Mythology

One of Egypt’s greatest goddesses, Hathor may possibly have originated in predynastic or early

Dynastic times, though most of the evidence for her dates to later periods. While she appears infrequently in the Pyramid Texts, she is of great importance in the Coffin Texts and later religious literature and is eventually found in so many contexts that only the most important can be considered here.

Mother or wife of Horus: The name Hathor was written as a composite hieroglyph showing a falcon within the hieroglyphic sign representing a walled building or courtyard and literally means ‘the house of Horus’, relating to the goddess’s mythological role as mother of the ancient falcon god. Though this may not have been her original name, it clearly became one of the most important aspects of her identity and it is as the mother of the god or as his consort that Hathor was worshipped in her main cult centre at Dendera and elsewhere. Hathor was also protective and healing in this role, with her healing aspect probably a result of the myth in which the goddess restored the sight of Horus after his eye had been injured by Seth.

Sky goddess: From the written form of her name - as the house of Horus - Hathor may also be seen as the sky in which the great falcon lived or, alternatively, as the womb, metaphorically referred to as ‘house’, from which he was born. In this form, Hathor was both a solar sky-goddess and a goddess of the primeval sky-waters (see below), and she may also have functioned as a personification of the night-time sky or the Milky Way, though this aspect of the goddess is less clear. But her connection with the sky is obvious, and in the Pyramid Texts she is equated in this guise with the clothing of the ascendant king who states ‘My kilt which is on me is Hathor, my plume is a falcon’s plume and I will ascend to the sky....’ (PT 546) - referring to both Hathor and Horus as sky deities.

Wife or daughter and ‘eye’ of Re: Hathor was closely connected with the sun god Re whose disk she wears and whose wife, ‘Eye’ or daughter she was said to be. It has been suggested that the goddess was ‘created’ as a consort for the sun god as he rose to power at the beginning of the Old Kingdom, which fits well with much of the evidence we have of a relatively unknown goddess who is suddenly propelled into importance. Thus, Hathor played an important role in the royal sun temples of the later Old Kingdom, and her mythological relationship with the sun god was firmly established. As the ‘Golden One’ she was the resplendent goddess who accompanied the sun god on his daily journey in the solar barque, and she could also be feared as the vengeful ‘Eye’ of Re as seen in the story of the narrowly averted destruction of the human race by Hathor in her rage. In the Pyramid Texts Hathor assists the king in this role of ‘Eye’, however (PT 705) - preserving him by enabling his daily rebirth with the sun.

Cotv goddess: Although Hathor is most probably not the cow-deity depicted at the top of the Narmer Palette as is often stated (see Bat), or the deity whose standard was the skull of a cow mounted upon a pole in predynastic times, an ivory engraving from the 1st dynasty depicting a recumbent cow inscribed ‘Hathor in the marshes of King Djer’s city of Dep’ seems to reflect an early use of bovine imagery for the goddess. In any event, Hathor’s bovine form is central to her

Queen Nefertari (right) greeted by the goddess Hathor in her fully anthropomorphic guise. 19th dynasty. Tomb of Nefertari, Valley of the Queens, western Thebes.

Developed persona and it is in this form that she must be related to the primeval cow goddess Mehet-Weret, whom she seems to have assimilated by Middle Kingdom times. In her bovine form Hathor also protected the king and acted as a royal nurse, symbolically suckling the monarch even as an adult. The so-called ‘seven Hathors’ found in the Book of the Dead and elsewhere were aspects of the goddess usually depicted as seven cows (see p. 77).

Goddess of women, female sexuality and motherhood: Hathor was often described as the ‘beautiful one’ and was inextricably associated with love and female sexuality as well as with motherhood. Not surprisingly, the Greeks identified Hathor with Aphrodite and the goddess was especially venerated by Egyptian women. Mythologically, Hathor was perhaps chief among those goddesses who represented the female creative principle who were called the ‘hand of Atum’, in reference to the story of Atum copulating with himself at the time of

(Above) Hathor emerging from a papyrus thicket at the base of the mountain, a motif particularly common in representations of the goddess from western Thebes.

(Left) Hathor in her bovine form protects the high official Psamtikin a manner reminiscent of the ancient motif of the king protected by the Horns falcon. 26th dynasty. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Creation. Her overt sexuality is seen in the story which recounts how Hathor cheered the dejected god Re by exposing herself so that the great god laughed and rejoined the company of the gods. One of her names was ‘mistress of the vagina’, and Hathor was associated with all aspects of motherhood and believed to assist women in conception, labour and childbirth.

Mother or wife of the king: A particularly important aspect of Hathor’s maternal nature is the role she played as the mother of the king, which was often expressed by means of her identity as the nurturing bovine goddess discussed above. The Egyptian king was called the ‘son of Hathor’ perhaps both in this sense and also in the sense that Hathor was the mother of the falcon god Horus whose incarnation the reigning king was. Hathor was also the ‘wife’ of the king from an early date, and already in the 4th dynasty we find the king’s chief wife acting as her priestess and probably being viewed as the earthly manifestation of the

Hathorin the guise of 'Mistress of the West and with the headdress-symbol of Imentet, embraces the king in the afterlife, 18th dynasty. Tomb of Horemheby Valley of the Kings, western Thebes.

H'aiefice ‘naos'-type sistrum decorated with the human-bovine face of Ha thor. 26th dynasty. British Museum.

Goddess. The relationship between Hathor and the king is particularly clear in the famous sculptural works from Menkaure’s mortuary temple at Giza depicting Ilathor with the king, which depict the goddess both in the role of a wife stood next to her husband and as a seated mother figure. Much later, in New Kingdom times, Hathor still remained a potent deity with whom royal wives were a. ssociated.

Goddess of foreign lands and their goods: In addition to her purely Egyptian roles, Hathor was also made a goddess of foreign lands as far apart as Byblos in the Lebanon in the north and Punt (probably northern Eritrea) in the south. As the patroness of foreign regions she oversaw trade and the acquisition of many mineral and other resources won from the deserts. In the Sinai, for example, the Egyptians mined turquoise, copper and malachite from the beginning of the Old Kingdom till New Kingdom times, and it was Hathor who acted as the protector and patroness of these remote mining areas. At such sites in the Wadi Maghara and later at Serabit el-Khadim and elsewhere, Hathor was specifically worshipped as ‘the mistress of turquoise’. By extension, based on the similarity of colour, Hathor was also called ‘mistress of faience’.

Goddess of the afterlife: Women aspired to be assimilated with Hathor in the afterlife in the same manner that men desired to ‘become’ Osiris, but the goddess’s relationship to the deceased applied to men and women alike. From quite early times, especially in the Memphite region, she was worshipped as a tree goddess, ‘mistress of the sycamore’, who supplied food and drink to the deceased; and from at least the 18th dynasty she served as the patron deity of the Theban neaopolis, where she protected and nurtured royalty and commoners alike, either in the form of the cow or as the anthropomorphic 'mistress of the west’ who was often depicted welcoming the deceased to the afterlife with purifying and refreshing water. She was considered to receive the dying sun each evening and so it was a desire of the deceased to be ‘in the following of Hathor’.

Goddess of joy, music and happiness: Although closely related to Hathor’s aspect as a goddess of fertility, sexuality and love, her role as a provider of pleasure and joy was independent in itself. In a similar manner, while Hathor’s relationship with music was clearly cultic in cases such as the ritual use of her rattle-like sistrum, it was also present in the use <jf music for the purposes of popular festivity and pleasure. Hathor was also associated with alcoholic beverages which seem to have been used extensively in her festivals, and the image of the goddess is often found on vessels made to contain wine and beer. Hathor was thus known as the mistress of drunkenness, of song, and of myrrh, and it is certainly likely that these qualities increased the goddess’s popularity from Old Kingdom times and ensured her persistence throughout the rest of Egypt’s ancient history.