Maahes


Maahes (also spelled Mihos, Miysis, Mios, Maihes, and Mahes) was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war,whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as a lion prince, the son of the goddess Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and shared her natures. His father was told to be a human unaware of Bastet's/Sekhemet's intentions to conceive. Maahes was a deity associated with war and weather, and was considered the protector of matrilineality and of the high priests of Ammon, as well as that of knives, lotuses, and devouring captives. His cult was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast.

He is first mentioned in the New Kingdom, and some Egyptologists have suggested that Maahes was of foreign origin; indeed there is some evidence that he may have been identical with the lion-god Apedemak worshipped in Nubia and Egypt's Western Desert.

As a lion-god and patron, he was also considered the son of Re and of Bast, the feline war goddess and patron of Lower Egypt as well as Sekhmet, the lioness war goddess and patron of Upper Egypt. Since his cult was centred in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek) or in Taremu (Leontopolis in Greek), he was more known as the son of Bast. As he became a tutelary deity of Egypt, his father was said to be the chief male deity at the time - either Ptah, or Ra who had by this time already merged with Atum into Atum-Ra. In his role of son of Ra, Maahes fought the serpent Apep during Ra's daily night voyage.

Considered to have powerful attributes, feline deities were associated with the pharaohs, and became patrons of Egypt. The male lion hieroglyphic was used in words such as "prince", "mashead", "strength", and "power". He was also known as "the lion Egyptian headed god of war".

He was pictured as a man with the head of a male lion, occasionally holding a knife and wearing the double crown of Egypt, or the atef crown. Sometimes Maahes was identified with Nefertem and was shown with a bouquet of lotuses near him, but he also was depicted as a lion devouring a captive.

His name begins with the hieroglyphs for the male lion, although in isolation it also means (one who can) see in front. However, the first glyph also is part of the glyph for Ma'at, meaning truth and order and so it came to be that Maahes was considered to be the devourer of the guilty and protector of the innocent. Some of the titles of Maahes were Lord of Slaughter, Wielder of the Knife, and The Scarlet Lord.

Maahes was rarely called by his name and came to be referred to, somewhat misleadingly, as "Lord of Slaughter." The "Lord of Slaughter" terminology was adopted during the Persian and later Roman periods when foreign conquerors met with fierce resistance from Maahes chiefs and their supporters.

Cambyses ill-fated army which intended to destroy the Maahes Caste and their High Priest of Amen, the Oracle at Siwa, vanished in the desert during a sudden sand storm. The Maahes were known as Lord of the Storm and Lord of the Powerful KA in reference to legends giving them powers to control the weather.



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