The lioness goddess Sekhmet, "the powerful one", is one of the most ambivalent figures of the Egyptian pantheon. Her breath is the hot desert wind, her anger brings destruction, and yet she was revered as protector of the king and of order. The myth that best explains this double nature is contained in the Book of the Heavenly Cow, a text telling how mankind nearly perished and how divine fury was appeased.
The sources of the myth
The Book of the Heavenly Cow is attested in the New Kingdom in royal contexts. The oldest known version is carved on one of the gilded shrines of Tutankhamun, which enclosed the king's sarcophagus. The text then appears in the tombs of Seti I and of several Ramesside rulers in the Valley of the Kings. Its funerary setting shows that it was not a simple tale, but a text of protection and knowledge for the dead king.
The story
The rebellion of mankind
In the time when Ra reigned on earth together with gods and humans, the god grew old. Human beings noticed and plotted against him. Ra summoned the council of the gods, among them Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut and Nun, the primordial ocean. The gods advised him to send his Eye against the rebels.
The Eye becomes Sekhmet
The Eye of Ra descended in the form of Hathor, goddess of love and joy. But as she slew the rebels in the desert, she became Sekhmet, the bloodthirsty lioness. When she returned, she said she had taken pleasure in the slaughter. The god understood that the goddess would not stop and that all of mankind was in danger.
The trick of the red beer
Ra, moved to pity, devised a remedy. He had red ochre brought from Elephantine and ground; then he ordered great quantities of beer to be brewed and mixed with the ochre, so that it looked like human blood. During the night the beer was poured over the fields.
In the morning the goddess saw the red expanses, saw her reflection in them and drank. She became drunk, her heart rejoiced and she no longer recognised human beings. Mankind was saved.
Ra's withdrawal
Weary of the world, Ra withdrew to the sky on the back of Nut, transformed into a heavenly cow and held up by Shu and other deities. Hence the name of the book. The story goes on with the ordering of the cosmos, the assignment of tasks to the gods and a series of protective spells.
The symbolic meaning
| Element | Symbolic reading |
|---|---|
| The aged Ra | Time that wears down even divine order |
| The Eye sent forth | The god's power acting on its own |
| Hathor becoming Sekhmet | Two faces of the same energy, joyful and terrible |
| The red beer | Disorder transformed into feast and intoxication |
| The withdrawal to the sky | The separation of the divine and human worlds |
The myth also explains the origin of real rites. The festivals of drunkenness in honour of Hathor, celebrated with music, dance and beer, recalled the moment the goddess was appeased. Ritual joy was meant to keep the goddess in her benevolent form.
The statues of Amenhotep III
Sekhmet's cult has a striking witness in the reign of Amenhotep III. The king had an extraordinary number of black granite statues of the goddess carved, seated or standing, for his mortuary temple on the west bank of Thebes and for the temple of Mut at Karnak. Many are now scattered among museums around the world.
Several scholars interpret this group as a kind of "litany in stone": each statue would have corresponded to a form or a day of the goddess, to keep her appeased throughout the whole year. It is a suggestive hypothesis, showing how important it was for the order of the kingdom to keep her power in check.
The power that protects
Sekhmet was not a negative deity. Her strength, turned against enemies, defended the king in battle; her priests were ritual specialists who knew the formulas to appease her. The same power that destroys can protect, if guided by order. Maestro Cornelio recognises in this a profound insight of the Egyptian tradition: force is not to be denied but transformed, just as the lioness's fury became joy in the festival.
In short
- The Book of the Heavenly Cow tells of mankind's rebellion against the aged Ra.
- The Eye of Ra, sent as Hathor, becomes the lioness Sekhmet and carries out the slaughter.
- Ra appeases her with beer dyed with red ochre, which the goddess mistakes for blood.
- The oldest known version is on a gilded shrine of Tutankhamun.
- Amenhotep III had a great number of Sekhmet statues carved to appease her power.
