The XIth dynasty temple at Deir el-Bahari .. - NYU | Digital Library ...

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The plan shows where the kings of the XVIIIth
Dynasty erected a sanctuary to the goddess
Hatlior iu the north corner of the XTth Dynasty
temple. The worship of the goddess here was
certainly very ancient even in the time of the
Xlth Dynasty. We saw before that all the prin-
cesses were called her priestesses, at the same
time as they were royal favourites. In the in-
scriptions of the mastabas of the Old Empire the
goddess is often mentioned, and the title of priest
of Hathor is of very frequent occurrence.
However, at present we have not yet found a
part of the temple of the Xlth Dynasty which
was specially dedicated to her. It may have
been in the back part of the temple, since Hathor
is the goddess coming out of the fl -wwvs f\/N/i ,
and we saw that the sanctuary of Men tuhetep II.
was called '^'^^ i— - It is not probable that
Anion alone was worshipped here in the time of
the Xlth Dynasty.
As for the sovereigns of the XV[lltli, we
know that they were fervent woi'shippers of
Hathor. In tlie temple of Hatshepsu there was
a sanctuary of Hnthor Avhich originally Avas
a cave, where, according to tradition, the queen
had been suckled by tlie goddess. It was in the
southern part of the temple, just above that of
the Xlth Dynasty, and built partly over the
enclosure wall. In the back room were pre-
served the sacred emblems of the goddess, cows
probably made of gold or valuable stones. It
is possible tliat the beautiful alabaster head of a
63
CHAPTER VI.
THE HATHOR SHRINE.
By Edouard Naville.
cow found in 1904 (PI. xxv. c), and now in the
British Museum, was part of one of them, which
was broken and thrown into the lower edifice.
Thothmes III. did not usurp the sanctuary
which liad been built by his aunt, where he
was represented behind her, in the second rank,
as everywhere in the temple at Deir el-Bahari.
He built one in the old temple of Mentuhetep.
Hathor being a goddess who comes out of a
mountain, it was necessary to have a cave ;
therefore it was cut in the rock, in the north-
western corner of tlic temple, which originally
was symmetrical to the south-western, and
where the rock followed an oblique direction
between the dromos leading up to the clifl's and
the Northern Court. A triangle was cut in the
mountain, down to a level 3 ft. above the
old temple, making thus a platform lined on the
north and on tlie west by vertical rock-facings.
This platform was prolonged over the limestone
enclosure-wall so as to make room for a fore-
hall, to which evidently access was given by a
stairway or ramp leading to a door (see p. 36).
One of the doorposts was also partly preserved.
It bears hieratic graffiti, with in-oskynemata to
Amon and Hathor, and part of it is now at
Tokyo. In the forehall was little but a mound
of rubbish and the crouching statue in black
syenite of a scribe called Nezem, who lived under
Menephtah and Rameses III. (New York).
When the rubbish was cleared, we could see
on the floor of the forehall the traces of walls,
wliich seemed to indicate that there had been