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From the original hieroglyphs of The Destruction of Mankind, part of The Book of the Divine Cow (a New Kingdom text from the golden burial shrine of Tutankhamen). Translated by Tamara Siuda of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, using the reproductions in Piankoff's Shrines of Tutankhamen and DeBuck's An Egyptian Readingbook.

This translation is copyright 1999 by the author (Tamara Siuda), and is not to be reproduced without permission.

Immediately previous to this section the company of gods are ordering Ra to send down His Eye to destroy the rebellious humans. This passage begins with Their order.

"Ha.s m Hetheret.
Iw in ref netjert.tn.
Semam.n.s remetj her khasut.
Djed n hem.n netjer pen iiwy em hotep Hetheret.
Irt.n iru ii.n.i r.s.[1]
Djed in netjert.tn.
Ankhu.k.n.i iw sekhem.n.i remetj.
Iw nedjemu her-ib.i.
Djed in hem.n Ra, iw.i r sekhem.sn m niswtyw m s'ndw.st.
Kheper Sekhmet pw.[2]"

Translation:
Send It [Your Eye] down as Hathor.
This goddess indeed went [and] She slew people upon the desert.

Then said the majesty of this God [Ra],
"Welcome in Peace, Hathor. You have done that which I sent You to do."

Then said this goddess:
"As You live for Me[3], I have been powerful over the people! And it is pleasing to My heart!"

Then said the majesty of Ra,
"It is in order to diminish them [humans] that I have sent the power of My kingship."

Thus did Sekhmet come into being.

1. This is a nominal (or second tense) sentence which emphasizes the second part of the sentence over the first. A more literal translation would be: "It is [after] I sent you to do it that you did it."

2. The "pw" copula construction is the most concrete form of identification used in the Kemetic language. This is used here to show that unambiguously Sekhmet has come out of Hetheret as a result of Ra's direct order and that no other translation is possible.

3. This is an oath (i.e., "By all that's holy!" or "As I live and breathe!").
TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOME
Intro
Kemetic Religion
Pronunciation
Bast
  Origins
  Depictions
  Permutations
  Bastet Explained
  Cult Centers
  Roles/Hieroglyphs
  ...and Sekhmet
  ...and Artemis
  ...and Sex
  Pharaohs
  Modern Myths
Other Feline Gods
About Pasht
Footnotes

 
Essay copyright © 1996-2010, S.D. Cass; Site copyright © 2013, N. Baan
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