The son of BASTET, Mihos is a lion-god, a deity of war and protector of the horizon (ie, borders) who first came to prominence in the New Kingdom. In his capacity as protector he guards the pharaoh in battle, but also helps RA fight against the evil serpent APEP in the sun (-god)’s journey through the night/underworld. He is worshipped at Leontopolis (modern Tell el-Muqdam) in Nome 11 of Lower Egypt in the Eastern Delta. Osorkon III (Dynasty XXII) erected a temple to him at Bubastis, the town sacred to the god’s mother. By Greek times he was seen as a god of storms and winds. He also had links to perfumes and oils. In the new Kingdom he is usually depicted as a lion-headed man carrying a knife or a sword, and sometimes wears the atef crown or the solar disk and uraeus on his head. His various titles include ‘Wielder of the Knife’, ‘The Scarlet Lord’ ‘Helper of the Wise Ones’, ‘Lord of Slaughter’, ‘Manifester of Will’, ‘The Initiator’, and ‘Avenger of Wrongs’. Mihos repels evil, protects initiates, and stands guard during magical rites. He is a god of sight, sun god of the Nile Delta, and god of midsummer, who was invoked to bring forth the souls of men, gods, and underworld spirits for divination or to discover truth. He was thought to be one of Osiris’s executioners. Yet he was also called on to protect the innocent. Thothmose III describes him as being the son of SEKHMET, but elsewhere he is named as son of BAST(ET) and PTAH or even RA. Mihos may also be connected to the lion-headed deities SHESMU and NEFERTEM. He was also connected with the war-god ONURIS as well as with the sky god SHU. There are suggestions that he might have been an assimilation of the Nubian lion-god APEDEMAK
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