Volume III Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt"

PAKHET
(Pak-t, Pachet)

To return to the
Scorpius Decan (netjer of the month was Sekhmet, but at Ramesseum: Pak-t, Pachet, at Edfu: Kehek, Coptic Kiahk),
Lupus Decan (Sekhmet and Pakhet were both lion-headed goddesses),
Denderah Decan 24 - Grand Temple Decan 33 (a female figure with a lion’s head and a cobra on her head, holding a papyrus scepter),
or List of Netjeru.

    Pakhet was a local lion goddess worshipped in the area of Beni Hasan, Middle Egypt.
    Her name means "she who scratches" or "tearer."    She was also called "Goddess at the entrance of the wadi" which might point to the lion's habit of frequenting areas at the edge of the desert where water was to be found.    In the Coffin Texts, she is mentioned as a "night huntress with sharper claws."    She is not often depicted in Egyptian art but appears as an anthropomorphic female deity with a leonine head.
    As a feline deity, she can be associated with Bast and Sekhmet but she is also associated with Heru (Gr. Horus), she thereby also becomes associated with Aset (Gr. Isis) and Weret-Hekau.    Due to her being a huntress deity, the Greeks identified Pakhet with Artemis and the rock-chapel at Beni Hasan, which was carved out of the limestone cliffs by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, was called Speos Artemidos ('cave of Artemis') by the Greeks.    From the Late period was found a cemetery of sacred cats dedicated to Pakhet in this area.
    The netjer of the month of Scorpius was Sekhmet, at Ramesseum: Pak-t (Pachet), at Edfu: Kehek (note Coptic name Kiahk).

This file was created on June 18, 2005 and updated on May 30, 2006.

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