The Goddess Hathor
Description
Object Label: The complex nature of Egyptian deities is often indicated by their attributes. Osiris’s tightly wrapped mummy shroud and his crook and flail (symbolizing kingship) point to the legend of Osiris’s murder, mummification, and subsequent resurrection as the ruler of the underworld. The cobra held by his wife, Isis, represents the magic that revived her husband and guarded their son, Horus. As the rightful heir to Osiris’s throne and the embodiment of kingship, the falcon-god Horus wears the Double Crown. Animals can also reveal divine qualities. The cow or cow-human forms of Hathor refer to her role as provider of milk to Horus and to young kings of Egypt. Bastet, another benevolent female deity, appears as a cat or cat-headed woman, carrying a basket and sistrum. Certain deities, including Neith, Ptah, Nefertem, and Imhotep, were portrayed in human form. The ancient protectress Neith, associated with war and hunting, wears the flat-topped Red Crown of Lower Egypt. The Memphite creator-god Ptah holds a staff with hieroglyphs for life and permanence. Ptah’s son, Nefertem, a lotus on his head (symbolizing rebirth), defends Maat with his scimitar. Imhotep, the deified architect of Djoser’s pyramid, shares Ptah’s close-fitting cap, and the papyrus on his lap emphasizes wisdom and creativity. Caption: The Goddess Hathor, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. or later. Bronze, gold, electrum, 7 1/2 x 1 7/16 x 2 7/8 in. (19 x 3.7 x 7.3 cm) mount (display dimensions): 10 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (25.4 x 6.4 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.356E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Bronze (metal) statuette of a female standing figure with a tall wig and a broad, disk-topped headdress, presented frontally.
The image shows a dark bronze statuette of a female deity standing upright on a rectangular base. She wears a tightly coiffed, tall wig and a large, fan-like headdress/halo at the top, with a disk-like element centered above the head. The figure is nude or minimally dressed, with pronounced stylized facial features and simplified arms held close to the body. She has an emblem or pendant-like shape at the chest and a small belt-like band at the waist. The base appears to have faint incised marks consistent with an inscription, but the characters are not legible in the image provided. No cartouches are clearly visible. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.356E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4027 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.