Hesat is an ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a cow. She was said to provide humanity with milk (called "the beer of Hesat") and in particular to suckle the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

and several ancient Egyptian bull gods. In the

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...

she is said to be the mother of

Anubis Anubis (; ), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine hea ...

and of the deceased king. She was especially connected with Mnevis, the living bull god worshipped at Heliopolis, and the mothers of Mnevis bulls were buried in a cemetery dedicated to Hesat. In Ptolemaic times (304–30 BC) she was closely linked with the goddess

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

. In

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian pantheon, Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part ...

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

is one of the main cattle deities as she is the mother of

Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

and Ra and closely associated with the role of royalty and kingship. Hesat is one of Hathor's manifestations, usually portrayed as a white cow representing purity and the milk that she produces to give life to humanity. Other feminine bovine deities include Sekhat-Hor, Mehet-Weryt, and Shedyt. Their masculine counterparts include Apis, Mnevis, Sema-wer, Ageb-wer.

Artistic representations

While there are not many images of Hesat that are recorded and published, there are a few representations on pieces that belong to major museums worldwide. The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

has in its collection ''Scarab with the Representation of Hathor as a Cow''. The hieroglyphs on this late period piece read ḥȜst or ḥsȜt determined with a recumbent cow with the following hieroglyphs: HA V17 t This spelling of her name is using cryptographic substitution, which became established in the New Kingdom. Traditionally phonetic spellings of Hesat's name from earlier periods were usually written as follows: V28 O34 G39 G1 t E4

References

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer Egyptian goddesses Animal goddesses Cattle deities Hathor