Quote:
Originally Posted by Victrix
Quoted from Britannica: ” Sekhmet, also spelled Sakhmet, in Egyptian religion, a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god Re... Like other fierce goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, she was called the “Eye of Re.” She was the companion of the god Ptah and was worshipped principally at Memphis. She was usually 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.”
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Victrix, this is a brilliant catch! and the more I look at it and in comparison with this hilt, the more compelling I think this explanation is.,
The French were obsessed with ancient Egypt and the mythology and as such would surely have adopted these elements in themes of special one off honor sabers such as this appears.
While the Uraeus was of course of cobra, the lack of hood here may simply be license or inadvertant omission. The goddess Sekhmet depicted as a lioness is certainly a compelling explanation for the pommel as typically the maned lion was popular. On the langet, I cant tell what these items are, they look like horns, but could they be solar rays?
There seems to be a palm and a lotus used as well, which may allude to Nile.