Hathor
Images of cattle appear frequently in the artwork of Predynastic Egypt before 3100 BC. These images often show women with upraised, curved arms that resemble bovine horns. The Gerzeh Palette from the Naqada II period around 3200 BC displays a cow's head silhouette surrounded by stars. This artifact suggests an early link between cows and the sky. Despite these precedents, Hathor does not clearly appear until the Fourth Dynasty around 2575 BC. When she finally emerges, her horns curve outward rather than inward like earlier art. A bovine deity appears on the Narmer Palette near the start of Egyptian history. Some scholars identify this figure as Bat while others see Hathor. Henry George Fischer suggested the deity might be Bat. Lana Troy argued the goddess on Narmer's garments is actually Hathor. In the Fourth Dynasty, Hathor rose rapidly to prominence. She supplanted an early crocodile god worshipped at Dendera in Upper Egypt. She increasingly absorbed the cult of Bat in the neighboring region of Hu. By the Middle Kingdom around 2055 BC, the two deities fused into one.
Hathor took many forms and appeared in a wide variety of roles throughout ancient history. Robyn Gillam calls her a type of deity rather than a single entity because she subsumed many local goddesses. Egyptian texts often speak of manifestations called Seven Hathors or sometimes as many as 362. As a sky goddess, she was given epithets like mistress of the sky and mistress of the stars. Egyptians thought of the sky as a body of water through which the sun god sailed. Hathor and Mehet-Weret were both thought of as the cow who birthed the sun god. Her name translates to house of Horus but can also mean my house is the sky. She became a solar deity and a feminine counterpart to sun gods such as Horus and Ra. Texts from her temple at Dendera say her rays illuminate the whole earth. She was commonly called the Golden One referring to the radiance of the sun. At Ra's cult center of Heliopolis, Hathor-Nebethetepet was worshipped as his consort. She served as one of many goddesses to take the role of the Eye of Ra. This eye personified the disk of the sun and extended Ra's own power. A form known as Hathor of the Four Faces represented four cobras facing each cardinal direction.
Egyptian religion celebrated sensory pleasures believed to be among the gods' gifts to humanity. Many of Hathor's epithets link her to celebration including music dance garlands myrrh and drunkenness. In hymns and temple reliefs musicians play tambourines harps lyres and sistra in her honor. The sistrum a rattle-like instrument was particularly important in her worship. Sistra had erotic connotations alluding to the creation of new life. Festivals during the inundation incorporated drink music and dance as a way to appease the returning goddess. A text from the Temple of Edfu says the gods play the sistrum for her while goddesses dance to dispel bad temper. The Festival of Drunkenness Tekh Festival was part of her mythic return to Egypt. Women carried bouquets of flowers while drunken revelers played drums. People and animals from foreign lands danced for her as she entered the temple's festival booth. Graves-Brown suggests celebrants aimed to reach an altered state of consciousness to interact with the divine realm. Revelers may have aimed to reach religious ecstasy which was otherwise rare or nonexistent in ancient Egyptian religion. The dancing eating and drinking represented the opposite of sorrow hunger and thirst associated with death.
Hathor was often depicted as a cow bearing the sun disk between her horns especially when nursing the king. Her most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of horns and sun disk. Sometimes the horns stood atop a low modius or vulture headdress that queens wore in the New Kingdom. When in the role of Imentet, Hathor wore the emblem of the west instead of the horned headdress. Some animals other than cattle could represent her including the uraeus rearing cobra. She also appeared as a lioness representing ferocious protective aspects. In contrast the domestic cat sometimes connected with her represented the Eye goddess's pacified form. When portrayed as a sycamore tree, Hathor usually showed her human upper body emerging from the trunk. She commonly carried a sistrum or menat necklace made up of many strands of beads. Mirrors were another symbol because they were often made of gold or bronze and symbolized the sun disk. Some mirror handles were made in the shape of Hathor's face. Columns topped with faces of women began appearing in the late Old Kingdom. These columns had two or four faces representing duality or watchfulness. The designs of Hathoric columns have a complex relationship with sistra styles.
During the Early Dynastic Period Neith was the preeminent goddess at the royal court while in the Fourth Dynasty Hathor became most closely linked to the king. Sneferu founder of the Fourth Dynasty may have built a temple to her. Neferhetepes daughter of Djedefra was the first recorded priestess of Hathor. Late Old Kingdom rulers promoted the cult of Hathor in provinces to bind regions to the royal court. Mentuhotep II who became first pharaoh of Middle Kingdom sought to legitimize his rule by portraying himself as Hathor's son. First images of Hathor-cow suckling the king date to his reign. Several priestesses were depicted as though they were his wives although he may not have actually married them. In course of Middle Kingdom queens increasingly seen as directly embodying goddess just as king embodied Ra. Hatshepsut woman who ruled as pharaoh in early New Kingdom emphasized relationship to Hathor differently. She used names and titles linking her to various goddesses including Hathor to legitimize rule in male position. She built several temples to Hathor and placed mortuary temple incorporating chapel dedicated to goddess at Deir el-Bahari. Beginning with Arsinoe II wife of Ptolemy II, Ptolemies closely linked their queens with Isis and Greek goddess Aphrodite.
Egypt maintained trade relations with coastal cities of Syria and Canaan particularly Byblos placing religion in contact with that region. At some point perhaps as early as Old Kingdom Egyptians began referring patron goddess Baalat Gebal as local form of Hathor. So strong was link to Byblos that texts from Dendera say she resided there. Egyptians sometimes equated Anat aggressive Canaanite goddess worshipped in Egypt during New Kingdom with Hathor. Egyptian kings donated goods to temple of Baalat Gebal in Byblos using syncretism to cement trading relationships. A temple to Hathor as Lady of Byblos built during reign of Thutmose III may have been shrine within Baalat's temple. After breakdown of New Kingdom prominence in Byblos diminished along with trade links. Egyptians in Sinai Peninsula built few temples in region largest complex dedicated primarily to Hathor as patroness of mining at Serabit el-Khadim. It occupied from middle Middle Kingdom to near end New Kingdom. Timna Valley on fringes empire included seasonal mining expeditions during New Kingdom. Local Midianites whom Egyptians used as part workforce may have given offerings to Hathor. Nubians fully incorporated Hathor into their religion during New Kingdom when most Nubia under Egyptian control. Pharaohs dedicated several temples in Nubia such as those at Faras and Mirgissa.
Although Pyramid Texts earliest Egyptian funerary texts rarely mention her, Hathor invoked in private tomb inscriptions same era. In Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts and later sources she frequently linked with afterlife. Just as she crossed boundary between Egypt and foreign lands, Hathor passed through boundary between living and Duat realm dead. She helped spirits deceased humans enter Duat closely linked with tomb sites where transition began. Theban necropolis often portrayed stylized mountain with cow of Hathor emerging from it. Her role as sky goddess also linked to afterlife because sky goddess assisted Ra daily rebirth. Coffins tombs underworld interpreted as womb from which deceased soul would be reborn. Nut Hathor Imentet could each lead deceased place receive food drink eternal sustenance. Thus Hathor as Imentet often appears tombs welcoming deceased person child into blissful afterlife. In New Kingdom funerary texts artwork afterlife illustrated pleasant fertile garden over which Hathor sometimes presided. As early as late Old Kingdom women said join worshippers Hathor afterlife just men joined following Osiris. In Third Intermediate Period around 1070 BC Egyptians began add Hathor's name deceased women place that of Osiris. Some cases women called Osiris-Hathor indicating benefited revivifying power both deities. In these late periods Hathor sometimes said rule afterlife as Osiris did.
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Common questions
When did Hathor first appear in ancient Egyptian history?
Hathor does not clearly appear until the Fourth Dynasty around 2575 BC. Images of cattle and women with upraised arms resembling bovine horns existed before 3100 BC, but she emerged as a distinct deity during this period.
What is the meaning of the name Hathor in ancient Egypt?
Her name translates to house of Horus but can also mean my house is the sky. She became a solar deity and feminine counterpart to sun gods such as Horus and Ra while serving as mistress of the sky and mistress of the stars.
How was Hathor worshipped during festivals in ancient Egypt?
Festivals during the inundation incorporated drink music and dance as a way to appease the returning goddess. The Festival of Drunkenness Tekh Festival included drunken revelers playing drums and carrying bouquets of flowers to reach religious ecstasy.
Which pharaohs built temples dedicated to Hathor in Nubia?
Pharaohs dedicated several temples in Nubia such as those at Faras and Mirgissa. Egyptians maintained trade relations with coastal cities of Syria and Canaan particularly Byblos placing religion in contact with that region.
When did Hathor become associated with the afterlife in Egyptian texts?
In Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts and later sources she frequently linked with afterlife. As early as late Old Kingdom women said join worshippers Hathor afterlife just men joined following Osiris, and by Third Intermediate Period around 1070 BC Egyptians began add Hathor's name deceased women place that of Osiris.