N Sekhmet to Bastet: Wild to Tame and Back Again

Sekhmet to Bastet: Wild to Tame and Back Again!

How does the ancient Egyptian concept of ma’at, or balance,

express itself through the transformation of the lioness goddess Sekhmet?

Statue of Sekhmet, Thebes, Ramesseum, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 b.c. or later), Granodiorite, 86.4 x 48.3 cm., Egyptian Research Account, 1986

Supplementing the main work of the Statue of Sekhmet is a line drawing of the Sekhmet Amulet from Memphis (Mit Rahina), after 656 b.c., and of the Figurine of Bastet from Memphis (Mit Rahina), 664-332 b.c.

Theme: Gods, Goddesses, and Animals

Goal: Students will identify and communicate the power of animal presence

in Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Grade Levels: 3-6

Curriculum Areas: Writing, Arts

Materials:

Overhead projector, image of the Statue of Sekhmet, image made from

line drawing of the Sekhmet Amulet and the Figurine of Bastet, image of poem

master, parchment paper, brown draft paper or construction paper, clear tape, scissors,

cardboard tubes (cut from foil, plastic wrap, or waxed paper rolls), colored pencils, small

tipped magic markers or hieroglyphic stamp kit

Statue of Sekhmet

The lioness goddess Sekhmet, with her corona of power—a sun disk symbolizing daily renewal and a cobra for protection—is carved in stone. Her name, Sekhmet, meant "She who is powerful." Who would challenge the great deity or her absolute authority? Sometimes threatening and dangerous, as a furious lioness who slays the enemies of the king, Sekhmet evolved from a gentle, cat-like mother who once nursed a ruler. In her peaceful state, she could become the domestic cat, Bastet, goddess of fertility and the home. In her guise as the fierce lioness, Sekhmet was known to the ancient Egyptians as the goddess of sickness and disease. Therefore, the great lioness goddess Sekhmet is not only a wild powerful animal in appearance, but a nurturing human female as well.

Thus, ancient Egyptians saw Sekhmet and Bastet as complementary aspects of the same goddess. This was not a strange or unusual leap of the imagination, but a familiar concept observed in real life. Movement and transformation were key to life on the Nile. Flooding, agricultural cycles, and the celestial changes of the sun, moon, and stars informed and shaped the Egyptian concepts of divinities. These forces of nature and divinity, as well as the unerring cycles of the Nile were understood to exist in cosmic harmony, or ma’at.

Note: After the guided viewing component of this lesson and before the poetry lesson, the reading of Cat Mummies, written by Kelly Trumble and illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi, can be an enriching (optional) addition to the process.

Objective 1

Students will view the transparency of the Statue of Sekhmet and of the line drawing transparency of the Sekhmet Amulet and the Figurine of Bastet.

Procedure
What Teacher Does	What Students Do
Lead discussion using inquiry strategies: What is the statue made from? (granodiorite, a rock, quartz?) How do you think the surface feels? Is this statue complete? What are the clues that it is not? So what kind of animal do you think this is, and why? Are all the characteristics animal-like? What parts are not animal-like? Is there something about the statue that hints that the lion/human is special or unusual? Does the statue remind you of anything you have ever seen before? What kind of feeling do you have when you view Sekhmet? Can something be wild or fierce, and alternately calm too? Moving to the transparency made from the line drawings of the Sekhmet Amulet and the Figure of Bastet. What are all the ways that the figures are similar? What are the differences? How do the sun disk and uralus make Sekhmet unique? What do you think Bastet could be holding? Does one image seem friendlier or more familiar? Why? What animals could be gods and goddesses in our time and culture?	Students visually analyze the work through their responses.

Assessment Strategies

Students describe and analyze the statue of Sekhmet in a full class discussion.

Objective 2

Students will create a poem about Sekhmet and Bastet.

Procedure
What Teacher Does	What Students Do
Use the overhead projector to write down responses to brainstorming categories. Category 1: verbs/adjectives associated with lions Category 2: verbs/adjectives associated with domestic cats Category 3: words associated with ancient Egypt	Students contribute responses to teacher prompts in a large group setting.
Show transparency of poem model and create a completed poem in a large group setting from student responses.	Students participate by responding to "poem model" in large group setting.
Instruct students to continue with "poem model" or a free-form style poem, finishing poems about Sekhmet and Bastet.	Students create their own poems individually or in pairs with one student writing about Sekhmet and the other about Bastet. Pairs could brainstorm and create both poems together using the "poem model" or in a free form style.

Assessment Strategies

Students actively participate in verbal brainstorming

Students contribute to creating group poem.

Students collaborate or work individually to write and compose poems for Sekhmet and Bastet.

Objective 3

Students will make a "papyrus scroll," and transcribe the final drafts of the Sekhmet and Bastet poems onto it.

Procedure

What Teacher Does

What Students Do

Provide a finished model of the papyrus scroll to show students, and take students step by step through the process.

(1) Students place several sheets of paper together end-to-end (in the case of Kraft paper, cut to desired length)

(2) Tape all the way across where sheets meet (front and back).

(3) When the sheets are taped together, students tape the top sheets to the outside of the cardboard roll.

(4) Accordion pleat paper about every inch. Each pleat will hold a line of the Sekhmet, alternating with a line of the Bastet poem.

(see Illustrations)

Students transfer poems to "scroll," using different pen colors to distinguish the two different poems. Students begin with the first line of the Sekhmet poem in one color of ink, then skip every other pleat as the poem lines are written. Students go back and fill in the alternate skipped lines with the lines of the Bastet poem, using a contrasting color ink or magic marker.

Students decorate with Egyptian thematic designs or use hieroglyphic stamps.

Assessment Strategies

Students transfer their poems for Sekhmet or Bastet to "papyrus scroll," and decorate with Egyptian-inspired designs.

Steps 1 and 2: