One of the more dangerous
gods / goddesses - her name means 'the mighty one', she accompanied
the pharaoh into battle. Her weapons were arrows (which would
pierce hearts), and a fiery glow came from her body - hot desert
winds came from her breath.
She is usually shown
as a woman with the head of a lioness - her terrible nature comes
from her manifestation of an eye of Re sent to kill enemies of
the Sun God (this can be seen in the legend of 'The
Destruction of Mankind' - in which an aging Re who is angered
by mortal's lack of devotion towards him, and so he sends Sekhmet
to kill them all!... Re does regret this desicion, but once he
has unleashed the fury of Sekhmet he has difficulty stopping
her). Plagues and epidemics could also be the work of Sekhmet,
but with certain rites (the rite of 'appeasing Sekhmet') she
could be appeased once more.
Given this violent image
it is strange that Sekhmet was also a goddess of healing - when
people became ill (caused by Evil spirits entering the body),
who better to deal with this problem than a priest of Sekhmet
(an early doctor) who could call upon his goddess to drive out
the demons.
