Sekhmet and Sarapis
	Homepage  Ammut and Amun  Anubis and Apis  Apophis and Aten  Atum and Bastet  Bes and Geb  Hapy and Hathor  Horus and Imhotep  Isis and Khepry  Khnum and Khonsu  Maat and Montu  Mut and Neith  Nekhbet and Nephthys  Nut and Osiris  Ptah and Re  Sekhmet and Sarapis  Selqet and Seth  Shu and Sobek  Taweret and Tefnut  Thoth and Wadjyt  Wepwawet and The Assessor Gods  Sons of Horus and Underworld Deities  Pharaoh		SEKHMET LIONESS-HEADED SEKHMET IS THE DAUGHTER OF RE, THE SUN-GOD, AND THE WIFE OF PTAH. In one myth, ferocious Sekhmet almost wiped out the human race. The sun-god felt that humans were plotting against him so he sent his daughter to punish them. Sekhmet slaughtered so many people that RE was afraid that no-one would be left to look after the temples and make offerings. So he poured out a lake of beer and coloured it with red ochre, to look like blood. Next day Sekhmet found what she thought was a lake of blood left over from the killing. She drank it, became intoxicated and wandered away happy, so humanity was saved. Because Sekhmet was so fierce, the Egyptians thought that she might be able to fight off plagues and cure diseases for which doctors had no remedies. SARAPIS IN 305 BC EGYPT WAS CONQUERED BY A MACEDONIAN GREEK CALLED ALEXANDER THE GREAT. After Alexander's death his general, Ptolemy, became pharaoh of Egypt. He began the Ptolemaic dynasty which lasted nearly 300 years, ending in 30 BC when Queen Cleopatra VII committed suicide. As a Greek ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy wanted to combine Egyptian and Greek religious ideas in one god. So Sarapis was invented. From the Egyptian side Sarapis was made up from the cult of OSIRIS, ruler of the Underworld, also connected with agricultural prosperity, and APIS, the sacred bull of the god PTAH of Memphis. The god's name derives from OSIRIS-APIS. From the Greek pantheon Sarapis takes elements from Zeus, the king of the gods, from Helios, the sun-god, from Hades, god of the Underworld, from Dionysos, god of fertility in nature and from Asklepios, god of healing. There were hardly any temples to Sarapis in Egypt, except in Ptolemy's capital Alexandria, but many sanctuaries to him were built throughout the Mediterranean world - such as on the island of Delos - where he was shown together with his consort ISIS.