Painted votive cloth
From Deir el-Bahari, Thebes,
Egypt
19th Dynasty, about 1250
BC
Hathor as a cow coming out of the mountain of
the West
A votive object is one that is offered to a
deity, often with prayers, in the hope of receiving good fortune.
Many types of objects were left in temples all over Egypt for this
purpose. The goddess
Hathor
often received votive offerings. She was a deity with wide
responsibilities including joy, music and dance. She was also one
of the major deities with a popular cult; ordinary people could
appeal to these gods and
goddesses.
Hathor's
cult was very prominent on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes, in
the area of the temples of Deir el-Bahari. Here there was a shrine
specifically dedicated to Hathor, as well as a shrine in the temple
of Queen Hatshepsut, and of Thutmose III (1479-1425
BC).
Linens were among the
votive items deposited in the Hathor shrine, and many of them were
discovered in excavations there. At the right of this cloth is an
image of Hathor as a cow coming out of the mountain of the West, an
extremely common Theban motif, associated with burial and rebirth.
The five women presenting the offerings and flowers dedicated the
cloth.
G. Pinch, Votive Offerings to Hathor (Oxford, Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, 1993)
S. Quirke and A.J. Spencer, The British Museum book of anc (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)