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            Cowpapyrus1.jpg (40542 bytes)

            Het-Hert as a celestial cow

            Het-Hert is often depicted as a full cow wearing horns with
            double feathers and/or a sun disk. A frequent motif seen in
            the Book of the Dead or tomb reliefs is that of Het-Hert
            emerging from the papyrus swamps in Her bovine form. At Qis
            <qis.html>, Het-Hert was called /Tjentet/, the "pre-eminent
            cow."  Her emblem as a cow goes back at least as early as
            the 1st Dynasty, with the depiction of the head of a woman
            wearing horns and the ears of a cow on a stone vase. These
            two essential elements of Het-Hert's iconography appear
            throughout Egyptian history.  

            Het-Hert was also connected with the divine cows of Egyptian
            mythology, several of which became titulary goddesses in
            their own right. These included the four sacred cows that
            accompanied Het-Hert, representing the four regions of the
            sky.   They furnished the tables of the gods and Their names
            are as follows (transliterations from the hieroglyphs are in
            parentheses):

            (1) *Hesat* (HsAt) - "sacred cow" whose name may be derived
            from the word Hsi, meaning "Wild One." In Ptolemaic texts,
            She is associated with Aset and provides milk for the King.

            HsAt sacred cow.jpg (4579 bytes)


                      Hieroglyphs of the Name Hesat

            (2)  *Weryt* (wryt) - "great lady" - divine cow who provides
            milk for the King

            Wryt sacred cow.jpg (6143 bytes)


                      Hieroglyphs of the Name Weryt

            (3)  *Shedyt* (Sdyt)   - "nurse" who nourishes Ra; an
            epithet of Het-Hert.

            Sdyt sacred cow.jpg (5910 bytes)


                      Hieroglyphs of the Name Shedyt

            (4) *Sekhat-Heru <Sekhat-Heru.htm>* (sxAt-Hr) - "the one who
            remembers Heru"

            sxt-Hr.jpg (6082 bytes)


                      Hieroglyphs of the Name Sekhat-Heru

            The cosmic aspect of Het-Hert, in Her connection with the
            celestial cows, can be see in Her function as the one who
            nourishes humans and gods. Like Nut, She is the celestial
            goddess who continuously rejuvenates the solar disk, giving
            birth to Ra at every sunrise.

            The Seven Hathors are also often depicted as seven cows. For
            more information, see the following page on this website:

            The Seven Hathors <seven_hathors.htm>

             


          References

                Het-Hert emerging from the papyrus swamps in Her form as
                a Celestial Cow from /The Egyptian Book of the Dead/,
                translated by Raymond Faulkner


Allam, Schafik. /Beiträge zum Hathorkult (bis zum Ende des Mittleren
Reiches)/, 1963.
Alliot, Maurice. /Le culte d'Horus à Edfou au temps des Ptolémées/.
1949, 426.
Daumas, François. "Hathor." /Lexikon der Ägyptologie/. Band II.1977.
Rochemonteix, Marquis de and Émile Chassinat. /Le Temple d'Edfou/. Vol.
I-4. 1987, 524.
Wilson, Penelope. "HsAt." /A Ptolemaic Lexicon/, 1997.

Hathorlogobksm.gif (3053 bytes)

[ Up <symbolsmanif.htm> ] [ Seven Hathors <seven_hathors.htm> ]
[ Red Scarf <red_scarf.htm> ] [ Cow ]

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