agoodwinsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
agoodwinsmith) wrote2020-11-27 07:37 pm
agoodwinsmith) wrote2020-11-27 07:37 pm
Assorted Hathor tidbits
For instance: the "typical"[1] votive offering was a pair of mirrors. The source for that didn't say why, or what the supplicant was hoping to receive, or what aspect of the goddess they might have been addressing.
The hand for making offerings is the left hand. The hand for receiving gifts is the right hand. I suspect this is where our "itchy palm" superstition comes from. Itchy left palm: spend money. Itchy right palm: get money.
I think all ancient Egyptian figures are striding forward with the left foot. I don't know that it is always true. I only noticed it when I read an article about this art exhibit, which explored the reasons many Egyptian figures are damaged:
https://pulitzerarts.org/product/striking-power-iconoclasm-in-ancient-egypt/
The nose is damaged because it prevents the person from breathing; the left arm is damaged because it prevents the person from making offerings, and so on. So I started looking at the forward foot.
Hathor's birthday is the day of the rising of Sirius - which is 19 July ish. It doesn't seem to have been her "festival" day, so that's interesting.
The Ancient Egyptian timeline is *way* longer than you think - way way longer. Even longer than that. So gods got reinvented, and paired with new spouses, and so on. Hathor seemed to continue to be the goddess of inebriation[2], dancing, singing, and celebration through all the changes, all of which were used (except maybe the inebriation) in the worship of the other gods. She became the goddess who provided the dead with food and drink so they could make the journey to the Field of Reeds.[3]
[1] - since nothing else is listed with this remark, it is hard to judge what "typical" means. Metal would have been expensive. A pair of highly worked pieces would be even more so. This can't have been Josephine Slave's regular offering. Also: were the two mirrors identical, or were they a matched set like a salt and pepper set? Were there made-specifically-for-Hathor mirrors?
[2] - inebriation rather than drunkeness, because although she was definitely the goddess of drunkeness, she was also the goddess of just having drunk enough to reach that sweet spot. :)
[3] - what a nice name for a pleasant afterlife
The hand for making offerings is the left hand. The hand for receiving gifts is the right hand. I suspect this is where our "itchy palm" superstition comes from. Itchy left palm: spend money. Itchy right palm: get money.
I think all ancient Egyptian figures are striding forward with the left foot. I don't know that it is always true. I only noticed it when I read an article about this art exhibit, which explored the reasons many Egyptian figures are damaged:
https://pulitzerarts.org/product/striking-power-iconoclasm-in-ancient-egypt/
The nose is damaged because it prevents the person from breathing; the left arm is damaged because it prevents the person from making offerings, and so on. So I started looking at the forward foot.
Hathor's birthday is the day of the rising of Sirius - which is 19 July ish. It doesn't seem to have been her "festival" day, so that's interesting.
The Ancient Egyptian timeline is *way* longer than you think - way way longer. Even longer than that. So gods got reinvented, and paired with new spouses, and so on. Hathor seemed to continue to be the goddess of inebriation[2], dancing, singing, and celebration through all the changes, all of which were used (except maybe the inebriation) in the worship of the other gods. She became the goddess who provided the dead with food and drink so they could make the journey to the Field of Reeds.[3]
[1] - since nothing else is listed with this remark, it is hard to judge what "typical" means. Metal would have been expensive. A pair of highly worked pieces would be even more so. This can't have been Josephine Slave's regular offering. Also: were the two mirrors identical, or were they a matched set like a salt and pepper set? Were there made-specifically-for-Hathor mirrors?
[2] - inebriation rather than drunkeness, because although she was definitely the goddess of drunkeness, she was also the goddess of just having drunk enough to reach that sweet spot. :)
[3] - what a nice name for a pleasant afterlife