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Notes: HetHert/Hathor
Scribblings and extracts on the goddess
David P Silverman, Religion in Ancient Egypt ~ Gods, Myths & Personal Practice
Very early representations of bovine associated goddesses/celestially related (p24) "Each culture determines in its own way the form or forms that the supreme being or beings eventually take, but almost all cultures relate the form in some fashion to that of the person." p19 Divinities in predynastic Egypt often took the form of animals - Narmer Palette (First Dynasty) shows representation of animals emgaged in human activity/also features the head of bovine goddess/stars in background to show celestial link/human face with cows ears. Egyptian gods multi-faceted unlike Greek/Roman gods who tended to have static roles and were identified with specific human emotions p23 The information here is drawn from Fekri Hassan's The Earliest Goddesses of Egypt ~ Divine Mothers and Cosmic Bodies, a chapter in the book Ancient Goddesses. With respect to Egypt, Hassan suggests that images of cow goddesses and their iconography have their origins in the early phases of cattle herding in the Sahara around 7000 BCE. If the female (both human/cow) was seen as the source of life and as nurturer, this might provide the early link between cattle and goddess. This association may have originally come about due to the unpreditable supply of water in the Sahara ~ in order to ensure that cattle (and consequentially humans) survived, women nurtured and protected calves and cows. "Both cow and woman gave milk. Both were the source of generation and life. Droughts not only enfeebled cattle and people, but also wrought starvation and death. In the desert, the birthplace of Egyptian theology, life and death are paramount. Water, cattle, milk, and women were the source of regeneration and nourishment. Without water or milk there was nothing but sickness and death. These mental associations were of deep psychological significance. Together they laid the foundation of the fundamental notions of Egyptian religion: birth, death, and resurrection." Severe droughts in the Sahara may have caused early Egyptians to resettle in the Nile Valley. Around 4500 BCE tribal chiefdoms began to be formed in the Nile Valley. Early ithyphallic gods and (cow?) goddesses "were conjoined with local territorial deities". Later these chiefdoms coalesced into a single nation state around 3200 BCE. According to Hassan, it was at this point that the role of divine king was born with a cosmogony brought into being to explain the king's link to the deities who had been incorporated and assimilated into the supporting myth. The king was seen as the descendant and heir of the gods. It was at this point, Hassan suggests, that the role of the primordial cow goddess changed into that of a supporting character. Hathor was not the only goddess with bovine connections: Isis, Nut and Neith (plus others) shared that aspect at various times and in varying contexts. Suckling the king; TBC 'Golden One', 'The Gold', 'Mistress of the West' - epithets of Hathor The imperishable metal was seen as symbolic of the sun, therefore symbolic of Re. Daughter of Re, Hathor was also his consort - the reference to her as the 'Golden One' indicates this link; the solar god Re had the epithet, 'The Mountain of Gold'. Golden mirrors, symbolically associated with the sun, were offered to Hathor; some depicting her cow-eared face. Hathor was a celestial or cosmic cow (Hassan) ~ closely linked to the sky; may have related to her role as one who provided nourishment to the souls of the dead. The title 'The Golden Horus' was adopted by the first king of the First Dynasty (?) ~ a reference to the king's divinity as the son of Re. Hathor is one of the three goddesses closely associated with kingship in early Egypt. (Hassan) Hathor: "...Mansion of Horus designates the closed space through which Horus travels as sun-god. . .She plays the role of protective, regenerative containor. . .represented from ancient periods onwards was a female countenance seen face-on, she symbolises the face-to-face encounter between the sun and the element in which he appears at the moment of creation. Thus Hathor can represent the solar eye, incarnating it more precisely in its appeased aspect. Daughter of Re..." (p236 Meeks)  Ideogram for Hwt-Hrw "Hathor" Meaning of name: Mansion of Horus Hathor was also identified with the sycamore fig tree; entitled 'Lady of the Sycamore' and often represented offering food and water to the deceased, her depiction an arm extending from a tree. 'Burial in a wood coffin was viewed as a return to the womb of the mother tree goddess.' (Hassan)
As with other netjeru, Hathor's body had a distinctive 'divine scent' - this preceded the goddess/ scent was a sign by which other gods could recognise one another. A particularly soothing scent was said to emanate from Hathor and fragrant substances such as terebinth resin or olibanum were considered the equivalent. The scent was said to confer divine status on those who breathed it during ritual fumigations. (Meeks)
Hathor 'was born of the liquid that oozed from the sun-god's eyes and fell onto the sands of the very first land to emerge from the Primeval Ocean.' (Meeks)
Son Harsomtus conceived during the new moon of the month of Epiphi; Hathor gave birth in the month of Pharmuthi almost ten months later which was often the case with infant gods. (more info: p183, Meeks)
Association with tree=green may explain Hathor's link with the colour green and turquoise.
Sinai quarries under her patronage. Or more correctly Iunet ~ translated by H. Junker, the collection of hymns are located in the Hall of Offerings and focus on that aspect of Hathor which, according to Lichtheim, links her to Aphrodite: Hathor is "...the 'golden' goddess of love who is worshipped with wine, music and dancing." The King, Pharaoh, comes to dance, He offers it to you, His heart is straight, his inmost open, O beauteous one, O cow, O great one, O great magician, O splendid lady, O queen of the gods! The King reveres you, Pharaoh, give that he may live! O queen of gods, he reveres you, give that he may live! Behold him, Hathor, mistress, from heaven, Behold what is in his inmost, p107, Miriam Lichtheim, Texts in the Classical Language, Ancient Egyptian Literature ~ Volume III: The Late Period.
In Lichtheim's notes, she makes reference to the title of Hathor as being itn.t or the 'sun-goddess (one of her titles?); two other hymns here, one makes reference to the king's accoutrements as 'he comes to dance...comes to sing' - a sistrum of gold and a necklace of malachite, both of which are associated with the goddess, 'mistress of music'. |
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