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

300| ALEXANDRA MIRONOVA
deceased pharaoh in the afterlife. Most likely, this aspect of Hathor
played a key role in the Festival of Xnt @wt-@r (or Hb @wt-@r). H.
Altenmüller suggests that this festival was linked to the beginning
of the Nile’s flood, the renewal of the nature and the ruling pharaoh.
106 It seems that the festival involved ancient rites of the plucking
of the papyrus (zSS wAD) and “making green” the nature
(swAD) 107 represented in the reliefs of some Old Kingdom tombs. 108
The rite zSS wAD referred to the manifestation of Hathor as a cow
emerging from a papyrus thicket. 109 Hence one may suggest that
during the Xnt @wt-@r Festival, which was probably related to the
ritual zSS wAD, the statue of Hathor in the form of a cow played a
key role.
The evidence reviewed above reveals that the Hathoric scene
from the Festival Hall of Akhmenu appears to be a reference to the
Festival of Hathor called Xnt @wt-@r and celebrated in the second
half of inundation. Here are some other arguments confirming this
assumption.
The part of the wall preserving scenes of the Xnt @wt-@r Festival
is at the same time the outer wall of the rooms of the chthonic
god Sokar. 110 Perhaps this evidence emphasizes the relationship
between the cults of Hathor and Sokar. It is known that the Festival
of Sokar was a part of the Khoiak Festival; a celebration of
Osiris’ renewal that took place on IV Axt 20–30 (the month Khoiak).
111 The festival celebrated the triple aspect of Osiris as dead,
dismembered (by the god Seth), and finally restored through piecing
together his disjointed body; in the first state Osiris was called
Khenty-imentiu, in the second – Osiris-Sep and in the third – Sokar.
112 According to the calendar of Thutmose III, the actual Feast
of Sokar took place on IV Axt 20 113, and the calendar at Medinet
106 ALTENMÜLLER (1977) 175.
107 ALTENMÜLLER (1977) 175.
108 Beni Hasan I, Tf. 24; Meir I, Tf. 2; BALCZ (1939) 32–38.
109 see DITTMAR (1983) 67–82; WETTENGEL (1992) 323–338;
ALTENMÜLLER (2002) 1–42.
110 PORTER – MOSS (1972) 115–118, rooms XVI–XXII.
111 SCHOTT (1950) 89–90; GABALLA – KITCHEN (1969) 35–
36. 112 DAUMAS (1975) 958–959; MIKHAIL (1984) 32–33.
113 SCHOTT (1950) Nr. 63; EL-SABBAN (2000) 29–30.