of Their Egyptian names. So Sekhmet is still called Sekhmet in academic texts.
I think that the Greek names are interesting, though- they were contemporary with a part of the development of the language, so even though they are written with a heavy Greek accent they can still give clues about how the names were pronounced at that time. Generally speaking, the Greek names come from a period of the language where final t's were being dropped from pronunciation (although not from the writing! In fact, in some cases the final t's were doubled in the written names- to ensure that when one was dropped the other would still be pronounced!). I would need a lot more study of Greek than I have now to really do this justice, but just from what I see at this point I wonder if the vowels in Sekhmet's name would be restored as Sakhmit?
"The One Before Whom Evil Trembles," I love that- and I hadn't read that one before! Where did you find it?
I like the comparison between the dual nature of plague and healing and the modern use of vaccines- it is really an interesting one, giving me something else to ponder about Her role in healing.
There is something about the idea of returning actions tenfold which just doesn't seem to match up with the idea of ma'at, though... To amplify actions (for good or for bad) before returning them would take an already off-balance situation and tip it further off balance in the other extreme. My understanding of the Egyptian concept of justice and appropriate action is that an imbalanced situation would be addressed with a remedy which was no more, and no less, than was needed to restore the situation to ma'at. There is the one myth, which you mentioned, where Sekhmet got a little carried away and started giving out punishments which were improportionate with humanity's crime... but this was viewed as undesirable by the gods and a stop was put to it. I've never heard of a certain factor of magnification being set to divine punishment, and I suspect that overall this would be considered to be a further deterioration of natural order. If I'm wrong, though, please help me out with a source where I can find more information on this!^_^
So much more to say, but for now my time is up! Hopefully I'll be able to log on more during my days off! 3nodding
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:11 am
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Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:28 am
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WebenBanu Rennie` When I turn eighteen I want to (by then) know all or most of the Gods incase the one I have never heard of is my parent sweatdrop lol that would be embarrasing! That's an ambitious project! There are quite a few Egyptian gods- thousands, I suspect; Egyptologists have not discovered them all, and of some we know little more than their name. But I've been seeing more and more of the lesser known gods coming forth in the lives of modern people. I think it's wonderful when someone developes or is blessed with a relationship with a deity Who has, for all intensive purposes, been forgotten by the rest of the world- it's good to have Them back. Good luck! |
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:04 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:23 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:30 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:22 pm
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King Robert Silvermyst I myself knew nothing about the wines or celerations after battle to calm the Goddess. I can't seem to find the website I looked at when I found that section, but it had tons of information on the Goddess Sekhmet that I was unaware of, and it was on that site where I found that poem. However, they did have wine, though how it was made then and there is beyond me, though I suspect that perhaps it was learned of through trading with other countries, as was commo in those days and eventually they learned how to make it, or perhaps they learned by themselves and aquired the grapes from other countries via trade, or perhaps there are spots where grapes can be grown in Egypt.
Yeah, I didn't know about the wine after battles either, but it does make sense when you consider the pacification of the goddess near the end of the Destruction of Mankind myth. I can certainly see how a bloody battlefield would evoke that setting, and make the abundance of wine a prudent precaution. On the other hand, I wonder if it might also be possible that this practice pre-dated the myth, and the Destruction of Mankind myth itself was a legendary recollection of an historical battle- that would be a very interesting possibility!
The Egyptians did have grapes, but they weren't common- you had to have special permission from the king to have a vineyard on your property, so they were the exclusive right of the nobility. There is a god, named Shesmu, who was closely associated with the wine press- he was also a fearsome deity who would press the heads of the unjust like grapes, harvesting the blood from them like juice. eek It was from this image that I assumed that the Egyptians had red wine (red wine, and red blood), but I can see from Caroline Seawright's article on Shesmu that they did have white wine too- though not until the Middle Kingdom.
Seawright is one of the few online authors whom I generally recommend to folks looking for random information on ancient Egypt, or info on unfamiliar gods... and she's pretty interesting, as well! There are so many articles on her list- I often use them as a quick-reference guide whenever I encounter a new deity and am looking for a quick biography, perspective of the god, and a more-or-less basic personality description. Several of Seawright's articles can be found hosted on TourEgypt.net, but there's also a full listing of them here, if anyone's interested. smile |
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:47 pm
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