{"product_id":"sekhmet-statue","title":"Sekhmet Statue (Table Flair)","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eO mighty Sekhmet, whose fury burns divine,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYour Lions bear your wrath into the fray,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhile gentle Retharans wield your healing light,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBringing hope where battle’s shadows lay.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSekhmet is the goddess of healing and destruction (TKK, page 129). Like so much in ancient Egypt, she embodies \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ema’at\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—the principle of balance. Destruction is paired with healing, and healing with destruction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eShe is one of my favorite goddesses and features prominently in Keshanar City as the colossal reclining statue resting above the Necropolis of Kings.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis miniature nicely adorns a temple encounter, adding a touch of historically inspired atmosphere to your table. And, as is the case with so many things in Keshanar, it comes with a story.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStatues like this can be found throughout Egypt. We can finger about 600 of them now but Pharaoh Amenhotep III may originally have commissioned as many as 730 of them—one seated and one standing Sekhmet for every day of the year.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn December 2024, I was traveling with friends and team members on the Keshanar Discovery Tour of Egypt, conducting research for the setting. Egyptian guides enjoy steering tourists into local shops because they receive a commission—which is fair enough. I knew the routine and had absolutely no intention of buying heavy stone carvings when our guide took us to an alabaster shop in Luxor. Alabaster shops on the West Bank of the Nile are like Starbucks in downtown Seattle: they are everywhere.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI had been to this particular shop before, on another trip with another guide. Nevertheless, I played along so my friends could see the wares.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen, standing defiantly outside the shop, I came face-to-face with a beautiful, anatomically perfect, full-sized rendition of a seated Sekh\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emet in Aswan granite…and fell in love.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0679\/5984\/9031\/files\/dave-sehkmet-statue.jpg?v=1785219423\"\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhmed, the owner, came out to greet us, offering tea and hospitality in the finest Egyptian and Islamic tradition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDave:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “Excuse me—do you take American Express?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAhmed:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e“Of course. Come in and have some tea.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDave:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “How much is she? I must have her.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(Note my excellent negotiating tactics here.)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAhmed:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “My grandfather made that. It’s not really for sale. But come, have some tea.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDave:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e “Name your price.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(Seriously, I could give a Ted Talk on how to haggle)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt actually took a while to convince Ahmed that I was serious. Of course I had to have this thing. I mean, LOOK AT IT!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs the saying goes, “American Express talks and Apis-crap walks and a few cups of tea and the approximate equivalent of a home-improvement loan later, I was the proud owner of a 1.25-ton Aswan-granite statue of Sekhmet. However, she was not technically in my possession yet. ”I figured that if the statue never arrived, I could contest the charge and American Express might cover me—after they finished laughing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYou only live once, after all (unless the Phoenix chooses you).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf and when she did arrive in North Carolina, surely it would take most of a year or more. After all, the only sensible way to ship something like this is, well…by ship. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThree weeks later, I received a call from DHL.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDHL Dude:\u003c\/strong\u003e “Uhhh…we have a very large and very heavy crate for you. We’re delivering it today. Sorry it took so long, but we needed a special truck—its 1.25-tons, which is too heavy for our lift gates.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor reasons I still do not entirely understand, Ahmed had to \u003cstrong\u003eEXPRESS-MAIL\u003c\/strong\u003e her to me. To his immense credit, doing so cost him three times what we had allocated for shipping, and he did it anyway, without asking for more money. This partially accounted for my really, really, bad haggling.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo now I have 1.25 tonnes of divine wrath sitting in my driveway. My ultimate plan is to place her in the new Orthane Productions Studio I am slowly building. At least there is little danger of anyone stealing her—unless they arrive in my yard with a crane.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt has occurred to me, however, that thousands of years from now, if Western civilization falls and future archaeologists excavate the ancient ruins of my studio, this statue will almost certainly fuel the very conspiracy theories I am constantly trying to debunk:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“SEE! The ancient Egyptians WERE aliens! How else could they have moved THIS from Luxor to friggin’ Hillsborough, North Carolina?!”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-7334dcfd-7fff-2a57-74b0-836486955c88\"\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(The figurine also comes in black)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions: 3.5\" tall\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orthane Productions","offers":[{"title":"Gold","offer_id":42972643524679,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black","offer_id":42972643557447,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0679\/5984\/9031\/files\/Sekhmet2.jpg?v=1784239610","url":"https:\/\/orthane-productions.myshopify.com\/products\/sekhmet-statue","provider":"Orthane Productions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}