In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Pronounced Hah-Thor) (Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow. Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in Ancient Egypt from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply An Udder is the mammary organ of Female Cattle and some other Mammals including Goats and Sheep. Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family Hathor was an ancient goddess, and was worshipped as a cow-deity from at least 2700 BC,[1] during the second dynasty. The 27th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC The Second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the First dynasty under the group title Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. Her worship by the Egyptians goes back earlier however, possibly, even by the Scorpion King who ruled during the Protodynastic Period before the dynasties began. The Protodynastic Period of Egypt (generally dated 3200 BC - 3000 BC) refers to the period of time at the very end of the Predynastic Period. His name, Serqet, may refer to the goddess Serket. In Egyptian mythology, Serket (also spelt Selchis, Selket, Selkis, Selkhit, Selkit, Selqet, Serkhet The two figures flanking the top of both sides of the Narmer Palette are interpreted as images of the cow goddess. The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find dating from The palette is among the earliest carved religious images known from the Egyptian culture.
Hathor is referred to as She with Two Faces, which is not yet understood. Speculation about its meaning ranges from it being symbolic of life and afterlife to being the mirror and the face seen in it, but no clarification of this religious euphemism for the deity has arisen. A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener or in the case of doublespeak
The name Hathor refers to the encirclement by her, in the form of the Milky Way, of the night sky and consequently of the god of the sky, Horus who was said to be her son. The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias sometimes referred to simply Later she was described as the wife of Ra, the creator whose own cosmic birth was formalised in the Ogdoad cosmogeny after his worship arose and displaced that of Horus. Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad (Greek "οκτάδα" the number eight were eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis during what is called the Old This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony At that time images of Ra bear the eye motif. The Eye of Horus ( Wedjat) (previously Wadjet and the Eye of the Moon; and afterwards as The Eye of Ra) or (" Udjat "
An alternate name for Hathor, which persisted for 3,000 years, was Mehturt (also spelt Mehurt, Mehet-Weret, and Mehet-uret), meaning 'great flood, a direct reference to her being the milky way.
The Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun deity and the king, leading the ancient Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky. The Papyrus of Ani is a Papyrus manuscript written in Cursive hieroglyphs and illustrated with color miniatures created in the 19th dynasty of the This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group Due to this, and the name mehturt, she was identified as responsible for the yearly inundation of the Nile. The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River
Another consequence of this name is that she was seen as a herald of imminent birth, as when the amniotic sac breaks and floods its waters, it is a medical indicator that the child is due to be born extremely soon. The amniotic sac is the sac in which the Fetus develops Some sources consider it to be equivalent to the Amnion.
Another interpretation of the Milky Way was that it was the primal snake, Wadjet, the protector of Egypt who was closely associated with Hathor and other early deities among the various aspects of the great mother goddess, including Mut and Naunet. In Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, which means the Green One ( Egyptian egy w3ḏyt; also spelt Wadjit or Wedjet Mut, which means mother, was an Ancient Egyptian Mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture
Hathor also was favoured as a protector in desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim). Serabit el-Khadim (سرابت الخادم ( Arabic, also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim Serabit el-Khadem is a locality in the south-west Sinai Peninsula where
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Associations, images, and symbols
Eventually, Hathor's identity as a cow, meant that she became identified with another ancient cow-goddess of fertility, Bat. Dendera Temple complex, ( Ancient Egyptian: Iunet or Tantere) Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family In early Egyptian mythology, Bat was the Deification of the Cosmos and the Milky Way. It still remains an unanswered question amongst Egyptologists as to why Bat survived as an independent goddess for so long. Egyptology (from Egypt and Greek grc -λογία -logia. علم المصريات مصر شناسی is a major field of Archaeology Bat was, in some respects, connected to the Ba, an aspect of the soul, and so Hathor gained an association with the afterlife. In Egyptian mythology, Duat (or Tuat (also called Akert, Amenthes, or Neter-khertet) is the Underworld. It was said that, with her motherly character, Hathor greeted the souls of the dead in Duat, and proffered them with refreshments of food and drink. She also was described sometimes as mistress of the acropolis. Acropolis (Gr akros akron edge extremity + polis city pl acropoleis
The assimilation of Bat, who was associated with the sistrum, a musical instrument, brought with it an association with music. A sistrum (plural sistrums, sistra) is a Musical instrument of the percussion family chiefly associated with ancient Egypt. In this later form, Hathor's cult became centred in Dendera in Upper Egypt and it was led by priestesses and priests who also were dancers, singers, and other entertainers. Dendera ( Arabic: دندرة also spelled Denderah/Dandarah) is a little town in Egypt on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 km south from Upper Egypt (صعيد مصر Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) is an Art form that generally refers to movement of the body usually rhythmic A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed
Hathor also became associated with the menat, the turquoise musical necklace often worn by women. Menat (ancient Egyptian mnjt) was a name used for the goddess Hathor. Turquoise is an opaque blue-to-green Mineral that is a hydrous Phosphate of Copper and Aluminium, with the Chemical A necklace is an article of Jewellery which is worn around the Neck. A hymn to Hathor says:
- Thou art the Mistress of Jubilation, the Queen of the Dance, the Mistress of Music, the Queen of the Harp Playing, the Lady of the Choral Dance, the Queen of Wreath Weaving, the Mistress of Inebriety Without End.
Essentially, Hathor had become a goddess of Joy, and so she was deeply loved by the general population, and truly revered by women, who aspired to embody her multifaceted role as wife, mother, and lover. In this capacity, she gained the titles of Lady of the House of Jubilation, and The One Who Fills the Sanctuary with Joy.
The worship of Hathor was so popular that a lot of festivals were dedicated to her honor than any other Egyptian deity, and more children were named after this goddess than any other deity. Even Hathor's priesthood was unusual, in that both women and men became her priests.
Bloodthirsty warrior
The Middle Kingdom was founded when Upper Egypt's pharaoh, Mentuhotep II, took control over Lower Egypt, which had become independent during the First Intermediate Period, by force. The Middle Kingdom is the period in the history of Ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty Upper Egypt (صعيد مصر Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between Nebhotepre Mentuhotep II (2046 BC &ndash 1995 BC was a Pharaoh of the 11th dynasty, the son of Intef III of Egypt and a minor queen called Iah Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet The First Intermediate Period is the name conventionally given by Egyptologists to that period in Ancient Egyptian history between the end of the Old This unification had been achieved by a brutal war that was to last some twenty-eight years with many casualties, but when it ceased, calm returned, and the reign of the next pharaoh, Mentuhotep III, was peaceful, and Egypt once again became prosperous. Sankhkare Mentuhotep III of the Eleventh dynasty was Pharaoh of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. A tale, from the perspective of Lower Egypt, developed around this experience of protracted war.
In the tale following the war, Ra (representing the pharaoh of Upper Egypt) was no longer respected by the people (of Lower Egypt) and they ceased to obey his authority, which made him so angry that he sent out Sekhmet (war goddess of Upper Egypt) to destroy them. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (also spelled Sachmet, Sakhet, Sekmet, Sakhmet and Sekhet; and given the Greek name Sekhmet became bloodthirsty and the slaughter was great because she could not be stopped. As the slaughter continued, fear that all of humanity would be destroyed arose among the deities and Ra was charged with stopping her. Ra poured huge quantities of blood-coloured beer on the ground to trick Sekhmet. She drank so much of it—thinking it to be blood—that she became too drunk to continue the slaughter and humanity was saved. Afterward Sekhmet became loving and kind.
The gentle form that Sekhmet had become by the end of the tale was identical in character to Hathor, and so a new cult arose, at the start of the Middle Kingdom, which dualistically identified Sekhmet with Hathor, making them one goddess, Sekhmet-Hathor, with two sides. Consequently, Hathor, as Sekhmet-Hathor, was sometimes depicted as a lioness. The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. Sometimes this joint name was corrupted to Sekhathor (also spelt Sechat-Hor, Sekhat-Heru), meaning (one who) remembers Horus (the uncorrupted form would mean (the) powerful house of Horus but Ra had displaced Horus, thus the change). Sound change includes any processes of Language change that affect pronunciation ( phonetic change) or sound system structures ( Phonological change The two goddesses were so different, indeed almost diametrically opposed, however, that the new identification did not last.
Wife of Thoth
When Horus became identified as Ra in the changing Egyptian pantheon, under the name Ra-Horakhty, Hathor's position became unclear, since in later myths she had been the wife of Ra, but in earlier myths she was the mother of Horus. Ancient Egyptian religion was Polytheistic and often Zoomorphic. Many attempts to solve this gave Ra-Horakhty a new wife, Ausaas, to solve this issue around who was Ra-Horakhty's wife and Hathor became identified only as the mother of the new sun god. Atum (alternatively spelled Tem, Temu, Tum, and Atem) is an important Deity in Egyptian mythology, whose cult centred However, this left open the unsolved question of how Hathor could be his mother, since this would imply that Ra-Herakhty was a child of Hathor, rather than a creator. Such inconsistencies developed as the Egyptian pantheon changed over the thousands of years becoming very complex, and some were never resolved.
In areas where the cult of Thoth became strong, Thoth was identified as the creator, leading to it being said that Thoth was the father of Ra-Horakhty, thus in this version Hathor, as the mother of Ra-Horakhty, was referred to as Thoth's wife. For other meanings of "Thoth" or of "Djehuti" and similar see Thoth (disambiguation. In this version of what is called the Ogdoad cosmogeny, Ra-Herakhty was depicted as a young child, often referred to as Neferhor. In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad (Greek "οκτάδα" the number eight were eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis during what is called the Old This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony When considered the wife of Thoth, Hathor often was depicted as a woman nursing her child.
Since Seshat had earlier been considered to be Thoth's wife, Hathor began to be attributed with many of Seshat's features. In Egyptian mythology, Seshat (also spelled Safkhet, Sesat, Seshet, Sesheta, and Seshata) was the Ancient Egyptian Since Seshat was associated with records and with acting as witness at the judgment of souls in Duat, these aspects became attributed to Hathor, which, together with her position as goddess of all that was good, lead to her being described as the (one who) expels evil, which in Egyptian is Nechmetawaj also spelt Nehmet-awai, and Nehmetawy). In Egyptian mythology, Duat (or Tuat (also called Akert, Amenthes, or Neter-khertet) is the Underworld. Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages Nechmetawaj can also be understood to mean (one who) recovers stolen goods, and so, in this form, she became goddess of stolen goods.
Outside the Thoth cult during these times, it was considered important to retain the position of Ra-Herakhty (i. e. Ra) as self-created (via only the primal forces of the Ogdoad). Consequently, Hathor could not be identified as Ra-Herakhty's mother. Hathor's role in the process of death, that of welcoming the newly dead with food and drink, lead, in such circumstances, to her being identified as a jolly wife for Nehebkau, the guardian of the entrance to the underworld and binder of the Ka. In Egyptian mythology, Nehebkau (also spelt Nehebu-Kau, and Neheb Ka) was originally the explanation of the cause of binding of ''Ka'' and ''Ba'' Nethertheless, in this form, she retained the name of Nechmetawaj, since her aspect as a returner of stolen goods was so important to society that it was retained as one of her roles.
Hathor outside the Nile river in Egypt
Hathor was worshipped in Canaan in the eleventh century BC, which at that time was ruled by Egypt, at her holy city of Hazor, or Tel Hazor which the Old Testament claims was destroyed by Joshua (Joshua 11:13, 21). Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Tel Hazor (תל חצור(also Hatzor is a Tell above the site of ancient Hazor whose archeological remains are the largest and richest known in modern Israel. In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. Joshua, Jehoshuah, or Yehoshua ( 'יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Tiberian: jə The Book of Joshua ( Hebrew: Sefer Y'hoshua ספר יהושע is the sixth book in both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Old Testament of the Christian
The Sinai Tablets show that the Hebrew workers in the mines of Sinai about 1500 BC worshipped Hathor, whom they identified with their goddess Astarte. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء Astarte (from Greek Ἀστάρτη ( Astártē) is the name of a Goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions cognate in name origin Some theories state that the golden calf mentioned in the Bible was meant to refer to a statue of the goddess Hathor (Exodus 32:4-32:6. The golden calf (עגל הזהב was an idol (a Cult image) made for the Israelites during Moses ' absence as he went up to Mount Sinai Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. ). A major temple to Hathor was constructed by Seti II at the copper mines at Timna in Edomite Seir. Seti II (or Sethos II) was the fifth ruler of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt and reigned from 1203 BC - 1197 BC Timna ( Arabic, تمنة) is an ancient city in Yemen, the capital of the Qataban kingdom it is distinct from a city in Southern Israel Seir - שֵׂעִיר "Rough hairy" Standard Hebrew Seʿir, Tiberian Hebrew Śēʿîr. Serabit el-Khadim (Arabic: سرابت الخادم) (Arabic, also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim, Serabit el-Khadem) is a locality in the south-west Sinai Peninsula where turquoise was mined extensively in antiquity, mainly by the ancient Egyptians. Turquoise is an opaque blue-to-green Mineral that is a hydrous Phosphate of Copper and Aluminium, with the Chemical Archaeological excavation, initially by Sir Flinders Petrie, revealed the ancient mining camps and a long-lived Temple of Hathor.
The Greeks, who became rulers of Egypt for three hundred years before the Roman domination in 31 BC, also loved Hathor and equated her with their own goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions
In popular culture
Along with other references to Egyptian mythology, the album Tum (2006) by Bloomington, Indiana rock band The Impossible Shapes, includes a one-minute instrumental track titled "Hathor. Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in Ancient Egypt from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity The Impossible Shapes are an independent rock band from Bloomington Indiana. "
Hathor made an appearance in the science fiction television show Stargate SG-1.
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