THE SHRINE OF HATHOR.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 376, 8 July 1911, Page 5

THE SHRINE OF HATHOR.

The explorations carried on in the Thebes district are of the moat importance, not merely to the historian, but to the artistic world. In connection with explorations at the temple of Queen Hatshepsu, discovery was made of a much earlier temple, one which belongs to the Xlth Dynasty, and which is not only on a larger scale, but is the only remnant in architecture of that dynasty yet found. A large load of carvings has been sent to King's College. The reference to the figure from the Shrine of Hathor is as follows: —"But the richest discovery of all, and of many years, was the Shrine of the goddess herself, containing a magnificent life-sized figure of the cow. It is the first time a goddess has been found undisturbed in her sanctuary. No Italian artist of to-day could have produced a finer work. The image is of limestone, like marble painted reddish brown with black spots, like some of the cattle to be seen in Egypt to-day. The goddess is suckling a little boy, and the same person stands as a man under her head. The cow wears the special insignia of the goddess. Around the walls of the shrine, which was 10?t by 6ft, were many sculptured scenes. The shrine and its contents had been preserved by a fall of soil and rock down the mountain side, into which the shrine had been pierced. The shrine and its contents are now being reconstructed in the Cairo Muusejm." Several of the leading illustrated papers in Europe have given pictures of this astonishing group, which makes it clear that art went as close to nature 3500 years ago as it does to-day.