So I just finished reading Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid, Book One of The Kane Chronicles. If you aren't familiar with Riordan's works, he's the one that did the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series. Now I can already hear some of you saying, "Aren't those kid's books?" You have to understand something about me: I'm a mythology geek! The Percy Jackson series is about Greek mythology, Heroes brings in Roman. The Kane Chronicles is about Egyptian mythology. In reading the Red Pyramid I found a lot of familiar names. The should be! I did some research on Egyptian mythology when writing my paper on Beer and Religion. After all, Egypt was the brewing capitol of the world before those pesky Romans came to town. I digress... Even for a "kid's book" they reference a story from Egyptian mythology that I am familiar with. If you have a copy of The Red Pyramid, Riordan's retelling starts on page 419. The story goes something like this...
Ra was upset. More than that, he was mad! Humanity was disrespecting him: not following his commands, scoffing at his judgements, etc. Ra decided to punish humanity and sent out his wrath in the form of Sekhmet. Sekhmet started ravaging the country killing the wicked. But, Sekhmet got out of control. She became filled with blood-lust and started killing the innocent as well as the wicked. Ra felt remorse and called Sekhmet home but she refused! Ra dyed some beer red with pomegranate to look like blood. Sekhmet saw the beer and drank her fill, became drunk, and passed out. When she regained consciousness, the blood-lust had left her and she became a different aspect, Hathor, the goddess of love and music.
Maybe it's because I live in an area called Little Egypt. Maybe it's because all around me there are references to Egyptian hunting dogs. Maybe it's because Sam Calagione is a brewing hero of mine and I just got done drinking some Ta Henket. Regardless, I'm inspired to attempt an ale infused with pomegranate. Maybe I'll call it Sekhmet's Feast. Maybe I should seek inspiration for a better name...
