Sekhmet

The tale of Sekhmet

Sekhmet's name means "the Powerful One". She is the lioness goddess of war, of the scorching desert sun, of plague and of healing. She is shown as a woman with the head of a lioness, crowned by the sun disk and the cobra, and her breath is the hot desert wind. Egyptian kings called on her to march before their armies, and her rage was believed to bring disease, but her priests were also Egypt's doctors.

The destruction of mankind

When the sun god Ra had grown old and grey and ruled the world as its king, people began to mock him and plot against him. Ra called the gods together, and they advised him to send his Eye against the rebels. The Eye of Ra went out in the form of a lioness: Sekhmet.

She tore through the land, slaughtering everyone she found, and she wanted more. By evening, drunk on blood, she promised to finish the work the next morning, and Ra realised that she would not stop until no human was left alive. He regretted his anger, but even he could not command her to stop.

So Ra made a plan. He had his servants bring red ochre from the island of Elephantine and mix it with seven thousand jugs of beer, until it looked exactly like blood. In the night they poured it over the fields where Sekhmet would hunt, flooding them three hands deep.

At dawn Sekhmet came, saw the red flood and, thinking it was blood, drank every drop. She became so drunk she fell asleep, and woke gentle, the slaughter forgotten. Mankind was saved. As the game's Sekhmet says, Ra had to get her drunk to make her stop.

The festival of drunkenness

In memory of that day, the Egyptians held the Festival of Drunkenness every year. They drank beer dyed red, played music and danced, to keep the goddess calm and happy, and to celebrate the day humanity was spared. Sekhmet was also linked to the gentle goddess Hathor, and to Bastet, the lioness turned housecat. Some say they were all different faces of the same power.

Sekhmet in Battle of Myths

Sekhmet is a cost 3 Egyptian warrior and assassin. Her ability, Bloodlust, mauls her target for heavy damage, then fills her with fury: she attacks faster and heals from every blow. With every Egyptian hero she shares the Sun Cycle: by day the Egyptians strike faster, and at nightfall they are shielded.

Did you know?

• King Amenhotep III had more than 700 statues of Sekhmet made, perhaps one for every day and night of the year, to calm her during a time of plague.
• Many of those black granite statues can be seen today in museums around the world, including the British Museum and the Louvre.