Amulet-pendant of Sakhmet, Dyn. 22
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Links to other views:⇒ Larger Viewif scripting is off, click the ⇒ instead. Links to others from Dynasty 22Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 22Bronze statuette of Bastet, Dyn. 22 Canopic chest of Rw-Bastet, Dyn. 22 Faience figurine of a king striding, Dyn. 22 Gilded bronze of Bastet, Dyn. 22 Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 22 Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 22 Pin finial, Goddess Bastet, Dyn. 22 Queen Karama as Goddess Neith, Dyn. 22 Sarcophagus for cat as Bastet, Dyn. 22 Shawabti of King Pami, Dyn. 22 Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Statue pedestal of Osorkon II, Dyn. 22 Links to others representing SakhmetBronze of Sakhmet seated, Dyn. 20-23Bronze of Sakhmet seated, early Dyn. 18 Bronze statuette of Sakhmet, Dyn. 20 Faience amulet of Bastet, c. 750 BC. Sakhmet amulet pendant, Dyn. 18 Stone seal of King Mentuhetep II, Dyn. 11 Links to others of type AmuletAmulet of Duamutef, Dyn. 25Amulet of god Thoth as a Baboon, Dyn. 18 Amulet of Imsety, Dyn. 25 Amulet of Pataikos, Dyn. 26 Amulet of Ptah-Sokar, Dyn. 20-21 Amulet of Shu, Dyn. 26 Blue glass amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Bronze Nefertem pendant amulet, Dyn. 25 Djed pillar, amulet of powers, Dyn. 26 Faience amulet of Anubis, 525-334 BC Faience amulet of Qebhsenuef, Dyn. 25 Gilded ib, heart amulet, Dyn.18 Gilded mkrt, snake amulet, Dyn. 18 Gilded ‘tit’ (girdle of Isis) amulet, Dyn. 18 Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Glass jug amulet, Palestine, c. 450 AD Horus-the-child, Meroe, 590-300 BC Large amulet of Pataikos, Dyn. 20 Large amulet of Pataikos, Dyn. 20-21 Palm leaf amulet, Dyn. 18-19 Palm leaf amulet, Dyn. 18-19 Sakhmet amulet pendant, Dyn. 18 Shells amulet-pendant, c. 4500 BC Sky Goddess Nut as a sow, 1085-760 BC Two-fingers mummy amulet, Dyn. 26 Upper Egypt crown amulet, Dyn. 26 |
This deep blue faience amulet representing the goddess Sakhmet was produced with clay pressed into an open mold, fired, glazed, and fired again. It was meant to be worn as a pendant to protect the wearer, as religious medals are worn today. Sakhmet is shown with the head of a lioness, surmounted by a solar disk and an uraeus (cobra), wearing an important head-dress, striding, with a papyrus scepter in hand. Thebes, Dynasty 22. Sakhmet While several goddesses were represented with the head of a lioness, Sakhmet is certainly the most prominent throughout Egyptian history. Originally a local divinity from Letopolis, she soon was attached to Memphis, and said to be Ra’s daughter and the consort of Ptah (god of creation and original local god of Memphis). Despite her peaceful appearance, she was a goddess of vengeful fury and unimaginable cruelty, who could unleash her brutal wrath on whomever rebelled against Ra (or the pharaoh). A legend found in royal tombs at Thebes tells of one such occasion: Once upon a time, Ra found out that humans were rebelling against him. He sent his Vengeful Eye—Goddess Hathor—to repress the insurrection. She descended upon Egypt, metamorphosed into Sakhmet (meaning “the powerful”), and proceeded to slaughter any human she could find. The desert was red with blood. Eventually, Ra ordered her to stop, fearing a complete extinction of the human race. But she answered “when I slay men, my heart rejoices,” and furthered her carnage with ever increasing savagery. When she rested for the night, Ra ordered his priests to fill seven thousand jars with a mix of beer and red ochre from Elephantine Island, and scatter them on Sakhmet’s path. The next day, when Sakhmet set to resume the massacre, she found the jars and drank the red beer, thinking that it was the blood of her enemies. She soon became so intoxicated from the alcohol that she collapsed. Thus, Ra saved the human race from Sakhmet’s murderous rage. Egyptians celebrated that myth yearly during the Hathor festival, with much drinking of “red beer”. (According to Guirand (1959), pomegranate juice was a key ingredient.) This image of Sakhmet as the irrepressible destructive power of God (but also of the pharaoh, and by extension, of Egypt) when angered by enemies made her an effective instrument of state propaganda. Ramesses II’s account of the Battle of Qadesh reads:
And if Sakhmet’s breath could burn enemies in battle, it could also burn men by sending them a fever. Indeed, she was thought to instigate epidemics. And since she could bring on diseases, she was assumed to have the reciprocal power to repeal them. So, when someone fell sick, Egyptians took a two-pronged approach to treatment: calling a physician, and asking priests of Sakhmet to pray for the patient. The Overseer of the Priests of Sakhmet was also thought to have considerable medical knowledge. The guild of bone-setters was under the jurisdiction of her cult. If, in the massacre myth above, Sakhmet was an “alternate personality” of Hathor, in some versions of the myth of the far-away goddess (see Anhur), she turns into Goddess Bastet as her anger dies down. The fusion of Sakhmet with the cat goddess Bastet is more than anecdotal. They share the title mistress of Ankhtawy (Memphis), and are both mothers of the lotus god Nefertum. Yet, their personality differs markedly. In Thebes (Upper Egypt), there was a close association between the mother goddess Mut, and Sakhmet. Mut was usually portrayed as a slender woman, but sometimes as a lioness. King Amenhotep III (Dyn 18) had a statue of Sakhmet for each day of the year arranged around the temple of Mut, further demonstrating the connection between the two lionesses. While Sakhmet is most often depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness wearing the solar disk and the uraeus (cobra), she can take a variety of other forms. She is occasionally seen with a whole crocodile or the Udjat Eye (the eye of Ra) instead of a head, or as God Min brandishing a dagger, or wholly as a lioness. Bibliography (for this item)Andrews, Carol1994 Amulets of Ancient Egypt. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX. Petrie, W.M. Flinders 1914 Amulets. Constable & Company, London, UK. Bibliography (on Sakhmet)Guirand, Felix1968 New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Crescent Books, New York, NY. (36) Hart, George 1986 A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, United Kingdom. (187) Ions, Veronica 1969 Mythologie Egyptienne (Translation of the 1968 edition by the Hamlyn Publishing Group). ODEGE, Paris, France. (106) Sauneron, Serge 2000 The Priests of Ancient Egypt. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY. (159) |
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