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Lot Essay
This inscribed limestone pillar is in the form of a sistrum or sacred rattle depicting the goddess Hathor topped by a naos or shrine. It is unusual to only depict the goddess on one side; most examples feature the face of Hathor on two or four sides. Here, Hathor’s face is moon-shaped, with full lips turned up in a smile. Her eyes are lightly outlined with hooded eyelids and are topped by arching eyebrows. She has the stylized ears of a cow, the animal with which she is usually associated, delineated with a ridged interior radiating from a central circular knob. Her long, straight wig is simply rendered, ending in straight lines rather than in the more typical spiral forms of the goddess’ curled wig. Her neck is carved with deep folds, below which the curved surface of the sistrum’s handle is inset with a zone of inscription carved precisely in sunk relief, topped by the symbol of the sky. Invoking the ruler who likely dedicated this pillar in the context of a royal temple or shrine, the inscription on the front of the pillar reads, “May the perfect god live, who does that which is effective for Mut...”
The close relationship of the goddess Mut with Hathor is well known, both deities evoking female power and sexuality. A similar inscription mentioning “the perfect god who does that which is effective for all gods” is attested on a Hathor pillar in the temple of Amenhotep III at el Kab. On the proper left side of the pillar, a single vertical line of inscription below Hathor’s wig names “the perfect god, beautiful in kingship…” Intriguingly, this epithet is attested in an inscription from the Hathor Temple at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai as a variant of the Horus name of King Sethnakht of Dynasty 20 (K. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, vol. V, 1). Most likely this pillar was inset into the left side of the entry into a small temple or shrine; the other two faces of the pillar are roughly finished and bear traces of mud plaster, perhaps indicating their placement in a brick setting. Hathor pillars in similar format are attested in the Sinai, but in sandstone rather than limestone.
The close relationship of the goddess Mut with Hathor is well known, both deities evoking female power and sexuality. A similar inscription mentioning “the perfect god who does that which is effective for all gods” is attested on a Hathor pillar in the temple of Amenhotep III at el Kab. On the proper left side of the pillar, a single vertical line of inscription below Hathor’s wig names “the perfect god, beautiful in kingship…” Intriguingly, this epithet is attested in an inscription from the Hathor Temple at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai as a variant of the Horus name of King Sethnakht of Dynasty 20 (K. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, vol. V, 1). Most likely this pillar was inset into the left side of the entry into a small temple or shrine; the other two faces of the pillar are roughly finished and bear traces of mud plaster, perhaps indicating their placement in a brick setting. Hathor pillars in similar format are attested in the Sinai, but in sandstone rather than limestone.