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Mythos Atlas

Egyptian Pantheon

Sekhmet

Also known as Sakhmet, Lady of Slaughter, The Scarlet Lady

Illustration of Sekhmet, a deity of the Egyptian Pantheon
Illustrative imageIllustration of Sekhmet. Generated with an AI image model; not a historical artifact. About our images
  • war
  • plague
  • healing
  • vengeance
  • fire

Fierce goddess of war, plagues, and healing. The destructive aspect of the sun. Ra sent her to punish humanity.

About Sekhmet

The Powerful One

Sekhmet is the fearsome lioness-headed goddess whose name means "She Who Is Powerful." She embodies the scorching, destructive heat of the sun and is one of the most formidable deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Warriors prayed to her before battle, and her breath was said to create the desert.

The Eye of Ra

Sekhmet is the wrathful form of the Eye of Ra, sent to punish humanity when they rebelled against the aging sun god. She slaughtered humans with such bloodthirsty fury that the Nile ran red. Ra, fearing she would destroy all life, ordered 7,000 jugs of beer dyed with pomegranate to be poured on the ground. Sekhmet, mistaking it for blood, drank until she passed out, and humanity was saved.

Goddess of Plagues and Healing

Sekhmet was believed to send plagues and epidemics as punishment, but her priests (wab Sekhmet) were also renowned physicians who could cure the diseases she sent. This duality made her both feared and revered as a healer.

Cult Center and Sacred Animals

Her primary cult center was at Memphis, where she was worshipped as the consort of Ptah and mother of Nefertum. Lions were sacred to her, and hundreds of statues of Sekhmet lined the temple precincts at Karnak, one for each day of the year to appease her wrath.

Origin story

Sekhmet was created by Ra from the fire of his eye to punish humanity for their rebellion and mockery of the aging sun god. She is the fierce, destructive aspect of the gentler Hathor, representing the burning heat of the midday sun. In essence, Sekhmet and Hathor are two faces of the same goddess: Sekhmet the destroyer and Hathor the nurturer. Her leonine form symbolizes the fierce power of the sun that can bring both life and death to the land of Egypt.

Across traditions

Parallel figures

Figures who play a role like Sekhmet's in other traditions.

Worship and cult

Temples, festivals, and practices recorded for Sekhmet

Plague and its cure. Priests sang her quiet. Beer dyed red to look like blood is the myth of her pacification turned into rite. She is the same eye of Ra that Bastet can also be.

Sacred sites

  • Memphis, with Ptah and Nefertem
  • Hundreds of seated lioness statues from Amenhotep III

Festivals

  • Pacification of Sekhmet
  • New Year plague-aversion rites

Family

Parents
Ra
with
Ptah
Sekhmet
Questions about Sekhmet's family
Who are Sekhmet's parents?
The atlas's kinship records name one parent of Sekhmet: Ra. Ancient accounts do not always agree on divine parentage.
Who were Sekhmet's spouses and consorts?
Spouses and consorts of Sekhmet recorded in the atlas: Ptah.

In the atlas

Where Sekhmet appears

In the museums

Sekhmet in art

Real objects in public collections, released into the public domain by the museums that hold them. Dates refer to when each object was made. Objects made within the tradition come first, later depictions after.

  • Cupreous metal statuette of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (opens the museum record)

    Ancient object

    Lion-Headed Goddess (opens the museum record)

    Egyptian, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period · 664–30 BCE · Cupreous metal

    A cast metal statuette of a lion-headed goddess the museum tags as Sekhmet, the fierce protector deity associated with war and healing. Bronze figures of Sekhmet were dedicated by worshippers seeking her dual powers of destruction and protection.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 04.2.588 · Public Domain (museum record)

  • Cupreous metal statuette of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (opens the museum record)

    Ancient object

    Lion-headed goddess (opens the museum record)

    Egyptian, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period · 664–30 BCE · Cupreous metal

    A second lion-headed goddess statuette tagged by the museum as Sekhmet, part of the large body of Late Period bronze votive figures dedicated to her.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 04.2.424 · Public Domain (museum record)

Sources and further reading

Source notes

These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.

  • Pacification hymns of Sekhmet (Memphite/Theban temple tradition)

    Catalog date: New Kingdom and later

About this entry

By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. . Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.

Parallels are editorial comparisons across traditions: a shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.

Family relationships come from the atlas's kinship records. Ancient sources often disagree on divine genealogy.

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Genealogy

Family tree

Sekhmet's parents, consorts, children and rivals, as recorded in the atlas.

Open the full tree