agoodwinsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
agoodwinsmith) wrote2021-01-29 12:39 pm
agoodwinsmith) wrote2021-01-29 12:39 pm
Hathor and blue hair
So, as always, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know.
I haven't got a clear picture yet, but I do know that my original idea of the chronological order of the Hathor images we have left is wrong, but I haven't quite got a grip on which image was first and which the last.
One thing is that when Hathor is shown full face, you cannot mistake her for any other being but Hathor - her face is very distinctive. She often is shown with blue hair.
I haven't yet seen the "typical offering" of two mirrors - but I have seen a number of mirrors with Hathor faces decorating the join between the handle and the mirror.
I now have a better idea of the mechanics of Hathor worship. In a temple that had her image, the image was kept inside in the dark in the inner most windowless room, in a "naos" or shrine. Only a select group actually served the goddess image, which may have included the Pharo as one of the people permitted to approach the image. The temples were a "standard" shape, and then a yard around them where common people could make their more modest offerings. Interestingly, it wasn't uncommon for the temple of one deity to have side shrines to other deities - sort of permanent guest rooms.
Again, all this covers about 3000 years, so people change their minds, and things go in and out of fashion, and some of the variety of ideas about each of the gods is that they start as local to a particular town, and then merge and diverge.
Apparently Ancient Egyptian is a gendered language, and bread is masculine and beer is feminine.
I haven't got a clear picture yet, but I do know that my original idea of the chronological order of the Hathor images we have left is wrong, but I haven't quite got a grip on which image was first and which the last.
One thing is that when Hathor is shown full face, you cannot mistake her for any other being but Hathor - her face is very distinctive. She often is shown with blue hair.
I haven't yet seen the "typical offering" of two mirrors - but I have seen a number of mirrors with Hathor faces decorating the join between the handle and the mirror.
I now have a better idea of the mechanics of Hathor worship. In a temple that had her image, the image was kept inside in the dark in the inner most windowless room, in a "naos" or shrine. Only a select group actually served the goddess image, which may have included the Pharo as one of the people permitted to approach the image. The temples were a "standard" shape, and then a yard around them where common people could make their more modest offerings. Interestingly, it wasn't uncommon for the temple of one deity to have side shrines to other deities - sort of permanent guest rooms.
Again, all this covers about 3000 years, so people change their minds, and things go in and out of fashion, and some of the variety of ideas about each of the gods is that they start as local to a particular town, and then merge and diverge.
Apparently Ancient Egyptian is a gendered language, and bread is masculine and beer is feminine.