Maahes (Mihos, Miysis)

by Stephanie Cass

A somewhat obscure leonine god who may be of foreign origin, Maahes (whose name has been translated to mean "True Before Her") was worshipped in both Bubastis (or, in Egyptian, Per-Bast, the cult center of Bast), Leontopolis (also the cult center of Tefnut and Shu as twin lions), and especially Upper Egypt (perhaps through confusion with the Nubian lion-god Apedemak).

Maahes is regarded in later times to be the son of Bastet and Ptah in Memphis.

Maahes (also called "Lord of the Massacre") punished the transgressors of Ma'at and was represented as either a lion or a man with a lion's head and a knife.

His protection was invoked over the innocent, and he is sometimes regarded as a son of the triad in Memphis alongside Nefertem and occasionally Imhotep.

The Greeks pronounced his name as either Mihos or Miysis.

Source(s): Siuda, Tamara. Names of Netjer Part I and II.

The Encyclopedia Mythica