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Genius Terrae Africae: The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet in Carthage



> Tanit? Genius Terrae Africae?
Terracotta statue, Height: 1.80m,
Neo-Punic Epoch, First century CE
Punic Africa? Proconsularis? From the sanctuary of Baal, Thinissut, Bir Bouregba, Nabeul, 1903
Bardo National Museum, Tunis


* Genius Terrae Africae (the genie of African territory) or Tanit in the form of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, with a lioness’ head, an Egyptian headdress and a costume that evokes entrapped bird wings, holding a conical object (vase? cornet?), an inscription in Latin from behind (G.T.A).

* Tanit was a Punic and Phoenician goddess, the chief deity of Carthage alongside her consort Baal-hamon. She was the goddess of fertility, motherhood and sky. She is given the epithet pene baal ('face of Baal') and the title rabat, the female form of "rab" ('chief'), "rabt". In North Africa, where the inscriptions and material remains are more plentiful, she was, as well as a consort of Baal-hamon, a heavenly goddess of war, a "virginal" (unmarried) mother goddess and nurse, and, less specifically, a symbol of fertility, as are most female forms.


* Sekhmet: She was a powerful war goddess of Egypt, and the destroyer of the enemies of Egypt, she called “She Who Is Powerful.” Sekhmet was a lioness deity, the consort of Ptah and the mother of Nefertum and Imhotep in Memphis. A daughter of the god Ra, Sekhmet struck at evildoers and spread plagues. She also healed the righteous. Her clergymen were physicians and magicians. Sekhmet had a popular role among the rulers of Egypt, as she was believed to bring about the conception of the kings of Egypt. In the form of a cobra she was called Mehen. She was also called the “Eye of Ra.” Her statues normally depicted her as a woman with a lion’s head, and at times she wore a sun disk on her head. In this form she was a warrior manifestation of the sun, causing flames to devour the enemies of Egypt. She appeared also in the mythology of the Punic civilization among other deities from Egypt as in this statue from Thinissut (Bir Bouregba), and five others (the same type are in Nabeul Archaeological Museum).

By: Raafat Reda Ahmed

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