Further Readings
Brydon, L. (1990). Putting the World in Order in
Avatime, Ghana. In A. Jacobson-Widding & W. van
Beek (Eds.),The Creative Communion. African Folk
Models of Fertility and the Regeneration of Life
(pp. 271–284) (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala
Studies in Cultural Anthropology, 15). Stockholm,
Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
Corwin Hoffman, J. (1995).Harvest Festivals Around
the World.Parsinappy, NJ: Julian Messner, Silver
Burdett Press.
Karenga, M. (1997).Kwanzaa:A Celebration of Family,
Community,and Culture. Los Angeles: University of
Sankore Press.
Zwernemann, J (1990). Ancestors, Earth and Fertility
in the Belief of Some Voltaic People. In A. Jacobson-
Widding & W. van Beek (Eds.),The Creative
Communion. African Folk Models of Fertility and
the Regeneration of Life(pp. 93–110) (Acta
Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in Cultural
Anthropology, 15). Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist &
Wiksell International.
HATHOR
Hathor was one of the oldest and most compre-
hensive neters or deities of ancient Kemet. She was
known as the great mother; as protector of women
and childbirth; as patron of music, dance, merri-
ment, and sexuality; as nurse and healer; as
“Queen of the West” who received the setting sun
and protected the dead; and as a bloodthirsty
avenger who acts out the commands of Ra. She
was a personification of the Milky Way, the
Daughter of Ra, and the wife of Heru.
Hathor was depicted as a cow, woman, or some
combination thereof: fully bovine, a woman with
cow’s ears, a cow with horns and a disk on its head,
or a woman with horns and a disk. In keeping with
the cosmology of the people of Kemet, early associ-
ations of Hathor were never fully displaced by later
ones. The result is a complex array of attributes,
myths, stories, and symbols associated with this
popular neter, as discussed in this entry.
Great MotherAn 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 anal-
ogous 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 cor-
related to the rupturing of the amniotic sac that
occurs in a pregnant woman just before giving
birth, again linking Hathor to women and child-
birth. 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.306 Hathor