Hesat is an ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

. She was said to provide humanity with milk (called "the beer of Hesat") and in particular to suckle the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

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 subterrane ...

she is said to be the mother of

Anubis Anubis (; grc, Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian () is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depict ...

and of the deceased king. She was especially connected with

Mnevis Mnevis (, ) is the Hellenized name of an ancient Egyptian bull god which had its centre of worship at Heliopolis, and was known to the ancient Egyptians as ''Mer-wer'' or ''Nem-wer''. Although initially a separate god, it was later assimila ...

, 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 (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

. In

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

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sk ...

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

, 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 of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

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