I ran across this write up on a coin that is up for auction from the Andrew McCabe collection at CNG right now. I had no idea that Sekhmet was a Marvel Comic book character too. Pretty cool. https://comicvine.gamespot.com/sekhmet/4005-48726/ From the Andrew McCabe Collection. The goddess Sekhmet on the obverse of this rare type is the only instance I can recall of an alien – non-Roman and non-Greek – god on a coin of the Roman Republic, and the only appearance of Sekhet or Sekhmet on an ancient coin. This is also the rarest of the Metellus Scipio and Crassus Junior RRC 460 types. In Egyptian religion, Sekhmet was a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god Ra. Sekhmet was associated both with disease and with healing and medicine. She was the companion of the god Ptah and was worshipped principally at Memphis, and is depicted as a lioness or as a woman with the head of a lioness, on which was placed the solar disk and the uraeus serpent (Britannica). The significance of placing a wholly African god on a Roman coin may have been an appeal to local mercenaries or influential supporters of the Pompeian regime. Sekhmet is a cult figure in a number of gaming and graphic storyline arenas. For example, as a psychopomp goddess (guiding dead souls) worshipped in Wakanda in the Marvel comic series. Her appeal transcends generations and media types in a way few Roman Republican coins can. The figure of Sekhmet is artistically engraved with details well-preserved on this old-toned coin. Of course, the coin also has a backside and the reverse with Victory lands us back in the conventional Roman civil war arena, with a brave son of Crassus and an arrogant and unliked descendant of Scipio sharing moneyer roles. [Andrew McCabe] https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=370031
Sekhmet's modern identity... (That's Bill The Cat, for you youngsters...) Comedic value aside, this is such a fantastic type. Maybe someday I'll snag one .
I wish we could all agree to stop promoting specific coins in current sales. It would be fine to say that CNG has a nice collection of Republicans from the ...... collection or to post your other examples not mentioning an active lot was available.
Sekhmet from the multi-god temple at Kom Ombo. Goddess of war (along with Montu) she destroyed her enemies with her fiery breath, though she also had the power to bring back to life those who had died in battle.
This from acsearch Roma Numismatics insists it is Tanit and not the Egyptian form anyway. Description Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio AR Denarius. Utica, 47/46 BC. P. Licinius Crassus Junianus, legatus pro praetore. Q•METEL•PIVS on right, SCIPIO•IMP on left, lion-headed figure of Genius of Africa (Sekhmet or leontocephalic Tanit?) standing facing, holding symbol of Tanit; above, G•T•A / Victory standing left, holding winged caduceus and small round shield; P•CRASSVS•IVN on right, LEG•PRO•P•R on left. Crawford 460/4; RSC Caecilia 51. 3.88g, 20mm, 8h. Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare - the rarest of Scipio's denarii, and exceptionally complete and well preserved for the issue. Arguably the best example on CoinArchives. From the Eucharius Collection. This coin is traditionally described as depicting the Genius Terrae Africae, or Sekhmet holding an ankh, however this remarkable statue is not Egyptian - the coin is struck in Africa and therefore an ankh symbol makes no sense in a Punic Carthaginian context. Actually, the symbol is quite obviously that of Tanit who was commonly represented by a simple linear female abstract. The identity of the figure must therefore also be called into question in light of statues recovered from Carthage and Tunis which some academics take to represent the Carthaginian deity herself in leontocephalic form. Either way, the coinage of Scipio shows a dramatic break with Republican tradition. No local or city goddess had previously been portrayed on the obverse of Roman coinage other than Roma herself, and certainly never a foreign one! In this case it was made all the more objectionable by either being or holding the symbol of Tanit - a god whose people had slain hundreds of thousands of Roman soldiers and nearly vanquished Rome entirely. Nor indeed was there any precedent for the depiction of a Genius other than the Genius Populi Romani. In no way does Scipio use his coinage to champion the cause of the Republic; though it might have been designed to curry favour with the populace of their last remaining territory, the effect is that it nonetheless appears utterly in the style of an Eastern ruler. Caesar must not have been able to believe his luck, as nothing could better demonstrate to the rank and file the justness of their cause than the thoroughly un-Roman depths to which Scipio had lowered himself. Needless to say then, Scipio’s coinage stands in stark contrast to the traditional republican types of his colleague Cato, whose types replicated those of his ancestor, another M. Porcius Cato, moneyer of 89 BC. Perhaps we should not be surprised. Classical scholar John H. Collins summed up the character and reputation of Metellus Scipio thusly: “From all that can be learned of this Scipio, he was as personally despicable and as politically reactionary as they come: a defender of C. Verres (In Ver. II. 4. 79–81), a debauchee of singular repulsiveness (Valerius Maximus, 9.1.8), an incompetent and bull-headed commander (Plutarch, Cato Min. 58), an undisciplined tyrant in the possession of authority (Bell. Afr. 44–46), an extortioner of the provinces (BC 3.31–33), a proscription-thirsty bankrupt (Att. 9.11), a worthy great grandson des hochmütigen, plebejerfeindlichen Junkers (Münzer, RE 4.1502) who had led the lynching of Tiberius Gracchus, and a most unworthy father of the gentle Cornelia. Only in the ‘Imperator se bene habet’ with which he met death is there any trace of the nobler character of his great forebears (Seneca Rhet., Suas. 7.8). from acsearch auctions online
Tanit's symbol from wikipediaLong after the fall of Carthage, Tanit was still venerated in North Africa under the Latin name of Juno Caelestis, for her identification with the Roman goddess Juno.[18][unreliable source] The ancient Berber people of North Africa also adopted the Punic cult of Tanit.[19] In Egyptian, her name means 'Land of Neith', Neith being a war goddess. Her symbol (the sign of Tanit), found on many ancient stone carvings, appears as a trapezium closed by a horizontal line at the top and surmounted in the middle by a circle; the horizontal arm is often terminated either by two short upright lines at right angles to it or by hooks. Later, the trapezium was frequently replaced by an isosceles triangle. The symbol is interpreted by Danish professor of Semitic philology F. O. Hvidberg-Hansen as a woman raising her hands. Hvidberg-Hansen notes that Tanit is sometimes depicted with a lion's head, showing her warrior quality.[20]: North African headstone with Tanit symbols and the cadueces!http://search.myquickconverter.com/...-ca36d8a633e6&i_id=converter_1.3&page=newtab&
pretty sure the image was meant to be this particular form of the Great Mother, the "weaver" of creation more associated with Ta-NEITH- the Egyptian Cybele, a virgin goddess, the spider grandmother(Selket) of the Native Americans. Sehkmet I believe is a formidable aspect(nemesis) of Hathor, Egyptian goddess of beauty, joy, beer, music, children marriage and the goodness of the river of life. They are interconnected but some deities are more associated with aspects of the seasonal wheel of the year and the day directly related to the vicissitudes of the sun(ie at noon or dawn) and the waters and crops while others are more involved in the rise and fall of civilizations. This is where the Mithraic cult and the discovery of Hipparchus about the precessional Earth wheel and the vaster cycle of 26,000 years comes into play. Mithras also has the Lion as a predominant symbol. The time of the RR and the beginning of the empire was a change of civilizations as I believe our times may also be, a new Platonic age as they are called after the famous Greek wise philosopher/mathematician.https://eaae-astronomy.org/WG3-SS/WorkShops/Precession.html I know all this is just speculation from my comfortable armchair thousands of years later - hey but we can buy the coin!
I've read before that Sekhmet was related to the worship of Neith in earlier times, almost an evolution of the latter god into Sekhmet. Neith's sign was a pair of crossed arrows, which later became associated with Sekhmet's worship. Not unusual for Egyptian gods to evolve over time into something different from the original form - Amon-Ra from just Ra, Sobek-Ra, Serapis from Osiris, and so on.
