Hathor

Nude Hathor

This statue of the goddess Hathor was made from Egyptian Terracotta, or Brown Nile Silt, and dates from 400-200 B.C. The Ptolemaic influence in this depiction of Hathor is easy to see, as the statue resembles the soft nude bodies of the female deities of the Mediterranean, such as Hathor and Isis’s Greek counterpart, Aphrodite....

Wooden and ivory fan handle with face of Hathor

An Ancient Egyptian wooden and ivory fan handle with the face of Hathor engraved. Modern ostrich feathers added to show how the fan would appear in its former New Kingdom glory. Hathor was a multifaceted deity. Her name, literally ‘the abode of Horus’, immediately emphasised the close connection with the falcon-headed god, whose mother or...

Goddess Hathor from the Tomb of Seti I (KV17)

Detail of the face of Goddess Hathor, with cobra earring, who, in this full relief, is seen welcoming Seti I to the afterlife with a protective menat necklace. The relief was taken from Seti I’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, by Champollion. However, this may not have been an act of “treasure hunting”,...

Mirror of Princess Sithathoriunet

Mirror of Princess Sithathoriunet

This mirror of Princess Sithathoriunet is a masterpiece of Middle Kingdom art. The mirror itself is made from silver, while the handle is of obsidian. The handle takes the form of a papyrus stem inlaid with gold ending with a double sided face of the goddess Hathor. Through the depiction of the goddess Hathor, the...

Triad of King Menkaure

Triads of Menkaure

These three schist triads of Menkaure were found by the Egyptologist George Reisner in the valley temple of Menkaure near his pyramid in Giza. The triads was discovered in 1908 in the valley temple of Menkaure in its own hierarchical group, and 5 were found and it is believed that they were eight as there...

Shrine of the Goddess Hathor

Shrine of the Goddess Hathor

The shrine of Hathor and the cow’s statue were retrieved from under heaps of debris south of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. The shrine is from the reign of Thutmose III. Its roof is painted blue with yellow stars to imitate the Vault of Heaven. The statue of Hathor as the divine...

The Gerzeh Palette. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 43103

Gerzeh Palette

A group of five stars depicted on the Gerzeh Palette or Hathor palette dating back to Naqada II Period. This unusual schist palette was part of a Predynastic funerary assemblage which also contained ordinary vessels. It has an oval shape that widens slightly towards the top and it is pierced so that it could be...

Statue of Hathor Protecting Psamtik

This schist statue depicts goddess Hathor protecting Psamtik who is standing in a posture of prayer, with the seal of his profession as chief scribe hanging from his neck. Psamtik is standing beneath the figure of a cow representing the goddess Hathor. She was the goddess of love, music, and motherhood. Here Hathor wears her...

Plaque of a Woman Giving Birth

This plaque depicts a woman giving birth on the birthing-chair, being assisted by two women with Hathor heads and crowns; the Hathor crown consists of two horns with the sun disk between them and tall plumes. The figures of the women are rendered in frontal view, and are nearly three-dimensional. They are carved in sunken-relief,...