Hathor
is the goddess of music, feasting and beauty. She is also the goddess
of joy, dance, love and the heart's gladness. She is sometimes represented
as a woman with cow horns on her head. The cow was a status symbol
for ancient Egyptians as a Mercedes Benz would be today. She is one
of the most influencial, yet mysterious, of all the Egyptian dieties.
Her presence in the mythology is found under one of many names. She
was so important that some ancient Egyptians would not want to say her
name.
Oneday, Ra, the sun god, looked down in horror to see his children were
deep in sin. Ra decided it
was time to punish humankind and choose the goddess Hathor to help
him.
Ra explained to Hathor she had three days in which to teach humankind
a lesson in respect to their
creator. Hathor assumed the form of leopard and went to earth. Ra went
to bed.
The next day, he looked down and was in complete shock to see Hathor
had killed almost everyone
on earth. He realized he needed to act quickly or there would not be
anyone left to worship him. That
night, Ra took on human shape and went to earth. He found blood as
high as a man's chest running
through the streets. Thinking quickly, he added barley and dates to
the blood and then left the scene.
Before killing the remaining people, Hathor smelled the fermented beer
and began to lap it up. She
staggered into the shadows and fell asleep for two days and nights.
When she woke, her time for
killing had passed. The human race was saved. Beer had been born.
