| Menhit | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nubian lioness goddess of war and the Sun | ||||||||
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| Name inhieroglyphs |
| |||||||
| Consort | Khnum | |||||||
| Offspring | Heka | |||||||
Menhit/ˈmɛnˌhɪt/ (also known asMenhyt, andMenchit) was originally aNubian lion goddess of war in theKingdom of Kush, who was regarded as atutelary andsun goddess.[1] Her name means either "she who sacrifices" or "she who massacres."[2]
Believed to have origins as a Nubian goddess, Menhit is always depicted as a lioness with solar disk and auraeus symbol.[1][3] Coffin texts associate her with being a tutelary and solar deity.[1] Some sources identify her as the subject of the "Distant Goddess" myth. In one legend, theEye of Ra flees from Egypt. Her counterpart,Ra, sends another god to track her down in Nubia, where she transforms into a lioness. When she is returned to Ra, she either becomes or gives birth to Menhit.[4]
She also was believed to advance ahead of the Egyptian armies and cut down their enemies with fiery arrows, similar to other war deities.[5] She was less known to the people as a crown goddess[6] and was one of the goddesses who represented the protectiveuraeus on royal crowns.[1]
In the 3rdNome ofUpper Egypt, particularly atEsna, Menhit was said to be the wife ofKhnum and the mother ofHeka. She was also known to be the mother ofShu.[7] She was also worshipped inLower Egypt, where she was linked with the goddessesWadjet andNeith.[1] She became identified with another lioness goddess,Sekhmet.[5]
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