Goddess Hathor Research Articles

Ancient Egyptian Painted Textile from the collection of R. de Rustafjaell

The paper represents the first detailed publication of the Ancient Egyptian painted textile of the New Kingdom from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (I,1а 6113). Formerly it belonged to the R. de Rustafjaell Collection. The purpose of the paper is to introduce a museum object, which was previously known only from a brief description and an early 20th-century black-and-white photograph, into scholarly discourse. The textile belongs to a group of painted cloths (about 30 in total) of the late 18th and early 19th Dynasty (14–13 centuries B.C.). They all have scenes of worship of the goddess Hathor. These cloths were brought as votive offerings to Hathor into her shrine in Deir el-Bahri. On the Pushkin Museum textile, the goddess is depicted as a sacred cow. Seven donators face her: three men and four women. These persons were most likely the members of a single family (parents and their children). Technological analysis shows that the painted textiles from Deir el-Bahri were both of professional and domestic production. The rather low quality of the threads as well as poor workmanship (the tension of the warp and weft threads was poorly regulated, the end of the right edge was not even, the density of the cloth was not uniform, there were other weaving errors as well) suggest that the manufacture of the Pushkin Museum textile was not the work of a professional weaver. The painting, on the other hand, was obviously done in a workshop by professional artists.

Plant Remains from Rothenberg’s Excavations in Timna: Smelters’ Food and Cultic Offerings at the Turn of the First Millennium BCE

In the 1960s and 1970s, two copper-smelting sites (Sites 2 and 30) and a cultic place (the ‘Hathor Shrine’, Site 200) were excavated by Beno Rothenberg’s ‘Arabah Expedition’ in the Timna Valley. They yielded rich archaeobotanical assemblages, most of which were never published. These data provide a rare opportunity to reconstruct plant food aspects of the daily lives of copper smelters. In this study, we were able to locate and identify some 10,000 plant remains, dated to the final phase of the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age (the 13th–9th centuries BCE). Most of the finds are fruits (grape, date, fig and olive). We suggest that this evidence represents dried or pickled fruits, consumed by the smelters throughout the day due to their calorie-rich value and ease of use. Plant-based food preparation was probably carried out elsewhere, in ephemeral tent encampments. In addition, the shrine’s plant assemblage, which includes the same species found in the smelting camps, suggests that the metalworkers used their food as an offering to the goddess Hathor (and possibly also to other deities).

Archaeological investigations in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari in the 2020/2021 season

The paper presents the results of archaeological exploration in parts of the Hatshesut Temple, carried out by the Polish–Egyptian team in the 2020/2021 season. Excavations focused on the Southern Room of Amun on the Third Terrace of the Temple, the platform of the Hathor Shrine on the Middle Terrace level, and the so-called Hathor Path located between the southern retaining wall of the Middle Terrace and the northern stone wall of the main enclosure of Mentuhotep II’s mortuary complex. Of particular interest are the finds from an early Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb in the western part of the Hathor Path, where remains of the original burial assemblage, a large deposit of votive offerings to the goddess Hathor and fragments of a yellow coffin were discovered.

The goddess Hathor in Sinai

Ancient Egyptians sent mineral missions to Serabit El-Khadim (that lies in the North of Al-Maghara Valley in Sinai), where lies the richest semi precious stone Turquoise mines. Egyptians used to call this area, since the oldest ages and till the beginning of the New Kingdom, “Mefakat” i.e. , that means the land of the Turquoise . In fact, they called it so because they were excavating from it the stone that was used in the making of the ornaments and amulets that had religious significance(1). This mineral activity resulted in establishing a temple for worshiping goddess “Hathor”, that the Egyptians considered the protective goddess for Serabit El-Khadim - the area in which Turquoise is concentrated. They also used to call her Nabt Mefakat” i.e., the lady of the Turquoise, and she was figured, most of the times, in the shape of a woman, and in other times, it took the shape of a cow(2).

The Goddess xft-Hr nb.s

This goddess takes some importance in the worship from the local goddesses, especially if it is related to some important functions of the god, including this important goddess who is worshipped in the western region of wAst. It is xft-Hr nb.s, who frequently represented in anthropomorphic form as a goddess, wearing a long tight dress, a hieroglyphic sign of the west upon her head and hanging in their arms the anx sign of life which appears between Dd, wAs on the nb sign. The oldest record of the name of the goddess Khefethernebes is from a stela of Antefoqer as ”xftt-Hr nb.s”, as a name of a locality, dates back to the reign of Amenemhat I. Khefethernebes participates in the scenes of judgment, welcomes the deceased into the afterlife and provide support and protection for the deceased. Khefethernebes is associated with the goddess Hathor, Waset, Imntet, Weret-Hekaw, Nut , Isis and Meret-Seger. The article aims to investigate the iconography, epithets and functions of goddess Khefethernebes in order to lay emphasize her forms, roles, titles, and her relation with other goddesses.

Ear Votives in The Greek and Roman Eastern Mediterranean

This paper is going to focus on the meaning of ear votives in the Greek and Roman Eastern Mediterranean. It will deal specifically with Lydian-Phrygian votive stelae and votive objects from western Asia Minor. In addition, a general evaluation of the finds in Ancient Egypt civilization, Cyprus and Italy is made in the text. Votive steles with large ear depictions are seen for the first time in the 20th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The ear dedications presented to the goddess Hathor at the Temple of the Goddess Hatshepsut are dated to the 18th Dynasty. Models of thousands of human body parts have been unearthed in the sanctuary in Italy. It is seen that these votives are dedicated to Vei and Menerva, the local gods of the Etruscans. In Greek and Roman cultures, votives are mostly presented to Asclepius. An important center in this regard is Pergamon in Anatolia.

مجلس الثلاثین ومهامه فی مصر القدیمة Council of The Thirty and its tasks in ancient Egypt

الملخص: مجلس mabAyw, هو مجلس قضائي يتکون من ثلاثين قاضيا, کان يتم اختيارهم کما ذکر ديودور من ثلاث مدن هي: هليوبوليس ومنف وطيبة, حيث يتم اختيار عشرة من کل مدينة، وقد ذکر البعض أن عدد أعضاء هذا المجلس هو واحد وثلاثون قاضيا؛ وذلک لأن عندما کانوا يجتمعون, کانوا يختارون من بينهم رئيسا للمجلس، وتقوم المدينة بإرسال قاضيا آخر بدلا منه وبالتالي کان عددهم الإجمالي واحد وثلاثون، وکان هناک مجلس الأرضي، الذي کان تحت سيطرة الملک والوزير، وکانت المعبودات تعطي الملک في نصوص تقدمة الماعت، وربما يفهم من ذلک ضمنيا أنها ستساعد في الحفاظ على العدالة، کما کان يوجد أيضا مجلس ديني مکون من ثلاثين إلها، وقد ارتبط بمجلس العديد من المعبودات مثل: المعبود خنوم الذي حمل لقب nb mabAyw سيد الثلاثين وقد حمل نفس اللقب العديد من المعبودات الأخرى مثل أوزير, وحور, وأنوبيس, وبتاح, إسدسIsds , وقد تولت الآلهات أيضا قيادة المجلس مثل المعبودة حتحور التي حملت لقب hnwt mabAyw سيدة الثلاثين. وکان المتوفي يرغب في أن ينضم إلى هذا المجلس وأن يکون أحد أعضائه, کما جاء ذلک أيضا في نصوص لعبة السنت التي کانت تحتوي على العديد من الإشارات لـ مجلس الثلاثين, وإن اللاعب يريد أن يدخل قاعة ويصبح المعبود الحادي والثلاثين, فقد کانت رقعة السنت تتکون من ثلاثين مربعا, وأن المصريين القدماء اعتبروا أن هذه المربعات للعبة شبيهة بالمجلس الإلهي للثلاثين، وأنه من خلال اجتياز المربعات, يمر اللاعب (المتوفي) عبر قاعة الثلاثين. Council of The Thirty and its Tasks in Ancient Egypt Council of The Thirty MabAyw, It is a judicial council consisting of thirty judges, they were chosen, as Diodor mentioned, from three cities: Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes, where ten were chosen from each city. Some have mentioned that the number of members of this council is thirty-one, because the thirty when they were meeting, they used to choose from among them the head of the council, and the city sends another judge instead of him, and therefore their total number was thirty-one. And there was the terrestrial Council of the which was under the control of the king and the Vizier, The deities used to give the king, the thirty in the texts of the Maat offering, and it may be understood from this that it will help in the preservation of justice. There was also the spiritual council of thirty gods. Many gods were associated with the Council of such as the god Khnum who bore the title nb mabAyw lord of the Thirty, many other deities held the same title, such as Osiris, Horus, Anubis, Ptah, Isdes. The council was also led by goddesses, such as the goddess Hathor, who bore the title hnwt mabAyw (mistress of the thirty). The deceased wanted to join this council and be one of its members, as this also came in the texts of the game of senet, which contained many references to the Council of and that the player wanted to enter the Thirty Hall and become the thirty-first god, as the senet board consisted Of thirty squares, and that the ancient Egyptians considered that these thirty squares of the game are similar to the spiritual council of thirty gods and that by passing the squares, the player (deceased) passes through the hall of thirty.

Egyptian Truncated Female Figurines in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

The paper represents the first detailed publication of three Ancient Egyptian figurines from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (I, 1a 5882, I, 1a 5900, I, 1a 5912). They be-long to the group of small figurines usually depicting naked women lacking legs below the knees. Their key features are complex lush hairstyles; detailed elaboration of both the front and the reverse surface; various types of jewelry. The figurines are dated back to the late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period. The figurine I, 1a 5882 (12.1 cm) is made of bright blue (turquois) faience and represents the most typical example of truncat-ed figurines of the early phase of their existence. The figurines I, 1a 5900 (11.5 cm) and I, 1a 5912 (9.8 cm) are made of limestone and belong to the end phase. Moreover, figurine I, 1a 5912 represents a rare type of naked female carrying a small child. The paper exam-ines in detail the appearance of three figurines (hairstyles, jewelry, tattoos etc.) in the cul-tural and historical context of the period. Truncated figurines were in different ways in-terpreted in historiography: dolls, the Divine Mother, concubines, dancing girls, fertility figurines. The authors of the paper analyze basic points of view on functions of truncated figurines and make conclusion that they belonged to the feminine domestic rites connect-ed to conception, birth, health of a child and a mother and in a broader sense to fertility that is directly associated with the goddess Hathor. It is no coincidence that they are found together with paddle-dolls, clappers, magic wands, mirrors, figurines of hippopota-mi, monkeys, lions, Besit, Ipi/Taweret. These are objects connected one way or another with birth, childhood, fertility. The category of fertility was of particular importance dur-ing the antiquity. High infant mortality and frequent infant and maternal death during la-bour made people especially protect everything connecting to conception, birth, health of a child and a mother.

Hatshepsut’s Punt Reliefs: Their Structure and Function

The article examines the layout of Hatshepsut’s Punt reliefs, proposing a new interpretation of their internal structure and ideological function within the decorative programme of the Deir el-Bahari temple. The author argues that the reliefs form a cycle of subsequent scenes, starting at the southernmost end of the west wall, continuing through the south wall up to the northern part of the west wall. As for the scenes represented on the northernmost end of the west wall and on the north wall, it is argued that they should be viewed as forming a single ideological entity, which at the same time corresponds to the long historical inscription placed on the easternmost end of the south wall. That way the reliefs reflect both aspects of Egyptian eternity: the linear (in the cycle of subsequent episodes) and the circular one (in the ideological link between the southern- and northernmost extremities of the Punt Portico). As for the function of the reliefs, it is argued that they were supposed to magically repeat Hatshepsut’s Punt expedition and thus provide her divine father Amun-Ra with all exotic products necessary in his cult. The author also tries to demonstrate, how Hatshepsut was gradually identified with the goddess Hathor in her aspect of the Lady of Punt and the female counterpart of Amun-Ra throughout the Punt reliefs.

Palaepaphos-Skales Tomb 277. More prestigious burials. With an appendix by Maria A. Socratous

Tomb 277 in the Skales cemetery at Palaepaphos, excavated by the Cyprus Department of Antiquities, is among the richest ever found in the south-west of the island. It dates to the Cypro-Geometric III period (c. 900–750 BC) and was used for multiple burials of important members of the Palaepaphian society, namely warriors and important women (priestesses of the Great Goddess?) judging from the abundant offerings of arms and armour as well as gold jewellery respectively (including gold plaques embossed with the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor). Notable among the offerings are two bronze basins, six small hemispherical bronze bowls, two bronze mace-heads (symbols of authority), a bronze shield of a rare type, and two richly decorated belts of oriental type. We also mention two iron swords and a bronze spearhead. Among the pottery we note the high percentage of Phoenician imports. Both inhumations and a cremation burial were observed in the tomb.

Художньо-стилістичні особливості давньоєгипетських ритуальних танців

The purpose of the article is to carry out a reflection on the subject of reception of ancient Egyptian ritual dances in the research field of national choreology and to identify the artistic and stylistic peculiarities of their performance. Methodology. Reflexive analysis has been used to determine in certain types of ancient Egyptian ritual dances of some stable attributes of their existence, the hermeneutic method allows an attempt to interpret the latter taking into account the religious and mythological worldview of the ancient Egyptians, historical makes it possible to comprehend the formation and functioning of ritual dances against the background of cultural and historical development of the Ancient Egypt. Scientific novelty. For the first time in the domestic art criticism, an attempt was made to study ancient Egyptian ritual dances and it is based on the analysis of head-sab (Pharaoh’s run), “underfoot”, “Eternity Feast” and dances in honor of the goddess Hathor to reveal their artistic and stylistic features. Conclusions. Ancient Egyptian ritual dances were formed under the influence and in the context of the formation of religious and mythological beliefs, which are based on the requiem cult and deification of the pharaoh’s power throughout the history of ancient Egypt. They begin to take shape even in the pre-dynastic period, acquiring specific features in a particular the cosmogonic concept. The compositional decision and the rational organization of ritual dances corresponded to established canonical principles, meaningful within the limits of the dominant “theological discourse” (J. Assman). Created in time and space with the help of such attributes as posture, jump, movement, gesture, step, rhythm, plasticity, ancient Egyptian ritual dances in their religious form were intense spiritual work and the Egyptians spiritual creativity, and in artistic form they represented an organically-syncretic unity of perfect dance forms, among which are the “dance of the stars” performed by the priests, the “feast of Eternity”, dances head-sab (Pharaoh’s run) and “underfoot”, dances in honor of the goddess Hathor.

DeduSebek Dedicated Hymns to Hathor

This paper is concerned to study the statue of DeduSebek and the Hymn that came on it to the goddess Hathor created by Dedusobek. He was an high official from non-royal blood. This Hymn was inscribed in his statue, which is now in the Cairo Egyptian Museum CG 887. This paper aims in investigating the Hymn to the goddess Hathor and descriptive the statue of Dedusebek which date back to the second half of the thirteenth Dynasty, The statue was dedicated to the temple of Montohotep IINeb-hept-Re (±2043-1992) to put in his temple on the western bank of Thebes. This paper employs a descriptive and analytical methodology, It should be Noted that this statue and the hymn that came on it had been published by Borchardtin 1930 but it is not a completed publishing and therefore the Researcher will re-publish the statue and hymn that came on it , with giving comment on the hymn. Through studying the statue and the hymn, it was found that the text of Dedu Sebek statue considered as a unique text as the Egyptian writer had written it in a retrograde and this style of writing is called Enigmatic writing. Key words: Egyptian literature, Hymn, Dedusebek, Goddes Hathor, Enigmatic writing

Forgotten Meaning of ʿāpār in Biblical Hebrew


 
 
 It is argued in this study that ʿāpār, in the context of mining expressed in Job 28:2, 6, probably denotes neither ‘dust’ nor related materials (‘earth’, ‘dirt’, or ‘ashes’), as is generally assumed, but ‘metallic ore’. A similar designation of ʿāpār as ore is identified in Job 30:6 and Ezek. 26:12. Further examination reveals the figurative use of ʿāpār as ore in Job 22:24, Isa. 34:9, and Isa. 41:2. In contrast to the abasement, humiliation, and worthlessness that are closely related to dust, metallic ore is associated with preciousness, rarity, and wisdom. Consequently, disregard of the figurative meaning of ʿāpār as ore may generate misunderstandings of the biblical text. It may also conceal a theological reality. For example, the identification of ʿāpār as ore in Prov. 8:26 promotes homology between Lady Wisdom and the Egyptian goddess Hathor in Prov. 8:22–31. In Gen. 3:14, it stresses the metallurgical background of the Hebrew myth of origin and helps to clarify its significance. The meaning of ʿāpār as ore in Isa. 65:25 even transforms the metallurgical theological component into the source of eschatological developments. It is concluded that the ‘ore’ dimension of meaning of ʿāpār coexists in Biblical Hebrew with the traditional association of ʿāpār with dust and that the disregard of this dimension overlooks the meaning of these verses and the theology that inspires them; it also reflects misunderstandings of Biblical Hebrew after the Persian period.
 
 

Reduced to Her Bare Essentials: Bronze Age Piriform Pendants in the Levant

This article considers the symbolic meanings of the face, breasts, vulva, and branch images which typify the schematic piriform pendants which first emerged in Tell el-‘Ajjul in the Late Bronze Age and spread through the Levant. In contrast to the usual hypotheses regarding fertility, I suggest that each of these elements refer to the Egyptian goddess Hathor as aspects of her attributes and powers in the Levant under Egyptian domination.

A Seated Queen Hathor Statue from Amenhotep III's 33rd Regnal Year at Serabit el-Khadim

The statue fragments Sinai 219, 298 and 426 from the temple at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai belong to a seated statue of a queen, dated to year 33 of the reign of Amenhotep III. This statue probably represents Princess Sitamun rather than Queen Tiye, but may depict the queen in the role of the goddess Hathor. It was erected by the treasurer Sobekhotep, whose activity at Serabit el-Khadim is discussed below.

An Egyptian Mortuary Cult in Late Bronze II Canaan

The paper re-examines the significance of the banquet scenes depicted on the late Bronze Age ii Megiddo and Tell el-Far > ah ivories. The author attempts to identify and link a set of characteristics on the panels—the lotus flower, the drinking vessels, the musical instruments and the Delta papyrus marshes—to the egyptian goddess Hathor. She then proceeds to explore the hypothesis that mortuary Hathor worship, a direct legacy of egyptian cultic belief, was adopted by the Canaanites during this period. The archaeological context of such a cult is discussed.

The Shaft Tomb of Menekhibnekau at Abusir – Season of 2008

Abstract During the autumn season of 2008, the epigraphic work and photographic documentation of the relief decoration in the burial chamber of Menekhibnekau (uncovered in April 2007) continued, together with the cleaning and conservation of its side walls. In cleaning the surface layers of sand on the eastern and southern sides of the main shaft, a number of items have been found, among them numerous fragments of a large basalt statue of a walking cow (representing the goddess Hathor), originally protecting a small figure (of Menekhibnekau?) standing in front of her. At the same time, examination of the embalmer’s cache adjoining the main shaft of Menekhibnekau continued. In addition to numerous large pottery storage jars and other pottery pieces, some of them inscribed with short texts written in hieratic, fragments of embalming instruments were also obtained. In a summarizing table, hieratic inscriptions discovered so far on the vessels in the tomb of Menekhibnekau at Abusir are listed.

BLACK AND RED GRANITES IN THE EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITY MUSEUM OF TURIN: A MINERO‐PETROGRAPHIC AND PROVENANCE STUDY

A recent project to investigate the stone artefacts preserved in the Egyptian Antiquity Museum of Turin has been undertaken, with the aim of supplying their systematic classification and suggesting the provenance site of the original raw materials. This paper focuses on seven sculptures dating back to the New Kingdom (18th–19th Dynasties): the statue of Ramses II, three of the 21 sculptures of the goddess Sekhmet, the statue of the goddess Hathor, the Ram‐headed Sphinx and the sarcophagus lid of Nefertari. Petrographic observations have shown that all the sculptures are made of granitoid rocks, with variable composition from granite to granodiorite and tonalite. The observation of strong macroscopic analogies with the so‐called black and red granites outcropping in the Aswan area has suggested a common origin of all the raw materials used for their manufacture. In order to verify this provenance hypothesis, several samples were collected in the Aswan quarry districts. According to results of a minero‐petrographic and geochemical comparison between the statues and the Aswan quarry samples, it was possible to identify the source area of the stone sculptures and finally to highlight the importance of an archaeometric approach to the solution of archaeological problems.

A Decorated Jewellery Box from Hazor

An almost complete box decorated with engraved bone plaques was found in the destruction debris of the Canaanite ceremonial palace at Hazor. Twenty-two additional, similarly engraved bone plaques were found scattered in the building and its immediate surroundings. Among the box plaques and scattered plaques alike, the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor is the most common motif. A study of the iconography shows that similar artistic portrayals are present on comparable boxes found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Cyprus. These boxes fall into two categories: game-boxes and container boxes. Based on the Hazor example, the latter were used for the storage of jewellery and other valuables. The motifs depicted on both types of boxes have much in common. Egyptian influence on the Hazor artist is clearly evident, however it seems that the influence was not always direct: some of the Egyptian motifs seem to have reached Hazor via Syrian intermediaries. Even though the Hazor box was discovered in a 13th century BCE context, a comparative study of similar boxes from Egypt and Cyprus clearly shows that this type of box was produced sometime in the 16th–early 15th centuries BCE. Being valuable objects, the boxes were certainly cherished by their owners and passed on from one generation to the next, which may explain the fact that some, like the Hazor box, were found in contexts two to three centuries later than the date they were produced.

The Northern Soldiers-Tomb at Asyut

The present study represents a publication and examination of the newly rediscovered Middle Kingdom tomb at Asyut. The tomb still has some of its decoration, including four rows of marching soldiers, three rows of wrestling men and two unusual representations of a jackal-headed god and the goddess Hathor. The dating of the tomb and the identity of its unknown owner are discussed.