Hathor Column
The Hathorsäule (also Hathorpfeiler or Sistrumsäule ) is an ancient Egyptian column type . It consists of a round shaft or pillar and a two-story capital . The lower half of the capital is two or four sided and shows a face of the cow-eared goddess Hathor on each side . The top has the shape of a sistrum , which is considered a typical musical instrument of the goddess.
The Hathor column developed from the fetish of female Egyptian deities and has been widespread in Egypt since the Middle Kingdom . The earliest examples can be found in the temple of Bastet in Bubastis ( 12th Dynasty ). Hathor pillars are most frequently found in temples of female deities (Hathor, Isis or Queen), for example in Serabit el-Chadim or in the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari , from the late period mainly in birth houses ( Mammisi ). The Hathor Column blossomed in Greco-Roman times and is richly decorated in many temples of this time. In the temple of Dendera it reaches heights of up to 14 m. In Opet Temple of Karnak and Nektanebos kiosk of Philae it occurs in combination with composite capitals on.
literature
- Dieter Arnold : The temples of Egypt . Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-7608-1073-X , p. 65 .
- Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Albatros, 2000, ISBN 3-491-96001-0 , pp. 97-98, → Hathor's column.
- J. Peter Phillips: The Columns of Egypt . Peartree Publishing, Manchester 2002, ISBN 0-9543497-0-9 , pp. 20 .
- Edith Bernhauer: Hathor columns and Hathor pillars . Ancient Egyptian architectural elements from the New Kingdom to the Late Period. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-447-05214-7 ( online [accessed January 7, 2012]).
