Sekhmet’s Family Tree

About Sekhmet →

Family

• Ptah(spouse),Maahes(child),Nefertem(child)— Marriage

  Ptah and Sekhmet, the divine couple of Memphis, bore the lotus god Nefertem and the lion-headed war god Maahes — beauty and violence sprung from the union of the master craftsman and the fierce lioness.

  ⚠ Lower Egyptian traditions, particularly at Bubastis, name Bastet rather than Sekhmet as the mother of both Nefertem and Maahes, reflecting the theological overlap between the two lioness/cat goddesses.

• Ra(parent)

  Sekhmet is a daughter of Ra and a manifestation of his Eye, sent by him to punish rebellious humanity in the Destruction of Mankind myth.

Aspect of

• Eye of Ra

  Sekhmet the lioness is the fierce, destructive manifestation of the Eye of Ra, unleashed to punish rebellious humanity in the Destruction of Mankind myth.

• Hathor

  Hathor transforms into the lioness Sekhmet when enraged, the two representing the gentle and fierce aspects of the same solar goddess — nurturing love and destructive fury.

• Tefnut

  In the Distant Goddess myth, the raging Eye of Ra who flees to Nubia and must be lured home is identified as both Tefnut and Sekhmet, the two lioness goddesses merging in the figure of the furious exile who returns to Egypt pacified.

Has aspect

• Bastet

  Sekhmet the raging lioness and Bastet the graceful cat are two faces of the same feline power — the scorching fury of the Eye of Ra gentled into the warmth of the hearth, the wild made tame.

• Mut

  Mut absorbed Sekhmet's lioness form in Theban theology, the mother goddess taking on the warrior's fierce head and protective power as consort of Amun-Ra, until hundreds of Sekhmet statues filled the precinct of Mut at Karnak.

Member of

• Memphite Triad

  The Memphite Triad — Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertem — formed the ruling divine family of Memphis, their cult centered at the great temple of Ptah where craftsman, warrior, and lotus god were worshipped as one household.

Associated with

• Remet

  Sekhmet, unleashed by Ra against the Remet, waded through the blood of the slain from Heracleopolis to the southern desert, drinking their gore and delighting in the slaughter until beer dyed red with ochre tricked her into drunken sleep.

• Thoth

  In the Destruction of Mankind myth, Thoth helps Ra devise the plan to brew beer dyed red as blood, the trick that stops Sekhmet's rampage and saves humanity from annihilation.