In Egyptian religion, a goddess of war and the destroyer of the enemies of the sun god Re. Sekhmet was associated with both disease and with healing and medicine. She was the companion of the god Ptah and was worshipped principally at Memphis. Depicted as a lioness or woman with a lioness head, she was sometimes identified with other Egyptian goddesses such as Hathor, Bastet, and Mut and was probably mother of Nefertem in the Memphite Triad.