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The Bust Of The Goddess Sakhmet Analysis

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The Bust Of The Goddess Sakhmet Analysis
Friday, October 4, 2013 Art 100
Sakhmet
I recently went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to view the Egyptian gallery on the third floor. Out of all the beautiful statues I viewed I had to choose one so I chose “The Bust of The Goddess Sakhmet”. The statue was made out of Granodiorite. I could not find what exact tools were used to carve the statue but many historians believed that small, manually turned drill bits and chisels were used to carve the statue. Some archaeologists, diamond-mounted bronze engraving instruments were used. The archaeologist came to this conclusion based on hieroglyph samples at Giza, which
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Sakhmet reigned over Egypt from 1390 - 1352 B.C.E. It’s said she was known to have always been draped in red garments hence another one of her many nicknames was “Red Lady”. The symbolism of her red garments, were from the blood of her conquered enemies. Her name is derived from the Egyptian word "Sekhem" (which means "power" or "might") and is often translated as the "Powerful One". She is depicted as a lion-headed woman, sometimes with the addition of a sun disc on her head. Her seated statues show her holding the ankh of life, but when she is shown striding or standing she usually holds a scepter formed from papyrus (the symbol of northern or Lower Egypt) suggesting that she was associated primarily with the north. However, some scholars argue that the deity was introduced from Sudan (south of Egypt) where lions are more …show more content…
The goddess’s benevolence and protection were deemed particularly necessary at times of transition, such as the new day or year. Amunhotep III commissioned two or more Sakhmet statues for each day in the year, compelling the goddess’s favor and protection. Many statues of Sakhmet were found in the precinct of Mut Karnak. Since Sakhmet’s actions were primarily destructive while Mut represented protection, the two goddesses were sometimes considered as the positive and negative aspects of one

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