Hathor 1a- Luxor Museum.jpg (81352 bytes)

The Birth of Het-Hert

The birth of the Netjert (goddess) of Love is described in the texts of the Temple of Dendera as follows:

"Ra opened his eyes in the interior of the lotus at the moment in which he came forth from the Nun.  Fluid oozed from his eyes and fell on the earth.   It transformed itself into a beautiful woman, to whom the name 'The Gold of the Gods' was given, Hathor the Great, Mistress of Dendera"(1)

Below is the transliteration of the hieroglyphs of this passage.   If you do not see the diacritical marks in the text below, please go to this link and download the transliteration font:  http://www.ccer.ggl.ruu.nl/CCER/FTP.HTML  

wn Ra irty.f(y) m-Xnw nxb m tr n pr.f m nww xpr xt m irty.f(y) hy.sn Hr tA qmA(w).sn m sts nfrt dm.tw rn.s r nwbt nTrw Ht-Hr wrt nbt iwnt

(1)  Preys, René, "Hathor met de vele gesichten: Portret van een godin," De Scriba 3 (1994), p. 2. Translation from the Dutch by Neferuhethert
References

Image of Het-Hert from the Luxor Museum by Daniel Loeillet, restored in Photoshop.
Transliteration from Sylvie Cauville: "Les Inscriptions Dédicatoires de Dendera," in Bullétin de l'Institute Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Tome 90 (1990)

Hathorlogobksm.gif (3061 bytes)

[ Up ] [ The Birth of Het-Hert ] [ The Eye of Ra ] [ The Wandering Goddess ]

Text and original graphics copyright © 1999-2007 by Neferuhethert. All rights reserved. All graphics which are not original works have been credited to their source or used with permission, and their copyright remains the property of the source cited. No use of any original written or graphical material is allowed in any form whatsoever without prior written permission.  Questions should be directed to neferuhethert at aol.com. This is a non-profit website for educational purposes only. Last updated 07/08/07.