Menhit
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2009) |
|
|||||||
| Menhit[1] in hieroglyphs |
|---|
Menhit (pron.: /ˈmɛnˌhɪt/) (also spelt Menchit) was originally a foreign war goddess in Egyptian mythology, and the female counterpart, and thus wife, to Anhur. Her name depicts a warrior status, as it means (she who) massacres.
Due to the aggressive attributes possessed by and hunting methods used by lionesses, most things connected to warfare in Egypt were depicted as leonine, and Menhit was no exception, being depicted as a lioness-goddess.
She also was believed to advance ahead of the Egyptian armies and cut down their enemies with fiery arrows, similar to other war deities[2] She was less known to the people as Crown goddess.[3]
In the 3rd Nome of Upper Egypt, particularly at Esna, Menhit was said to be the wife of Khnum and the mother of Heka.
As the centre of her cult was toward the southern border of Egypt, in Upper Egypt, she became strongly identified with Sekhmet, who was originally the lion-goddess of war for Upper Egypt, after unification of the two Egyptian kingdoms, this goddess began to be considered simply another aspect of Sekhmet.[2]
References [edit]
Literature [edit]
- Rolf Felde: Ägyptische Gottheiten. Wiesbaden 1995
- Hans Bonnet: Lexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte, Hamburg 2000; ISBN 3-937872-08-6
 |
This Ancient Egyptian religion article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
