Introduction
Sekhmet is the lioness-headed goddess of war and healing, understood both as a distinct goddess and as the fierce aspect taken by Hathor when acting as the destructive Eye of Ra.
Family
- Father: Ra
- Spouse: Ptah (married)
- Children: Nefertum
- Siblings: Bastet, Hathor, Ma'at
Fury and Healing
Despite her origin in a myth of near-total destruction, Sekhmet was also invoked as a powerful healing goddess — able to both send and cure plague and disease, a duality common to Egyptian deities associated with the Eye of Ra. At Memphis, she was worshipped as consort of the creator god Ptah and mother of Nefertum, forming the Memphite Triad.
Ancient Egyptian religion spanned three millennia and many regional cult centers, so parentage, roles and even gender pairings for a given deity often differ between the Heliopolitan, Hermopolitan, Memphite and Theban theological systems; the account above follows the most widely attested classical version.