CHAPTER FOUR

CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF HATH OR

Hathor was a goddess who fired the religious imagination of the Egyptians from the very earliest times. She was a mighty goddess, a versatile personality. Hathor appears in so many guises that she leaves an almost chameleon-like impression. On the one hand she was a fetishistic, local goddess, on the other a cosmic power. Alternately she is a cow-goddess, a tree-goddess, a patroness of love, of song and dance and a bestower of all abundance, a protectress of the dead, a sky-goddess, a sun-eye, a royal goddess and, moreover, she is concerned with foreign lands. She is truly an imposing figure. No one could wonder at her being the subject of an impressive cult, at glorious festivals being held in her honour, as is witnessed by the texts and representations in the temples of Dendera, Edfu, Esna and Philae. She could pride herself on her great popularity and her ability to win the love of her adherents, especially the women. The beautiful hymns dedicated to her are convincing proof of this. These songs also reveal that Hathor could evoke sincere piety. There can be no doubt that such a mighty goddess had a homo• geneously composed character, even though, at first sight, this seems to be a paradoxical idea. How, then, can an explanation be found for her seemingly disparate guises and.for the very essence of her being. When seeking to find the answer to the former, H. FRANKFORT 1 pointed the way with his thesis that the Egyptians followed the principle of 'the multiplicity of approaches' to assess, describe and comprehend the essence of their gods. This principle implies that, in ancient Egypt, pronouncements could be made about a god which outwardly are contradictory and incompatible. In reality they are various approaches to the mysterious being of the divinity. Each of such figurations contains a part of the truth, and together they convey the many-sided character of the god in question. Hathor's nature was so complex that the Egyptians were able to discover different facets in it. In her being there are inner contra-

1 H. FRANKFORT, Ancient Egyptian Religion, 1948 p. 4, 18, 19. 91, 121. CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF HATHOR 103 dictions, antithetic tendencies which nevertheless preserve a mutual equilibrium. It is precisely these polar tensions that made Hathor such a warm-blooded divine personality. As cow-goddess she is the personification of the primeval, creative and divine power. She is the motherly being who promotes fertility, the goddess of abundance who brings about all good things, 1 the mistress of the viands and of food 2 who creates the bread and the beer, 3 the bestower of the blessing of children, the donor of health, 4 the mistress of longevity. As tree-goddess she has the same function, for the tree is the manifestation of self-renewing life. Little wonder that she was loved by both the living and the dead. The deceased hoped to be of service to her so that they might attain to a blessed destiny in the life hereafter. The living allowed themselves be swept along in her whirl• wind traces, for Hathor is the goddess of enthusiasm. She loves music, song and dance and revels in happy feasts. At times her cult assumed an ecstatic character. The festival of inebriety is a testimonial of this: the wine both entranced and soothed the goddess - her adherents sought inner liberation in exuberant and enthusiastic merry-making. In addition to the elan so characteristic of her, Hathor remains faithful to the cosmic order. This is not a flagrant contradiction, for to the Egyptian mind the cosmic order is not a causality ordained by nature, but is propelled by the wisdom and the dispositions of creative divine life. It is in this light that Hathor should be seen as sky-goddess, sun-eye and royal goddess. The sky, across which the sun-god follows his regular course, represents an unshakable order. In its majesty the nocturnal sky with which Hathor is allied bespeaks profound wisdom. As sun-eye she chastises the evil-doers and the rebellious. As royal goddess she protects the king, whose duty it is to maintain order in society. In these qualities Hathor is closely akin to Ma-a-t, indeed to such a degree that the two goddesses often accompany, or are identified with each other in the temple of Dendera. 5 The seven Hathors also fit into this context. Together they represent destiny, which according to the Egyptian conception was the consequence of world order. Hathor's attributes tell us of her ina special way, her headdress and

1 A.N.E.T. p. 970. 2 MARIETTE, DencUrah, I 60e.. 3 Op. cit. 55e.. 4 Le8 pelerinage8, p. 56. 5 MARIETTE, Dendirah II, 41e., 46b, 52b.