Numerous animals were sacred to her, and at Syracuse all kinds of wild beasts, including a lioness, were carried in procession in her honour.
At all events the lion remains with the lioness while the cubs are young and helpless, and assists in providing her and them with food, and in educating them in the art of providing for themselves.
Their natural ferocity and powerful armature are sometimes turned upon one another; combats, often mortal, occur among male lions under the influence of jealousy; and Andersson relates an instance of a quarrel between a hungry lion and lioness over the carcase of an antelope which they had just killed, and which did not seem sufficient for the appetite of both, ending in the lion not only killing, but devouring his mate.
Loca ier animal shajies particularly affected by goddesses were this se of a lioness (Sakhmi, Pakhe) or a cow (Hathor, Isis).
Her hieratic and most general form was still lioness-headed, but a popular form, especially in bronze, was a cat-headed women, often holding in her right hand a lion aegis, i.e.
The sistrum consists of a metal frame in the shape of an egg, fastened to a handle, frequently surmounted by a grotesque head or by a figure of the sacred lioness Sekhet.
- Lion and Lioness (Fells leo).
