(Pasht) Pakhet, whose name means ‘She who scratches’, is depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness. In CT spell 470, “for reaching Orion,” the operator affirms that “I have appeared as Pakhet the Great, whose eyes are keen and whose claws are sharp, the lioness who sees and catches by night.” An inscription by the pharaoh Hatshepsut at Speos Artemidos credits Pakhet, “mistress of the desert plateau … who roams the wadis in the midst of the East,” with having “opened the roads for the water-torrent without drenching me, in order to catch the water,” that is, according to Hans Goedicke, with having diverted a flood away from Hatshepsut’s realm, that is, away from inhabited areas, into the desert. Goedicke identifies this flood as a tsunami caused by the volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean. In any case, to commemorate this event Hatshepsut dedicated a new shrine at Speos Artemidos for Pakhet and “her Ennead,” that is, a pantheon of other Gods affiliated with Pakhet, the term ‘ennead’ refers to a group of nine Gods, an ideal number for sets of Gods in Egyptian theology; it is not specified, however, which Gods comprise Pakhet’s ‘Ennead’. A warrior Goddess, the cult of Pakhet was apparently most popular among professional soldiers.
Goedicke, Hans. 2004. The Speos Artemidos Inscription of Hatshepsut and Related Discussions. Oakville, CT: HALGO, Inc.
Henadology 