Hathor: Goddess of LOVE – Egyptian Mythology Defined

Hey everybody,

Welcome to a different installment of Mythology Defined. In in the present day’s video we’re going to be discussing Hathor. Right here’s what’s in retailer: a goddess dancing sexually earlier than the solar; a goddess remodeling right into a lioness and unleashing slaughter upon mankind; a goddess who heals a deity’s bleeding eye sockets with gazelle milk, and a goddess who transforms right into a cow and weens an toddler deity on her udders.

Let’s get into it.

Hathor is the goddess of affection and fertility, and the Greeks intently related her with Aphrodite, their very own goddess of affection. A distinguished therapeutic goddess and an archetypal maternal determine, Hathor’s rattling of the sistrum (her most cherished musical instrument) was stated to drive off malevolent spirits. She was so commemorated that she was nearly of equal standing with the goddess Isis.

Hathor had many features and, as such, manifested in lots of kinds. She had a human kind, however she was additionally generally depicted as both a cow or lioness. Extra obscure kinds included that of a snake and that of a sycamore tree. As a funerary goddess, Hathor was known as “The Girl of the West”, and he or she was stated to welcome souls into the underworld, presenting them with nourishing items.

Hathor assumed her lioness kind when she turned the Eye of Ra. You see, as Ra grew older, abdication got here to occupy his thoughts increasingly till, finally, he determined to relinquish his crown to his eldest son and ascend into the sky. However upon listening to of this, mankind grew scornful of the god. In response to mankind’s insolence, Re resolved to show them a lesson. The goddess Hathor was despatched in lion kind as the attention of Re, the embodiment of retribution, to wreak havoc and sow woe, to destroy those that blasphemed and perpetrated sacrilege. A tide of carnage washed by means of the land, and when it was judged that sufficient demise and destruction had been dealt, Hathor was recalled; however by this time she had acquired a style for blood. She turned insatiable and wished to slake her thirst by eradicating the remainder of mankind. This perturbed Re, for he needed to show mankind a stern lesson, not wipe them off the face of the earth. A crafty plan was contrived to forestall Hathor from satisfying her bloodlust. 7000 jugs of inebriating drink the color of blood had been ready, they usually had been poured into the land the place Hathor meant to strike. As hathor flew over the world the next day, the land beneath, saturated purple with drink, caught her eye. She swooped down and alighted, pondering she would have a drink of what was, ostensibly, blood. Hathor turned so intoxicated that she fell right into a stupor. When she later awoke, all violent thought had dissipated from her thoughts, and Re determined to fix ties with mankind by sanctioning a brand new pageant the place they might drink as a lot as they preferred, the pageant of Hathor.

Hathor’s myths and embodiments had been intertwined with the pharaoh’s divine rule. She was held as one of many symbolic moms of the pharaoh, who was usually depicted consuming from her udders.

Hathor performed an necessary position within the succession fantasy, which is without doubt one of the most necessary ones in all the historical Egyptian Mythos. Stated succinctly, the parable described the resurrection of Osiris and the next decades-long battle between Horus and set, each of whom vied for the throne. On this, Hathor had two necessary acts. She went into hiding with child Horus and his mom Isis, and in her cow kind, weened Horus. A lot later, Horus was left blind within the desert after Set shocked him and gouged out his eyes. Hathor scoured the land and, finally, discovered Horus when no different god might. She took milk from a close-by gazelle and, with it, dressed every of Horus’ hole, bleeding sockets, restoring his sight.

Hathor’s relationship with Horus is sort of ambiguous. It ranges from mom, to surrogate mom, to spouse. I consider that a lot of the confusion stems from the interchangeability between Isis and Hathor, each of whom had important cults devoted to them. I’d say that Isis as mom and Hathor as spouse is definitely probably the most standard association, and by that I imply most generally identified/accepted.

A major contributing issue to Hathor’s reputation was her position as goddess of affection, magnificence, and of most of the most cherished performing arts, similar to music and dance. On one event, Hathor carried out a lascivious dance whereas bare earlier than Re, the solar god, who was feeling depressed. The sexually beautiful efficiency introduced a smile to the god’s face. This scene was usually recreated by Hathor’s clergymen. Shaded throughout the temple through which it was enshrined, her statue was transported outdoors in order that it might bathe within the day’s solar, dancing earlier than Re as soon as extra.

That’s it for in the present day’s video

Till subsequent time

Who fills the earth with golden motes of daylight, who comes alive within the liminal east and units within the liminal west.

#mythology

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