“semitisches pantheon”. eine “männliche tyche” - MOSAIKjournal.com

SPACE AND SCENERY | 297
sky. As a result, we can build the following semantic chain: “solar
altar” = Granite Sanctuary = Fields of Offerings. Therefore, the
buildings of Thutmose III were related both to a specific time
(New Year) and to the afterworld (Fields of Offerings).
THE FESTIVAL OF HATHOR AND THE KARNAK TEMPLE:
POSSIBLE SEMANTIC LINKS
After delineating the relationship between the Opet Festival and
the Karnak temple in general, we proceed to the analysis of a relief
scene depicted in the Festival Hall of Akhmenu. Its wall was decorated
on its south-eastern side with a scene of the bark navigation
(fig. 11). 85 The scene is badly damaged, but one can recognize the
statue of a cow suckling and protecting the pharaoh. Although this
scene was a common topic represented in various New Kingdom
temples 86, its symbolic meaning in the context of the Akhmenu
temple has not been studied properly.
It is known that the motif of the cow suckling the pharaoh
goes back to the myth of the Celestial Cow giving birth to the sungod
Re 87 and to the myth of the goddess Isis, which has nourished
the infant Horus in the marshes of Delta. 88 Egyptian pharaohs,
assimilating themselves to Re or Horus, are presented in temple
and tomb scenes as the sons of the goddess Hathor/Isis. 89 In principle,
the motif of the suckling had a mortuary character and emphasized
the role of Hathor as a nurse and protector of the deceased
whom the goddess renovated to the afterlife. 90
85 PORTER – MOSS (1972) 110 (333), plan XII (2); BARGUET
(1962) 174.
86 Cf. e. g. the relief scenes from Hathor chapels of the mortuary
temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Deir el-Bahari:
PORTER – MOSS (1972) 350 (28). 380.
87 Cf. the myth of the birth of Re out of MHt wrt: Urk. V, 36–
38; NAVILLE (1886) 17 (34–35).
88 Cf. the texts accompanying the scenes of Hathor-cow licking
the hand of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari: Urk. IV, 237 (15–
17). 239 (10–13).
89 МАТЬЕ (1996) 155; cf. e. g. the tomb scene of Isis suckling
Thutmose III: PORTER – MOSS (1964) 553, pillar A (b).
90 Urk. IV, 239 (11–13); BARGUET (1962) 150. 286, n. 1.