ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STATUES OF LION GODDESS SEKHMET DISCOVERED IN 3,500-YEAR-OLD BURIAL TEMPLE OF PHARAOH AMENHOTEP III
Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered pieces from 27 fragmented statues of the lioness goddess Sekhmet at a dig site in the country’s southern city of Luxor.
The experts found the black granite statues at the funerary temple of Amenhotep III. The legendary Egyptian pharaoh, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, was the ninth Pharaoh from the ancient nation’s Eighteenth Dynasty.
Sekhmet, the deity of war and healing, was depicted with the symbol of life in one hand, holding a scepter (a regal staff) made of papyrus reeds in the other. On her head she wears a crown made with a sun disk, and her forehead is decorated with a serpent headdress, a symbol of ancient royal power in Egypt.
Over the last two decades, 287 statues of Sekhmet have been recovered in the area.
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