Post by paulmurdoch1975 on Dec 20, 2011 19:05:07 GMT
Hathor was an Egyptian goddess. She was a cow goddess and was associated with the Milky Way. She was the daughter of Ra.
Temples and worship
There are still remains of Hathor's temple in Dendara, Egypt. Dendara was her most well know. Her temple is 37 miles away from Luxor. It is thought that the temple of Hathor was built and decorated between the second century B.C.E. and the first century C.E. It had two intricately designed columned halls with the head of the goddess Hathor engraved in to each of them. Additionally, several shrines were built on the flat roof of the temple. There was also an enclosed sacred lake where the priests and patients would bath in order to heal themselves and become pure. There was sacred treasure hidden in two underground rooms near the sanctuary. At her temple people would pray to her for good wealth. Over all, Hathor was a busy goddess, as were most of the other gods and goddesses.
Goddesses purpose
Hathor is the goddess of love, beauty, dancing, music, and fertility. Hathor is one of the main goddesses. Hathor means "House of Horus". Before Hathor was the nice goddess she was the goddess of destruction. There was a myth that Ra ordered Hathor (Sekmet) to go out to eat the people. But days past and Ra wanted Sekmet (Hathor) to stop but Sekmet was enjoying it. So Ra died beer red and scattered it all over the land. And then Sekmet saw it and drank it all and got drunk. After she drank it she slept for three days and when she woke up and she didn't want to eat human flesh any more and that's how she became one of the nice goddesses. After she became a new goddess, she had a new makeover.
Appearance
Hathor appeared in four different forms. In human form, Hathor had a cow head with two cow horns. She was represented as a cow because cows were highly valued animals. She wore a menat which was a special necklace. A menat is heavy a beaded necklace with a crescent shape in the front and a tall mushroom shaped piece in the back. In one of her animal forms, she was a cow with an ankh. An ankh was the symbol of life. Hathor's another animal form was a fierce lion. The last animal form is a roaring lion. Hathor's symbol was a cow with a sun disc. The ancient Egyptians drew her as the sky of the Milky Way. Hathor's titles include the Golden One, the Lady of Song, the Mistress of Maidens, and the Lady of the Sycamore.
Power
Hathor had over power the Ancient Egyptians moods. Hathor had the power to bring laughter, happiness and joy. If she was far away the Egyptians mood be miserable. If near, you could nearly sense the joy and hear the laughter bubbling up. She had lots of power over the animals, for she had the power o kill all! She was sometimes a very vicious killer, or harm-doer.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor
