War page
ancient polytheism:
Egyptian Overview
Norse Overview
War Deities
Underworld Deities
Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of war, like the other Egyptian deities, had traits that were strongly related to the desert, sun, and heat, but tied her still strongly to the realm of war.Sekhmet was said to be associated with retribution as well as with war: her "trademark" was throwing arrows of fire into enemies and those who displeased her. She was generally depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, representative of hunting (killing, and therefore related to war) by use of the hunting female lion.
However, Sekhmet also had another side--one of nurturing and protection. Sekhmet was also the goddess of healing and surgery, who later gave birth to Nefertem, a healing god. This contrasting duality is notable as Sekhmet represented both protector and warrior. The correlation is thought to come perhaps from the nature of protection to cities by use of armies, or possibly from the protection that soldiers often hoped for when they went into combat. So the evolution of this odd duality could have developed from soldier worshippers of Sekhmet who gradually came to pray to her for protection in battle, earning her the role of protective goddess on top of her purpose as the goddess (or at least one of the goddesses) of war for Egypt.
The environment of Egypt was apparent in Sekhmet, as it frequently became apparent through the Egyptian gods. Sekhmet had one more role, or, in a sense, one and a fraction of another role. Sekhmet was one of the Egyptian destroyer gods, sent as the agent of Hathor when Ra sent Hathor down to Earth to slay the humans. Sekhmet viciously slaughtered the people and drank their blood, stopping only when tricked into doing so. This sub-role was part of her role as another Sun deity. As a Sun goddess, Sekhmet represented the destructive side of the Sun. Again, this shows how the Egyptians had a strong reverence for the Sun and its power to both aid and destroy them.
As the destructive Sun goddess, Sekhmet was portrayed as creating the painful aspects of the Sun: her breath was the hot, dry, searing desert wind, and her body was the scorching midday Sun that burned crops and killed laborers.
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Egyptian
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