Hathor was the daughter of the sun god Re. She was the goddess of the sky, love, mirth, beauty, and fertility. She personified the creative power of nature. In art she was often shown with the head of a cow. As the protectress of the City of the Dead, she became the goddess of the dead. During certain festivals, the priests of Horus and Edfu celebrated rites together with priests of his consort, Hathor and Dendera, and their children Harsomtus. Hathor had many other names such as "Mistress of Heaven," "The Lady of the Stars," "The Gold that is Hathor," and "The Golden One." The Greeks identified her with Aphrodite. At Dendura(650 km south of Cairo), there is a well preserved temple dedicated to Hathor where she was worshipped in her role as a goddess of women and of childbirth.In Thebes she was considered a goddess of the dead. There is a temple built on the site of an earlier Hathor temple dating from the Middle Kingdom. The present structure was built during the late Ptolemaic period(late 2d to 1st century BC), with additions made during Roman times. The front contains six ornately decorated columns whose tops are shaped like Hathor's head, represented as a women with bovine (cow) ears. Inside the temple are two staircases leading to upper sacred chambers, one contains a stone relief showing the zodiac (now in Louure, Paris). On the outer wall of the temple are reliefs showing Cleopatra and her son Ceasarion. |