(From right to left)

Hathor, mistress of the desert (foreign lands)

Strong of heart among the gods;

(And) Ptah-Sokar, lord of Shetyt (the Secret Chamber) I've assembled a PDF of these findings.



Hathor at Deir el Bahri, traced from a photo by Kyera Giannini As I traced, I noticed some barely noticeable faint lines which gave clue to things that had been erased in antiquity: two images of Hatshepsut had been scratched out. A similar Hathor cow also in Deir el Bahri has a less damaged scene, revealing Hatshepsut standing in front of the goddess and also being suckled:

Photographed by Don McCrady, who gives "Creative Commons" I took a trace of the suckling scene: "The Hathor chapel of the Deir el-Bahari temple of Hatshepsut is the earliest known structure dedicated to that goddess on the west bank.12 Depicted in the form of a cow, she is titled Hathor of Dendera, Chieftainess of Thebes. As the protective and nourishing mother, she is shown licking the queen, as the cow does her calf.13 Cattle references are prominent in the accompanying texts, where Hathor is referred to as the Tjenenet cow and Apis is the Tjenen bull, "who engendered the heifers."14 Anubis is also cited here as the 'Lord of the Horned Ones, who resides in the land of the heifer.'15 The birth of Horus in the marshes is the underlying theme of these scenes. The goddess kisses the queen, 'as I did for Horus in the nest at Chemmis.' Hatshepsut, the child of the divine cow, is 'my Horus of Gold.'16 "Suckled by the divine cow, Hatshepsut receives the gifts of life and strength as well as the power of the transfigured Akhu.17" Lana Troy, "Religion and Cult during the Time of Thutmose III", Thutmose III: A New Biography , edited by Eric H. Cline and David B. O'Connor, (University of Michigan 2006), page 125



Votive Bowl Dedicated to the Goddess Hathor by Lady Nefrether

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, probably reign of Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E.

From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Sheikh abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100)

Bronze or copper alloy, H. including cow: 6 cm (2 3/8 in.); Diam. 22 cm (8 11/16 in.) Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915, MMA #30.8.67

The first bowl is at the Met Museum. I've chosen to trace the photo of this piece with the flowers to better illustrate how it would have appeared to those using it. "The interesting bronze *flower bowl of figure 121, found with two others in the forecourt of the tomb of the Vizier Rekhmi-Re, was apparently designed as a votive offering to the goddess Hat-Hor and has as its centerpiece a little bronze figure of the Hat-Hor cow crowned with the solar disk and double plume and raised above the bottom of the bowl on a small metal bridge. When the bowl is partly filled with water and with flowers the animal appears to be standing in the midst of a marshy thicket, reminiscent of the thickets of Chemmis, where Hathor is reported to have nursed the infant Horus..." (William C. Hayes, _The Scepter of Egypt_ Part II, (Metropolitan Museum Press 1959), pages 205-206) (Horus??? Or Ihy???) Usually Hathor is said to be mother of Ihy, while Isis(Aset) is said to be mother of Horus. The other bowl is of faience and a bit smaller:

Bowl with Hathor cow in a papyrus marsh

Likely New Kingdom

Faience, height: 4.6cm

Eton College #ECM.1758-2010 Eton College website description:

"Flat based bowl of green faience with parallel sides and flat, slightly everted rim; outside and rim decorated with linear design in black, inside edge with petals and inside base with the Hathor cow advancing right in a papyrus marsh"



Limestone stela of Amenmose and Baketseth

Egypt, Upper Egypt, Abydos

Ramesside period

Height: 42.7 cm, Width: 26 cm

Traced from a scanned photo in Bierbrier's _Hieroglyphic Texts from Egyptian Stelae_, part 12_

Upper Right, titles of Hathor (Hethert):

Queen (aka "Lady") of heaven: Nebet Pet

Queen (aka "Mistress") of the two lands: Nebet Tawy

Then a section of which I am unsure. Perhaps the top left glyph is a cow's ear, "F21", perhaps to do with Hathor's listening to all? There's the 'multiplicity' (|||) glyph

Queen (aka "Mistress") of all. Nebet ou (?) The museum description is: "Limestone stela of Amenmose: there is a large, Hathor-headed sistrum in the centre of this round-topped stela flanked by lotus flowers around the head. In the lower right-hand corner the sculptor of Amun, Amenmose, stands in adoration holding a brazier. On the left the lady Baketseth stands with her arms raised in worship. There are several gouges and areas of wear on the surface of the stela and the edges are damaged in places. The wear on the face of the Seth animal may not necessarily be intentional." The many gouges and worn spots made tracing and translating difficult. But I gave it my best shot: Upper Left, very uncertain. After a fairly clear Hathor glyph, the next two are quite worn, and my choices are practically guesses. The third glyph may even be 'ka' arms, rather than the 'p' square. I'm sure the next is a phrase, but I haven't as yet come across its like. (I have another highly recommended hieroglyph book on order!) The ending glyph may either be the 'dua' (adoring) or the 'hai' (rejoicing) glyph. The museum tracer chose the rejoicing glyph, but it looked more to me like the adoring glyph. Lower left:

A bit of uncertainty with these glyphs, too, because the top one(s) are simply undecipherable. Then we have the standard "lady of the house" title, and her name, Baketset. The ancient scribe used Gardiner G29, Jabiru bird, to say "Ba", or "soul". Perhaps her name means "Soul of Set", or that the god Set formed her Ba? Lower Right:

I might have worked out something here. I found for the eye and 'n' glyph, "ari-en", "made by". "Men" glyph (senet game board) usually means "enduring" or "eternal", and then the glyphs for the god Amun. So perhaps this is "Made by the eternal Amun", a reference to the maker of Amun's ba? Amunmose's name means "Amun is born".

Printable version available

_My Heart My Mother: Death and Rebirth in Ancient Egypt_

I found it fascinating and wanted to learn more. Roberts explains

"Plate 40 shows Seti kneeling devoutly before Hathor, 'the female Hawk', who appears in the form of a human-headed Ba-bird. Between the king and the goddess are inscribed the words

May She give charm and attraction

and the fact that Hathor is shown here as a Ba-bird means that she is understood as dynamically present, manifesting herself in all her vital power before the king." (Roberts, page 52) Roberts explains, "the Ba represents above all the capacity to appear as a dynamic, living presence and emanate power affecting others." (page 52) How often has Hathor been depicted as a Ba-bird? Could there be any other meaning beyond what she gives there? I've found two examples of people who are depicted in an attitude of devotion before a ba-bird, each of these bearing a face resembling the person. Inherkhau's tomb has one example:

(This trace created from a small photo which has all the elements, while referring to a different photo more cropped, but possessing better detail) Kent Weeks explains:

"At the beginning of the upper register on the right wall, Inherkhau stands in adoration before a pylon with a human-headed ba bird on top. The bird’s feathers are highly stylized, as are the feathers of the other birds in this tomb, and its face and hands look very similar to those of Inherkhau himself." (From _The Illustrated Guide to Luxor_ by Kent R. Weeks, published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a, as quoted by luxoregypt.org Osirisnet.net describes this: "Chamber G, North wall, upper register. The whole register is represented in 4 photographs. Inherkhau raises his arms in adoration before his Ba which stands on his tomb." The Osirisnet author clearly states this is his own Ba that he is facing and giving the Dua(adoration) gesture. Another scene of Ba-devotion occurs in the Book of the Dead of Tentameniy:

The lady Taameniu kneels before her Ba, which wears a Djed, representing enduring stability (Ptolemaic Book of the Dead of Taameniu (Tentameniy), British Museum, EA 10086, sheet 5

Trace created from a scan of Roberts' photo, while referencing one at Museum website. Alison Roberts describes this: "Vignette from chapter 26 of the Book of the Dead, equaled with the ninth hour of the night. A chapter of the heart, it begins with the words 'May my heart be mine in the House of Hearts'/ Holding her heart, the lady Taameniu kneels before her Ba, which wears a Djed symbol of 'stability', symbolizing her stable existence..." (page 153) Wearing the Djed expresses her Ba's eternal nature. Returning to the tomb of Inherkhau, Kent Weeks describes the adjacent scene, "At left, a second scene shows the deceased before Ptah, the god of craftsmen and therefore one greatly praised in Dayr al-Madina. The text that follows at left is a copy of Book of the Dead chapter 42, a list of body parts and the deities associated with them. “My hair is Nun,” one of the rectangles proclaims, “My face is Ra; my eyes are Hathor; my ears are Wepwawet; my nose is She who presides over her lotus leaf.” (Illustrated Guide to Luxor) This declarative statement type of Heka is frequent in the Book of the Dead texts. The association is of a possessive/transformative nature, "my eyes ARE Hathor". Could Seti I be adoring his ba, which has become as Hathor? Seti's temple was begun under his rule, and then continued after under his son Ramesses II's rule. One of its many chapels is dedicated "to the deified Sethos I", (Richard Wilkinson, _The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt_ , page 147) ("Sethos" is the Greek way to refer to Seti). As Seti I was considered to be deified, this makes my hypothesis more possible. At the very least, perhaps Seti's at least acknowledging Hathor as the maker of his Ba? With this creative possibility, She could thereby be able to give "charm and attraction", enabling Seti to better navigate the difficulties of the Duat. But as I examine the scene in Seti's Chapel of Nefertem, I think there is a more simple explanation. Seti is giving adoration to (in order) Nefertem, Ptah, Shu, "Horus who is over his papyrus column", Isis, Nekhbet and at the end, Seti is again depicted kneeling and offering two bowls of (wine? water?) to Hathor who is depicted as a falcon with the head of a woman. This depiction could simply refer to the early cow goddess Bat , whom Hathor later subsumed. As Bat's name means "female spirit", this is more likely what Seti's image is referring to. Let's examine again how Bat was illustrated during the third and fourth Dynasties:

Thumbing through this book, I was pleased to find a scene with both Hathor and Ptah. So I wasted no time in scanning it. The book already had its own trace, but even if it had scanned better, I still wanted to do my own. Martin thinks Raia is being shown as blind, but I think the shut eyes merely indicates the musician is so into the music, they shut their eyes. Also, if Raia's song was a prayer, his eyes could be closed to better focus on the spiritual world? Ptah grasps the Was scepter, while Hathor, named "mistress of the sycamore", offers the menat necklace with one hand, and holds an ankh with the other. Ptah is named "Lord of ma'at" in the glyphs directly above the flower offering. I don't know what the glyphs say above that, though. Coffin Texts Spell 532 reveals: "'I have received my spinal cord through Ptah-Sokar, my mother has given me her hidden power.'"( _The Quick And The Dead: Biomedical Theory In Ancient Egypt__ , page 188) Could that mother have been understood to be Hathor? "Here we will but mention in passing the Egyptians' paramount cow-mother goddess Hathor. As 'Lady of Life', she was responsible for giving life to all creatures (LÄ II 1025 and notes 23-24)."(_TQatD_, page 27)