In his interpretation of figure 5 in facsimile 2 (the hypocephalus) of the Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith associated a cow figure with the sun (not the moon . . . ) This is the goddess Hathor, and she was associated with the sun. For a previous discussion of Hathor, see Figure 5: the Cow and the Sun on Jeff Lindsay's Web Page, Questions About the Book of Abraham, Part 2: Evidences for Plausibility.
In his entry for “Hathor,” M. Heerma Van Voss wrote the following:
I. Hathor (“Mansion of à “Horus”) is an Egyptian goddess. According to CLÉDAT (1919), Hathor occurs as the second element in the place-name Pî haḥîrôt, Exod 14:2, 9; Num 33:7-8. The first part renders Eg pr, “House (of)”, but was interpreted (KB) as Heb “Mouth (of the Canals)”.
II. Hathor is often pictured as a woman in the prime of life. Sometimes, however, bovine ears, and frequently horns betray her original, non-anthropomorphic shape. She is a cow from time immemorial. Hathor creates and sustains life in that capacity. The same applies to her as a tree goddess, the “Lady of the (South) Sycamore” (à Sycamore). She, the “Lady of the West”, assists the revived dead as well. Both maternal and sexual love, merriment and festival, singing and playing music, dancing and drinking are characteristic of her. She is strongly attached to women; the Greek identify her with à Aphrodite.
As the heavenly cow, Hathor gives birth to the sun; this possibly finds expression in her name. She is seen as the eye of his deity and one calls her “Gold” perhaps for that reason. The eye in turn is equated with the cobra (Uraeus). At the same time, the goddess is the spouse of the sun or light god: è Re in Heliopolis and Horus in Edfu. She is not always an attractive and amiable figure. As the grim avenger of an injury (a conspiracy against Re), she would become a ferocious à lioness. Hathor was worshipped throughout the country and even abroad. Her main sanctuaries are in Denderah and Deir el-Bahri. But she is also “Lady of Byblos”, and “Lady of the Turquoise” on the Sinai peninsula.
This many-sided, complicated, and popular deity is not a unique personality. Egyptians distinguish eighteen forms of her. And there is a group of seven Hathors who proclaim the fate of a new-born child.
III. Pî haḥîrôt is situated on the route of the Exodus. It was, according to the Bible, the last halting-place before the crossing of the Sea F Rushes. The identification of CLÉDAT (1919) is open to question It is not satisfactory from an etymological point of view. There has been a “House of Hathor” in the region. Its nature and location are still unknown, however (see GOMAà 1976).
An attempt to find traces of the cult of Hathor the heavenly cow in the North-Israelity cult of the golden calves (Danelius 1967-68) has met with little support. Both the identification of the calves as cows (on the basis of LXX δυο δαμαλεις and Hos 10:5 [ketîb], DANELIUS 1967-68:212), and highly implausible. (M. Heerma Van Voss, “Hathor” in Karel Van Der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Peter W. Van Der Horst, eds. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible [2d ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1999], 385-86).
The references cited above are:
J. Clédat, Notes sur l’isthme de Suez, BIFAO 16 (1919) 201-228
E. Danelius, The Sins of Jerobeam ben Nabath, JQR 58 (1967-68) 95-114.204-223
F. Gomaà, Gebel Abu-Hassa, LdÄ II (1976) 432-433
For more on the facsimiles, be sure to check out:
Kevin L. Barney, The Facsimiles and Semitic Adaptation of Existing Sources
