Statue of fiery goddess Sekhmet goes on display at Cairo Airport Museum

Gobran Mohamed

A stone statue of the goddess Sekhmet, which dates back more than 3,000 years to the New Kingdom era, has gone on display at Cairo International Airport Museum — Terminal 3.

The deity, whose name translates as “Powerful One,” had the body of a woman and the head of a lioness, topped with a sun disk and a cobra. She was the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and regarded as fierce and vengeful.

Known for blowing fire into the faces of her enemies, Egypt’s hot desert winds have been likened to her breath. But she also had a benign side and was associated with epidemics and healing.

Made of granodiorite — a hard stone similar to granite – the statue is part of a collection of artifacts now on display at the museum that take visitors on a journey through successive ages of Egypt’s history, including the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman periods through to the Islamic and modern eras.

The Terminal 3 museum, a cooperative project between the Ministries of Antiquities and Civil Aviation, opened in 2016 and spans 150 square meters.

Meanwhile, the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities said it had tackled 749 cases involving the illegal possession of antiquities, illegal digging and violations by tourism companies in the past six days.

The offenders have all been referred to the relevant prosecutors.

Courtesy: arabnews