Egypt Exploration Society

An Archaic Representation of Ḥatḥōr

Author(s): A. J. Arkell
Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 41 (Dec., 1955), pp. 125-126
Published by: Egypt Exploration Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3855255
Accessed: 24-01-2016 15:06 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 157.138.1.34 on Sun, 24 Jan 2016 15:06:26 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS 125
top of the wig (see fig.). The purposeof these symbolsof life must be the magicalone of bestowing
it on the jar or its contents,though this featureis not otherwiseattestedin this connexion.'
The other stopper (K) is entirely hand-mouldedwith similartraces of pigmentation.The face
has a differentexpressionand is beardless,while I (and,presumably,the two missingones) is shown
wearingthe short chinbeard.2The socket is only i in., and thereforemuch shorterthan that of I.
Judgingby their shape and generalappearance,these Canopicjars antedatethe laterpart of the
New Kingdom, when animal-headedstoppers, more obviously representative of the four sons of
Horus,cameinto fashion.The fortunatecircumstances in
of theirbeingnscribed
theircumstances hieraticcharacters
allows them to be dated on palaeographicalgroundsto the first part of the EighteenthDynasty.3
MANFREDCASSIRER

Two Petrie manuscripts

IN unpackingthe PetrieCollection,one page of manuscriptin Petrie'shandwritingwas found which
must have become detached from his Funeral Furniture (published in 1937) before it went to the
printers.It runs as follows:-
'A model of the sarcophagusis sometimesplaced before the figure.
'Those here are
654. Hollow figurein two halves;three long columnsof inscriptionin stucco in front, gilded and
scrapedbare, too rough to be read. Edwards.21-8 h.
655. Solid figure,paintedred,with blue networkoverthe body, and blue hair;columnof inscrip-
tion on front, illegible. i o h.
656. Plain wood figure,goodwork, work 175 h. Hawara.
657. Base of a similar figure, incised "Osiris give life, and Anup in Ut, for Heka". I2 long.
Hawara.
'The Amulets found with the mummyare mainlythe figuresof the gods, and amuletsrelating
to the gods. The arrangementof them is shown in the plans of mummiesin Amulets,pls. 50-54.
'Lastlythe Copticcrossesplacedover the gravesbelongexpresslyto the continuedbelief in the
revivedbody.'
With the abovewas found the missing manuscriptof the Cataloguevolume I4, Glassand Glazes,
also in Petrie'shandwriting,but withoutany illustrations,and with only the numberingof the glass
objects completed. It is hoped that it will be possible to complete this volume and publish it in
due course. A. J. ARKELL

An archaic representation of Heathor

WAINWRIGHT'Ssuggestionin Labyrinth Gerzeh and Mazghuneh, p. 22, that the palette on pl. 6, 7
may representHathor in an astronomicalaspect has receivedstrikingconfirmationfrom a study of
the pieces from the large fluted porphyryjar found by Quibell at Hierakonpolisand publishedin
Hierakonpolis, II, pl. 59, figs. 4-7, and pp. 14 and 3I. Some of the fragments are in the Petrie Collec-
tion at UniversityCollege, London, and others including all those with relief on them, are in the
AshmoleanMuseumat Oxford;and it is by courtesyof the Keeperof the AntiquitiesDepartmentat
the Ashmoleanthat it has been possible to makethis study.
I They cannotbe marks'for the purposeof identification'as on the objectsdescribedby Reisner(op. cit.
64, n. x; cf. Hayes, op. cit. 323).
2
Reisner, op. cit. 62-63. According to Sethe (Zur Geschichted. Einbalsamierungbei den Agyptern, 15), the
face of Imsety is shown beardless during the M.K. because the deity was originally female. On the other hand,
early types of stoppers often show the likeness of the deceased rather than a representation of the sons of Horus.
In the present case, anyhow, it is K.ebhsenuf who lacks the beard.
3 For this statement I am much indebted to
Professor Cernm.Curiously, phrases such as wnn.i m s;.k are
elsewhere attested on late specimens (Dyns. XXII-XXV) only; cf. Reisner, op. cit., 68-69.
M

This content downloaded from 157.138.1.34 on Sun, 24 Jan 2016 15:06:26 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
126 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
It is seen that all these fragmentscome from one large stone bowl about z ft. in diameter,as
Quibell says 'a magnificentvase, similarin shape and size to that on pl. XXXVI. 4' and not only
'adornedwith verticalfluting'but with figuresin relief on the flat rim and with a base ring in relief
representinga ring of grassbound with palm-leaves(as still used as standsforgabanacoffee-potsin
the Sudan-compare also, perhaps,Emery, The Tombof Hemaka,pl. 30, fig. 2). Indeed, it is not
impossiblethat it was made by the hand of the mastercraftsmanwho made the Narmerpalette.
Both werefoundat Hierakonpolis,and a fragmentof the flutedpot in questioncamelikethe Narmer
palette from the main depositthere.
One of the figuresin relief on the rim must have been a head of Hathoras a cow, similarto the
headsin pairsat the top of the Narmerpalette,but with starsat the tip of each horn, on top of the
foreheadand at the tip of each ear. Quibell,op. cit., pl. 59, 5, shows the star at the tip of the right
horn and one ray of the star in the middleof the forehead.But it is the fragmentat the left of fig. 6
which gives all the clues to the solution.The publishedphotographof it shows the star at the tip of
the left ear,but it does not show clearlyeitherthe pupil of the eye in relief(similarto the eye of the
pelican(?)in fig. 4) or-between this eye and the star-a line of herring-boneincisions,like those
inside the cow's ears of Hathor on the Narmerpalette. It does show, also in relief, the left-hand
angularcornerof the base of the Hathorhead(as on the Narmerpaletteand the Gerzehpalette).An
attemptwill be made to reconstructthis uniquejar, and if successfula furthernote on the jar will
be published.
Can any one with a knowledgeof astronomysuggestan actualconstellationwhich mayhavegiven
the ancientEgyptiansthe idea of representingHiathorthus 'pointed'with stars;or was she just the
Cow Lady of Heaven,the sky goddesswho sometimesis representedwith starsas here, sometimes
with the moon between her horns, as frequentlyin Sinai, and sometimesthe sun (Oerny,Ancient
EgyptianReligion,p. 29)? The Cow of Heaven is representedoccasionallywith stars on her belly,
as in the tomb of Sethos I. Probablythe resemblanceof the new moon to a cow's hornswas the
reasonwhy a cow goddesswas first associatedwith the sky. She would then soon be thought of as
giving birth to the moon and the starsat nightfall.In this way seems to have arisenthe conceptof
Hat-hor, 'the house of Horus' the sun-hawk. A. J. ARKELL

Modern designs on predynastic slate palettes

SCHARFFin his Die Altertuiimer
der Vor- und Friihzeit Agyptens (1929), p. 125 and pl. 31I, published
as No. 223 a fish-shapedslate palettewhichwas obtainedin 1900 by Dr. K. Reinhardtin Egypt but
is of unknownprovenance.It is BerlinNo. 14411. It has on it an incised design,which is given in
detail in Abb. 73, and the antiquityof which was doubtedby Scharff.He said he knew of nothing
comparableto it. There is, however,at UniversityCollegeanotherslate palettewhich Petriebought
in Egypt and publishedin PrehistoricEgypt(I920), pl. 45, fig. 24, without any description.It is of
the shapewhich he called the pelta and his type 30 D (pl. 44). Both these slates have a complicated
design, which Scharffthought might be a net. It differsin each case, but in each at the same time
there is a dog-facedman (?)facingright,and a dog-likeanimalwith its tail erectfacingleft. Nothing
aboutthe designsappearsto be Egyptian;and the incisionis done in a peculiarway so that all lines
and hatchingare made up of zigzags,eitherwell spacedout or very close, which look as if they had
been madeby 'walking'a small chisel-shapedtool; and althoughit would not have been impossible
to have done this with a small predynasticcopperchisel, I have little doubtthat thoughthe palettes
are genuine,the designsincised on them are modern,madeby the same hand, and that they belong
to a similar school of forgeriesas the predynasticpots with designs recently painted on them,
publishedby Guy Bruntonin Annalesdu Service,34, 149-56.
A. J. ARKELL

This content downloaded from 157.138.1.34 on Sun, 24 Jan 2016 15:06:26 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions