Egypt Exploration Society

An Archaic Representation of Ḥatḥōr

Author(s): A. J. Arkell
Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 44 (Dec., 1958), p. 5
Published by: Egypt Exploration Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3855057
Accessed: 13-12-2015 00:45 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Egypt Exploration Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.116 on Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:45:09 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 (5)

AN ARCHAIC REPRESENTATION OF HATHOR

By A. J. ARKELL
As regards my Brief Communication with the above title, published in this Journal
(vol. 41, pp. I25-6), Mr. Martin Burgess of the Department of Egyptology at Univer-
sity College, London, has shown great skill in reconstructingthe bowl under my guid-
ance and with invaluable assistancewith the reliefs from Miss MarjorieHoward of the
Institute of Archaeology. The result is shown in plates VIII and IX, and the actual re-
construction is described by Mr. Burgess in the articlewhich follows. The photographs
of the reconstructed bowl largely speak for themselves, and emphasize the importance
of the bowl for students of religion in the First Dynasty. I have only to add to my ori-
ginal communication that study of the bird's head has convinced me that it is not a
pelican as originally suggested, but the Saddle Bill or Jabiru Stork, Ephippiorhyncus
senegalensis(Shaw); see Cave and Macdonald, Birds of the Sudan, 62, a conspicuous
black-and-white bird standing over 4 ft. high, with a i2-in. red bill encircled in the
middle with a broad black band. It is still fairly common on rivers south of the Sobat
and Bahr el-Arab. It was frequently represented on reliefs of late predynastic-proto-
dynastic date, for example on the CarnarvonIvory (JEA 5, pls. i and 2) and the ivory
comb published by Theodore M. Davis (JEA 5, pi. 33), and it seems likely that its con-
spicuous black-and-white colour led to its associationwith Hathor. Certainlythe relief
of Hathor's head on this bowl makes it clear that she was the goddess of the night sky,
and the selection of black-and-white porphyry as the materialfor this striking piece of
temple furniture must have been due to its being reminiscent of the starry sky. One
wonders therefore whether the bowl itself may have been used for magico-religious
ceremonies intended to discern the will of Hathor by interpreting reflections of stars
seen in the bowl when filled with water.

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.116 on Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:45:09 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions