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Sekhmet, a MythSource painting
Egyptian

Sekhmet

The Powerful One · Lady of Flame · Lady of Terror

01Identity

War and divine vengeance are among the powers of Sekhmet, an Egyptian deity known as the Powerful One. She is also associated with plague and disease, healing and medicine, and the protection of kings, and her imagery includes the lioness, solar disk, uraeus cobra, flame and ankh. The tale of Ra’s Eye pacified with red beer belongs to Hathor in the supplied account, so it should not be presented as Sekhmet’s story.

Top questions
  • Who is Sekhmet?

    Sekhmet is an Egyptian deity associated with war and battle, destruction and divine vengeance, plague and disease, healing and medicine, royal protection.
    Source

    Source

    • Handbook of Egyptian Mythology
  • What is Sekhmet the god of?

    war and battle, destruction and divine vengeance, plague and disease, healing and medicine, royal protection
    Source

    Source

    • Handbook of Egyptian Mythology
  • What family links are recorded for Sekhmet?

    Father: Ra, Spouse: Ptah, 1 child.
02Family

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

Sekhmet

with Ptah

Nefertem
03The names

Sakhmet

Variant transliteration of Sekhmet's name

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

The Powerful One

The meaning of Sekhmet's name

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Eye of Ra

Ra's destructive and protective divine force

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Lady of Flame

Goddess associated with consuming divine fire

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Mistress of Dread

A title emphasizing her fearsome power

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

04The myths

1 myth, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Humanity plotted against Ra. He summoned the gods and asked their advice. Nun and the other deities told him to send his Eye against the rebels. The Eye descended as Hathor and found the guilty people fleeing into the desert. She attacked them, killed them, and drank their blood. When she returned, she told Ra that she had overcome humanity and had enjoyed the slaughter. Ra declared that he would rule by culling humanity, and the Powerful One came into being.

Hathor planned to continue the killing the next day. During the night, Ra changed his mind and decided to save the survivors. He summoned swift messengers and sent them for a red substance. In one telling, the messengers brought red stone from Elephantine, and Ra ordered the High Priest of Heliopolis to grind it. In another, they brought mandrakes from Abu, and Sekti, a goddess of Heliopolis, crushed them. The red material was put into beer that women had made by grinding grain.

Seven thousand vessels of beer were prepared. The liquid was dyed red and carried to the place where Hathor was still killing people. During the night, it was poured over the meadows of the Four Heavens. At daybreak, Hathor saw what appeared to be a lake of blood. She drank the beer and became drunk. Her heart rejoiced, and she stopped paying attention to men and women. The slaughter ended.

Ra welcomed Hathor in peace and called her Amit, which meant beautiful one. The city of Amit stood in the Western Delta, near Lake Mareotis.

The Destruction of Mankind and the Red-Beer Pacification, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Handbook of Egyptian MythologyT1
  2. 2LEGENDS OF THE GODST1
  3. 3the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    Ra orders red substance mixed into beer and poured across the meadows, where Hathor drinks it as blood, becomes drunk, and ceases killing humanity.

    the ancient sources

The myths across MythSource where Sekhmet features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Sekhmet embeds here once it publishes.