Egyptian Gods

Pakhet was the Egyptian Goddess of War, worshipped particularly in the area of Beni Hasan, Middle Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. The name Pakhet also spelled as Pachet, Pehkhet, Phastet or Pasht, whose name means ‘she who tear’. She was the merged of Bastet and Sekhmet, the ancient deities who were similar lioness war deities from Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

Her appearance portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness or as a lioness itself. Sometime, she depicted as a lioness killing a snakes with its sharp claws. Her attributes of ferocity and femininity was similar to both Bastet and Sekhmet further lend strength to this conclusion.

Pakhet was given the titles such as “Goddess of the Mouth of the Wadi”, related to those which hunted in the wadi and “She Who Opens the Ways of the Stormy Rains”, to the flash floods in the narrow valley. In the Coffin Texts, she is mentioned as a “Night huntress with sharp eye and pointed claw” referred her as who wandered the desert alone at night looking for prey. This desert aspect led to her being associated with desert storms.

During the Middle Kingdom, a large underground shrine was built by Hatshepsut for Pakhet at Beni Hassan, Middle Egypt. Great numbers of mummified cats have been found buried there. As being a huntress deity, she was identified with Artemis by Greeks. Therefore, this underground temple became known to them as the “Cave of Artemis”.