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Egyptian Artifacts

Limestone Stela Dedicated to Hathor

I’m making another post with Hathor 𓉑 in it because why not?! Hathor 𓉑 was the goddess π“ŠΉπ“ of women π“Šƒπ“π“‚‘π“π“π“ͺ, motherhood, joy, music π“‰”π“‡Œπ“†Έ, happiness 𓄫𓅱𓏛, and a goddess π“ŠΉπ“ of the afterlife 𓇼𓄿𓏏𓉐.

This limestone π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“ˆ™π“Œ‰ stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ is dated to the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom). The stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ was dedicated to Hathor 𓉑 and the 11th Dynasty pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 Montuhotep II π“ π“ˆ–π“Ώπ“…±π“Š΅π“π“Šͺ by a priest π“ŠΉπ“› named An. On this stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ, Hathor 𓉑 appears in her cow 𓄀𓆑𓂋𓏏𓃒 form, while the human figure (probably Montuhotep II) on the left is cut off. An is not pictured on the stela π“Ž—π“…±π“†“π“‰Έ, which means it was probably already made and An just had his name π“‚‹π“ˆ– added to it. It was most likely placed in a shrine at Deir el-Bahri, because both Hathor 𓉑 and Montuhotep II π“ π“ˆ–π“Ώπ“…±π“Š΅π“π“Šͺ were both worshipped there. It was not uncommon for pharaohs 𓉐𓉻𓏦 to be worshipped long after they died.

Let’s read some hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ!

π“ŠΉπ“„€π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ(π“‡³π“Š€π“ŽŸ) – β€œThe Great God, Lord of the Two Lands, Nebhapetra” (Nebhapetra is Montuhotep II’s throne name)

π“‰‘π“π“Š“π“·π“π“Š–π“‹† – β€œHathor, Chief one of Thebes” (Thebes can also be written as β€œπ“Œ€π“π“Š–β€ – I’m just copying the symbol directly from the stela, even though it may look β€œbackwards”).