Feline Deities
Mar. 17th, 2007 05:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ikhet_sekhmetLast bits from Complete Gods and Goddesses:
Bastet began as a fierce lioness goddess, but became the "milder" cat goddess over time. In the Pyramid Texts, She appears as both fierce and nurturing, as the pharoah's mother and nurse (it's in Utterance 509). She also appears in the Coffin Texts, protecting the dead, but also in "her aggressive aspect". She could be the Eye of Ra, but also the "Eye of the moon". As "the cat of Re", She destroyed Apophis. "In later times" She's a mother goddess who protects pregnant women. The Greeks equated Her with Artemis.
"The hot desert winds were said to be the 'breath of Sekhmet'. Plagues were the 'messengers of Sekhmet' or the 'slaughterers of Sekhmet'. In the Pyramid Texts, Sekhmet conceived pharoah (and Shesmetet give birth to him, which to me suggests an identification of these two goddesses). As well as Memphis, She had temples at Abusir and at Kom el-Hisn (as Sekhmet-Hathor).
Her dress is often red, and She is called "mistress of red linen". "Sometimes her garment has a rosette pattern over each nipple and while this has been suggested to reflect patterns in the shoulder hair of lions it is perhaps more likely that the pattern reflects an astronomical symbolism of the "shoulder star" of the constellation Leo which is marked in Egyptian astronomical paintings."
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Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, 2003.
Bastet began as a fierce lioness goddess, but became the "milder" cat goddess over time. In the Pyramid Texts, She appears as both fierce and nurturing, as the pharoah's mother and nurse (it's in Utterance 509). She also appears in the Coffin Texts, protecting the dead, but also in "her aggressive aspect". She could be the Eye of Ra, but also the "Eye of the moon". As "the cat of Re", She destroyed Apophis. "In later times" She's a mother goddess who protects pregnant women. The Greeks equated Her with Artemis.
"The hot desert winds were said to be the 'breath of Sekhmet'. Plagues were the 'messengers of Sekhmet' or the 'slaughterers of Sekhmet'. In the Pyramid Texts, Sekhmet conceived pharoah (and Shesmetet give birth to him, which to me suggests an identification of these two goddesses). As well as Memphis, She had temples at Abusir and at Kom el-Hisn (as Sekhmet-Hathor).
Her dress is often red, and She is called "mistress of red linen". "Sometimes her garment has a rosette pattern over each nipple and while this has been suggested to reflect patterns in the shoulder hair of lions it is perhaps more likely that the pattern reflects an astronomical symbolism of the "shoulder star" of the constellation Leo which is marked in Egyptian astronomical paintings."
__
Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, 2003.
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Date: 2007-03-16 09:33 pm (UTC)