Hathor (E)

DENDERA

La sacra terra della dea

The Egyptians believed that at the beginning of time there were eight physical entities (male and female): Nun - Nunet, Heh - Hehet, Kek - Keket and Amon - Amonet, respectively: liquid - solid, infinite - bordered, dark - light and hidden - known.

The creation would have occurred with the appearance in the great cosmic ocean, Nun, of something that was solid, bounded, bright and well-known.

The Egyptians personified the various physical concepts, for which the first deity was Nun.

As the primordial elements are aggregated, showed up the first stars and the first galaxies.

In the future solar system were the primordial elements and the cosmic energy, Hathor. When aggregation was high enough to ignite thermonuclear reactions, it became evident the Sun, concept expressed by the Egyptian priests with the fact that the cow Hathor would take the sun between her horns and would take him to heaven.

The fact that the cosmic energy, Hathor, was represented in the form of heavenly cow is almost certainly linked to the fact that the cosmogony was conceived during the Age of Taurus. Having associated the Sun with a bull creator and fertilizer, proved consequential associate Hathor with a heavenly cow.

The Egyptian priests went further and synthesized these physical concepts assuming that in addition to Sun there was a female Sun.

The Egyptians priests / astronomers had noticed that the sun and other celestial bodies are traveling along a particular path, the ecliptic, while the other stars seemed fixed, they did not change their relative position, while seemingly moving in the sky.

The Egyptians joined as the stars of the solar system to the hawks, which by their nature fly high in the sky.

The Sun was associated with Hor-ackty, "Horus of the double horizon", while the female Sun was associated with Horus the ancient, the first appearance of the solar system.

As the hawks, at the two Suns were associated two eyes, which were obviously personified. The Sun Ra-Horackty was associated with the lioness goddess Sekhmet and the cat goddess Bastet, respectively the punitive and benevolent eye, while the female Sun, Horus the ancient, was associated with the goddess Hathor (right eye) and the god Sah (left eye).

These two Suns attracted stellar matter and gave birth to the planets. The first was Mercury, which as planet in the morning and in the evening was associated with two deities, respectively, Horus the young and the crocodile god Sobek.

The other planets besides the Earth, were called: Horus the red (Mars), Horus who knows the mystery (Jupiter) and Horus the Bull (Saturn).

This initial configuration of the solar system was thus associated with eight major deities : Ra with his eyes Sekhmet and Bastet, Horus the ancient with her eyes Hathor and Sah, Horus the young - Sobek, Ptah (Saturn), Atum / Min (Jupiter), Shu (Uranus), Tefnut (Neptune) and Geb (earth).

Humanity and the Egyptian civilization was considered to be the daughter of Ra and Hathor and their son, personified in the god Ihy.

The Egyptians believed, like the Sumerians, that in the solar system occurred, in relatively recent times, a big catastrophe due to the arrival of an alien planet, embodied in the winged serpent Apophis. The gravitational collision between the new planet and the planet associated with Horus the ancient (Hathor and Sah) determined:

	the movement of the planet of Hathor into a new orbit closer to the sun, becoming the planet Venus;
	the displacement of the satellite of Sah toward the center of the solar system and its capture by the Earth, becoming the Moon;
	the stop of the intruder planet and its placement in an orbit close to the location of the battle, becoming the new planet Mars.

This new situation led to the transfiguration of the soul of Hathor in the star Sirius (Alpha Canis Major), of the soul of Sah in the star Betelgeuse (alpha Orion), of the soul of Apophis in the star Aldebaran (Alpha Taurus), the association of Venus with La Fenice (stellar rebirth), of the Moon with the god of wisdom Thoth and of Mars with Montu, god of stellar battles.

In the pre-dynastic period was realized a first unification of the Two Lands and the new kings were considered "children" of Ra and Hathor and said Horsamtaui, the Horus unifying of the Two Lands.

After a period of clashes between the kings of the Two Lands, the kings of Upper Egypt built a new unification, which led to the dynastic period. This new union was supported by the creation of the myth of Osiris, the good sovereign fact to murder the evil brother Seth. The wife of Osiris, Isis, was able to be impregnated by the husband dead and mummified and the fruit of the miraculous union was Horus, son of Isis and heir of Osiris.

The idea of the divinity murdered led to syncretism with some cosmic deities and to new planetary associations:

	- Osiris was associated with Sah and then with the constellation of Orion and the moon (crescent);
	- Isis was associated with Hathor and then with the celestial cow and Sirius;
	- Seth was associated with Apophis and with the constellation of Taurus;
	- Venus was associated with Phoenix in the evening valence and with Horus the son of Isis in the morning valence;
	- Thoth was associated with Mercury in the morning valence, alongside the god Horus the young and leaving the association with the Moon to the god Osiris.

- These scientific-religius hypothesis led to the creation of a temple that glorify the syncretic goddesses Hathor and Isis, the temple of Dendera, built where the priests believed the goddess Isis was born.

The large terrace was used to celebrate the start of the civil New Year, with the exposure of the living statue of Hathor to the rays of Sun Ra, and to celebrate the Mysteries of Osiris in the six chapels built in the northern part of the terrace.

The celebration of the death and stellar resurrection of Osiris suggested, finally, to the priests of the new religion of Christianity to dedicate the temple of Dendera to the rites of the Christian Easter, assimilating the Madonna to Isis and Jesus to Osiris.