A Magical Encounter with Goddess Hathor

Djehuti-emhab, an official of Pharaoh Ramses, had a detailed description of his personal encounter with the Goddess Hathor inscribed on the walls of his tomb in Thebes. These inscriptions are quite unique when compared to other Theban tombs.

Here is Djehuti-emhab’s hymn and encounter with the Goddess:

A hymn of the Golden One, Eye of Ra,
who kisses the earth for her spirit.

A prayer to her beautiful face, applauding her every day,
of Osiris, the overseer of the fields of the temple of Amun, Djehuti-emhab, the justified.

He said:

“I have arrived to stand before you, Lady of the Two Lands, Hathor, Great of Love.
Behold [I praised the sun god] for your beautiful face, and I kissed the earth for your [spirit].

I am a real priest of yours
and I am upon the waters of your command.

I don’t cast aside the speech of your mouth; I don’t ignore your teachings.
I am upon the path of that which you yourself have given,
upon the road that you have made.

How happy is the moment for the one who knows you;
every one who sees you is praised.

How joyful it is, when them that enter your shadow rest by your side!
You are the one who predicted my tomb chapel at the beginning, as it was first decided.

That which you said, has happened;
your plan is completed
and a place is made for my mummy.

You will give me old age, and my rest,
while I [am] healthy and satisfied with life,
my eye able to see, and all my limbs complete.

You are one who has spoken to me yourself, with your own mouth—
‘I am the beautiful Hely,
my shape being that [form] of Mut;
I have arrived in order to instruct you:
See, your place—fill it with your being,
without traveling north, without traveling south’—

While I was in a dream,
while the earth was in silence,
in the deep of the night.
At dawn, my heart was delighted,
I was rejoicing and I gave myself over to the West in order to do as she said.

For you are a goddess who does what she says,
a noble lady to whom one owes obedience.

I have not neglected your speech;
I have not transgressed your plans.
I perform only according to that which you said.
Place your face in order to let me bow down to it.

Reward [me] with your beauty,
that I may perceive your form within my tomb
in order that I may speak to the people of your power,
in order to make young men know of it.”

~ Translated by K. Szpakowska