Image Details

Drawing By Keel

Sometimes the mother animal suckling her young clearly represents a divinity. In Egyptian art, the goddess Hathor appears as a cow. On the rock paintings found in a shrine sacred to Hathor at Deir el-Bahari, in central Egypt, she is depicted suckling members of the royal family. Identifiable as the sacred cow goddess by the sun symbol between the horns, Hathor (shown here, compare with drawing depicting the young Pharaoh Amenhotep II) suckles Queen Hatshepsut. The god Amun stands beneath the head of the cow goddess.