Relief of a Woman Giving Birth

Relief of a Woman Giving Birth

Hathor was worshipped at her main cult center at Dendera and in other places in Egypt. She was later identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She acted as nurse and was the patroness of pregnant woman in the confinement chamber. In the story of the Doomed Prince, seven Hathor nurses were mentioned in the context of protecting the newly born prince. In the legend of the divine birth of Queen Hatshepsut, and of King Amenhotep the third, the seven Hathor cow nurses took care of the newly born child and his Ka or guardian spirit, and provided him with milk and protection.

This plaque shows a woman on the birthing-chair, being assisted by two women with Hathor heads and crowns, the Hathor crown consists of two horns with the sun disk between them and tall plumes. The figures of the women are rendered in frontal view, and are nearly three-dimensional. They are carved in low-relief, that was characteristic of the Ptolemaic period. The stone was placed as an ex-voto, most probably by a pious person, at the temple of Hathor in Dendera, to thank the goddess for helping in a confinement.

TANTYRA/DENDERA

GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD: PTOLEMAIC PERIOD

Inventory number JE 40627

EGYPTIAN MUSEUM

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=14842