The Legend of Ra and Hathor

Cast of Deities:

Ra…………..The aging King.
Hathor……….The Eye of Ra.
Sekhmet……….The fierce Lion goddess.

 

Slaying mankind.

. . . . .Ra was the sun-god, King of the gods and creator of all things, including mankind. long ago, Ra lived on the earth and ruled a glorious kingdom. For a long while this kingdom thrived and men gave Ra the respect due him , but Ra began to grow old, and they mocked him. Ra was very angry when he heard the blasphemy of mankind. He gathered the gods to him to hear their counsel.

. . . . .The gods met in secrecy, so that mankind would know nothing of this meeting. All the company of great gods, gathered around Ra as he told the story of mankind’s insolence. Ra spoke to his father; “Nu, you are first born, oldest of the gods, I am your son, I seek your council. The men that I have created, speak evil of me. They anger me greatly, but I will not destroy them before you have spoken.”

. . . . .At length Nun answered, saying; “You are a great god, you are greater than I, You are the son who is mightier than his father. If you turn your eye upon the men who blaspheme you they shall perish from the earth.” Doing as Nun had suggested Ra turned his terrible gaze upon the men of the earth and they ran in disarray, hiding in the shadows where the eye of Ra could not harm them.

. . . . .Again the gods met to give counsel to Ra and they said he should send his eye down among the men so they could not hide. So the eye of Ra, in the form of the goddess Hathor went into the hiding places, striking fear in the hearts of men. Much of mankind was slain. Hathor returned to Ra after the first day as mighty as a lioness. Taking the form of Sekhmet, she declared, “I have been mighty among mankind. It is pleasing to me.” But having tasted blood, Sekhmet would not be appeased.

. . . . . Ra now realized that Hathor-Sekhmet would destroy the human race completely. Angry as he was he wished to rule mankind, not see it destroyed. There was only one way to stop Hathor-Sekhmet, he had to trick her. He ordered his attendants to brew seven thousand jars of beer and color it red using mandrakes and the blood of those who had been slain. In the morning Ra had his servants take the beer to the place where Hathor would viciously slaughter the remnant of mankind. Ra’s servants poured the beer mixture on the fields. And so, Hathor-Sekhmet came to this place where the beer flooded the fields. Looking down, her gaze was caught by her own reflection, and it pleased her. She drank deeply of the beer, became drunk, fell asleep, and abandoned her blood thirsty quest.