Egyptian goddess of love Hathor collection. Relief sculpture and amulets. Het-Hur

Hathor / Het - hur collection The Goddess of love, music & dance


Dimensions :-

Total Height of painted relief including stand - 14 cm / 5 inches

Height of large painted sistrum - 11.3 cm / 4-1/2 inches

Total Height of green sistrum amulet including stand- 11cm / 4-1/4 inches

Total Height of ochre sistrum amulet including stand - 9.5 cm / 3-3/4 inches

Height of small painted cow on sled - 3 cm /1-1/8 inches


Available here is a delightful collection of Hathor Imagery featuring a painted relief fragment of the goddess. This depiction of Hathor (traditionally pronounced Het-hur) shows the solar disc of her father Ra the sun god surrounded by the horns of her sacred animal, the cow.

In addition, three sistrum style components are included, two of which are mounted on stands while the largest is a hand painted amulet pierced above the naos shrine rendering it suitable for a hanging display.

A small painted amulet of Hathor as a cow on a sled completes this highly detailed collection.

Background information

The the large sistrum amulet shows the standard form of this type of artefact. A spiral scroll wig and naos shrine directly on top of the head with a protective uraeus cobra can be seen in the doorway of the shrine. The uraeus cobra was a protection symbol of Gods and Pharaohs and in this instance, it has the disc of Ra the sun on it’s head.

The other Sistrum styles have variations of the basic theme with or without the shrine and / or scroll hair style.

Hathor was a goddess of love, music and dance with her principal temple located at Denderah. Here atop the lofty columns of this unfinished temple, you can see similar Hathorian faces carved as the decorative element where the lintels meet the roof.

This design was widely used in temple sistrums as well. Sistrums were the temple rattle of which many examples survive intact made from a variety of materials. The sistrum amulets of this listing represent the decorative middle portion of the rattle which had a handle at the bottom and an arched piece of metal looking like an upside down letter ‘U’ at the top. Horizontal metal rods were thread across the arch with small, thin metal discs pierced onto the rods which would tinkle when shook.



*I strongly suggest seeing the movie ‘Agora’ which was an absolutely terrific film capturing a gritty ancient realism far removed from the glossy film sets of past endearing classic films such as Cleopatra. Set in Alexandria the main temple featured in the film, borrowed heavily from the temple of Dendara. Dendara as you may know was the centre for Hathorian ritual with her main temple the principal monument. The film Agora uses the Hathorian capitals to stunning effect and that is all I wish to say without spoiling it for those of you who have yet to see it.