Hathor

Great Mother

An early association of Hathor was with the great mother that was symbolized by a cow. According to Charles Finch and Gerald Massey, the cow was a common symbolic archetype of motherhood among ancient peoples because the devotion that cows pay to their calves and their ability to provide life sustaining milk was analogous to the activities of human females. Celestially speaking, Hathor was seen as the heavenly cow whose milk was the Milky Way. In this sense, she was the great cosmic mother who conceived, brought forth, and maintained all life.

The name Hathor means “House of Horus” and reflects this association in that it is the Milky Way—the galaxy—that encircles Horus, the sun, or in effect serves as his “house.” The “waters” of the Milky Way were referred to as the “Nile in the Sky,” which caused Hathor to be seen as responsible for the annual Nile flood. In this guise, her names were Mehurt, Mehet-Weret, and Mehet-uret. This releasing of the waters was correlated to the rupturing of the amniotic sac that occurs in a pregnant woman just before giving birth, again linking Hathor to women and childbirth. It was said that Seven Hathors, disguised as young women, would appear at the birth of a child, and each would pronounce the fate of the child. These Seven Hathors varied by locality within Kemet and would be depicted as either women or cows.

The most important fact was that there were seven of them. The titles of the seven according to Queen Nefertari's tomb are Lady of the Universe, Sky-Storm, Your from the Land of Silence, Your from Khemmis, Red-Hair, Bright Red, and Your Name Flourishes through Skill. Other names for the seven include Lady of the House of Jubilation, Mistress of the West, Mistress of the East, and Ladies of the Sacred Land. Throughout a person's life, they were called on in matters of love and of protection from evil spirits. In death, the Seven Hathors appeared as cows and nourished and protected the deceased. Hathor is also linked with fertility, beauty, and love. As a neter of fertility, she appears as either a cow or a field of reeds. For love and protection, she is represented with the color red. The prominent role that Hathor played throughout the life cycle of Egyptians earned her a place as one of the most popular neters of Kemet.

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