Ancient Egyptian Gods P thru Y
- Pakhet
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A lioness-goddess worshiped particularly at the entrance of a wadi in the eastern desert near Beni Hasan.
Her name is very evocative of her nature, meaning "she who snaches" or the "tearer". In the Coffin Texts Pakhet the great is described as a night-huntress with sharp claws.
She is likely to be a more ancient regional lioness deity, Goddess of the Mouth of the Wadi, related to those which hunted in the wadi, near water at the boundary of the desert. Another title is She Who Opens the Ways of the Stormy Rains, which probably relates to the flash floods in the narrow valley, that occur from storms in the area.