The picture shows a sacred speckled cow with saddle-cloth, Hathor, though with overtones of Mehet-weret, with an ankh around her neck, and the atef crown on her head, coming out of the Western Mountain at Thebes. The mountain is speckled with stone nodules and in front of it stands a pyramidion capped tomb. An inscription on the tomb seems to read ‘Words spoken by Hathor, Lady of the Western Mountains’. A winged wadjet carrying the shen sign for eternity is above the cow goddess, and in front is a clump of papyri in a bowl. Wepwawet, sits dog-like, with the baton of the Opener of the Ways and the winged serpent appears above him too. The baton is a kherep sceptre with menats suspended from the handle.

In this scene Hathor perhaps takes on some of the aspects of Mehet-weret, within who she is frequently connected, particularly in the 18th Dynasty. Geraldine Pinch (1993: 175) states that Mehet-weret was commonly associated with the ‘lotus and cow’ motif, which is not the scene here. The ‘papyrus motif’ which is shown here perhaps refers to Hathor and the suckling of Horus in the marshes of Chemmis. However, Desroches-Noblecourt, C. and Kuentz, C. (1968 Le petit temple d’Abou Simbel. Cairo: 112-4) have argued that Hathor and Mehet-weret often almost interchangeable. Pinch (1993: 175) draws attention to a recumbrant cow on a shrine with text referring to her as Mehet-weret, but wearing a menit counterpoise inscribed ‘Hathor Foremost of Thebes’. Additionally, in some vignettes of the Book of the Dead the cow in the western mountain is said to be Mehet-weret (Pinch 1993: 181).

The motif of Hathor coming out of the mountain is a common vignette of the 21st Dynasty Book of the Dead, Spell 186 (Niwinski 1989: 140). The spell reads: Hathor, lady of the West; She of the West; Lady of the Sacred land; Eye of Re which is on his forehead; kindly of countenance in the Bark of Millions of Years; a resting place for him who has done right within the boat of the blessed; who built the Great Bark of Osiris in order to cross the water of truth.

Hathor was ‘Lady of the Western Mountain’ and particularly associated with the Valley of the Queens. A natural water basin there, perhaps reinforces the meaning of the papyrus clump (papyrus needs a lot of water). Pinch (1993: 179) states that the ‘cow and mountain’ motif is first appears at Deir el-Bahri on votive stelae and textiles from mid or late 18th Dynasty. It is common on votive and funerary stelae of 19th-21st Dynasties from Thebes, is not found in temple reliefs or tombs of kings but does occur in tombs of some Rammeside queens. Additionally, although Hathor is shown in cow form in early 18th Dynasty tombs, the cow and mountain motif does not figure in tomb decoration until after the Amarna Period. It also occurs on shabti boxes and of course on Theban Third Intermediate Period Coffins (like ours). It is rare outside this area.

Caves are frequently associated with Hathor, thus the cow may be emerging from a cave in the mountain. However, depictions of her seem to suggest she is emerging from the ‘living’ rock. The Qurn of the western mountain, the natural ‘pyramid’ above the Valley of the Kings and Queens, seems to have been considered, like the benben stone, a primeval mound which rose above the waters of chaos. It was thus full of life giving force. Other gods too, seem to be seen as emerging from mountains. For example, above Deir el Bahri (Donohue 1992) a serpent may be seen in the natural rock. At Gebel Barkall, Timothy Kendall (1988) describes a similar emergent snake.

Mehet-weret means ‘Great Flood,’ linking her with the primeval waters of the Nut (which enhances the meaning of the papyrus clump). In the Old Kingdom she was believed to have helped the pharaoh and Re reach the sky by the underworld Nile. She was goddess of the yearly inundation and often has a menat necklace round her neck and carries a sceptre. She arose of the primeval waters, which may explain the papyrus clump. In her sky aspect, like Nun, she swallowed the sun each evening and gave birth to it in the morning.

Mehet-weret is also sometimes related to Nut or to Neith. Neith too may be shown as a cow wearing a collar with an ankh around its neck.

Hathor here wears the ankh around her neck. This depiction of her also appears much later in the mammisi of the temple at Philae which dates to the Greaco Roman Period.

Hathor and Mehet-weret were both celestial goddesses who could take the form of a cow. In spell 168 of the Book of the Dead both are identified as the Wadjet Eye of Horus, which helps explain the winged Wadjet above the celestial cow on our coffin. The Eye of Horus or Re (both may be confused in Egyptian ideology) symbolises certain goddess as instruments of the sun god. ÄS 6265 (Wein 1994) similarly has the Wadjat eye with shen symbol and the neb sign above the celestial cow. ÄS 6266 (Wein 1994) has a winged Wadjet with eye labelled Neith above the Hathor cow. On the Leiden coffin of Amenhotep (El Sayed 1982: I, 142, II 393-4 no 425) the name of the winged serpent is given as Neith, mistress of the Duat (underworld). The winged serpent on the Swansea coffin can thus be identified as Neith. Neith too could be identified as a cow with an ankh around her neck, at least in the Late Period (el Sayed 1982: II, 469 no.644 pl.X). 

The superstructure depicted here ceased being built in the Rammesside period but continued to be depicted on coffins. It is a classic tomb structure of the village of Deir el-Medina.

Berman, L.M. 1999. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of Egyptian Art. New York: Hudson Hills Press.

Desroches-Noblecourt, C. and Kuentz, C. 1968. Le petit temple d’Abou Simbel. Cairo.

Donohue, V.A. 1992. The goddess of the Theban Mountain. Antiquity 66, 871-85

Van Voss, M.H., 1992. Zur Göttin Hepetethor. In Luft, U., ed the Intellectual Heritage of Egypt. Studies Presented To László Kákosy By Friends and Colleaugues On The Occasion Of His 60^th Bithday. Studia Aegyptica 14.Budapest: La Chaire d’Égyptologie, 265-266.

Wein, 1994. CAA Kunsthistorisches Museum Wein 10.

Niwinski, A. 1989. Studies On The Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C. Fribourg: Biblical Institute of the University of Fribourg Switzerland.

Pinch, G. 1993. Votive Offerings to Hathor. Oxford: Griffith Institute.

el-Sayed, Ramadan, 1982. La Déese Neith de Saïs: Importance et rayonnement de sa cult. IFAO: Cairo