| Pakhet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 This image contains some artistic liberties, such as the color of the dress so that Wikipedia readers can tell it apart from the rest of the Egyptian Deities. | ||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
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| Major cult center | Minya Speos Artemidos | |||
InEgyptian mythology,Pakhet,EgyptianPḫ.t, meaningshe who scratches (also speltPachet,Pehkhet,Phastet, andPasht) is alionessgoddess of war.
Pakhet is likely to be a regional lioness deity,Goddess of the Mouth of the Wadi, related to those that hunted in thewadi, near water at the boundary of the desert. Another title isShe Who Opens the Ways of the Stormy Rains, which probably relates to the flash floods in the narrow valley, that occur from storms in the area. She appeared in theEgyptian pantheon during theMiddle Kingdom. As withBastet andSekhmet, Pakhet is associated withHathor and, thereby, is asun deity as well, wearing the solar disk as part of her crown.
It became said that rather than a simple domestic protector against vermin and venomous creatures or a fiercewarrior, she was a huntress, perhaps as acaracal, who wandered the desert alone at night looking for prey, gaining the titleNight huntress with sharp eye and pointed claw. This desert aspect led to her being associated with desert storms, as was Sekhmet. She also was said to be a protector of motherhood, as was Bastet.
In art, she was depicted as afeline-headed woman or as a feline, often depicted killingsnakes with her sharp claws. The exact nature of the feline varied between a desert wildcat, which was more similar to Bastet, or a caracal, resembling Sekhmet.
The most famous temple of Pakhet was an underground, cavernous shrine that was built byHatshepsut nearal Minya,[1] among thirty-nine ancient tombs ofMiddle Kingdomnomarchs of theOryx nome, who governed fromHebenu, in an area where many quarries exist. This is in the middle of Egypt, on the east bank of theNile. A tomb on the east bank is not traditional (the west was), but the terrain to the west was most difficult. A more ancient temple to this goddess at the location is known but has not survived. Hatshepsut is known to have restored temples in this region that had been damaged by theHyksos invaders.
Its remarkable catacombs have been excavated. Great numbers ofmummifiedcats have been found buried there. Many are thought to have been brought great distances to be buried ceremonially during rituals at the cult center. Some references associate this goddess as Pakhet-Weret-Hekau, (Weret Hekau meaningshe who has great magic), implying the association with a goddess such as Hathor or Isis. Another title isHorus Pakhet; the presence of many mummifiedhawks at the site would further the association with Hathor who was the mother ofHorus, the hawk, the pharaoh, and the sun.[2]
Her hunting nature led to theGreeks, who later occupied Egypt for three hundred years, identifying Pakhet withArtemis. Consequently, this underground temple became known to them asSpeos Artemidos (Cave of Artemis), a name that persists even though Artemis is not an Egyptian goddess. The Greeks attempted to align the Egyptian deities with their own, while retaining the traditions of the Egyptian religion. Later, Egypt was conquered by the Romans, just after 30 AD, and they retained many of the Greek place names. Christians and other religious sects occupied some parts of the site during the Roman period. Arabic place names were established after the 7th century.
Hatshepsut and her daughterNeferure have been identified as the builders of a smaller temple dedicated to Pakhet nearby, which was defaced by subsequent pharaohs. It was completed during the reign ofAlexander II and is now calledSpeos Batn el-Bakarah.[3]
The Faulkner translation of Ancient EgyptianCoffin Texts, Spell 470 reads,
