Comments on: More word play http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/2007/12/02/more-word-play/ An Egyptologist's blog about everything ancient Egyptian Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:41:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Margaret http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/2007/12/02/more-word-play/comment-page-1/#comment-1174 Margaret Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:21:29 +0000 http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/2007/12/02/more-word-play/#comment-1174 Thanks Izzy! I think the Egyptians would have seen that there were several layers of symbolic meaning. There's definitely an order vs. chaos theme, but there seems to be lots of fertility symbolism too. Isis did hide her son in the marshes and nursed him, but Hathor was also thought to have taken that role and there are numerous depictions of her in divine cow form suckling a child, either Horus or the actual king in Horus-form. The Egyptians always had multiple versions of stories! Thanks Izzy! I think the Egyptians would have seen that there were several layers of symbolic meaning. There’s definitely an order vs. chaos theme, but there seems to be lots of fertility symbolism too.

Isis did hide her son in the marshes and nursed him, but Hathor was also thought to have taken that role and there are numerous depictions of her in divine cow form suckling a child, either Horus or the actual king in Horus-form. The Egyptians always had multiple versions of stories!

]]> By: Izzy http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/2007/12/02/more-word-play/comment-page-1/#comment-1129 Izzy Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:34:39 +0000 http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/2007/12/02/more-word-play/#comment-1129 I love these articles...I'd heard a bit about the idea of the 'marsh scenes' being almost an innuendo for sex, but I first thought that this was actually a modern interpretation of a scene that really meant nothing more than hunting in the marshes. I mean, I see where it comes from, I'm sure loads of innuendo can be seen from a big long hard object being driven into a moist, fertile environment, lol! But you're saying this sexual meaning of the marsh scenes was actually how the ancient Egyptians saw it, not a modern view? There's one other thing...I thought the goddess who hid Horus in the marshes to nurture him was Isis, not Hathor? The stories of Isis and Horus hiding from Set in the marshes, and all the various scorpion-related myths that arose from that, are very well known, part of the great Isis-Osiris-Horus saga. I've seen scenes of Hathor as the nurturing cow but I've never heard of her, instead of Isis, doing the nursing of Horus in the marshes specifically... I love these articles…I’d heard a bit about the idea of the ‘marsh scenes’ being almost an innuendo for sex, but I first thought that this was actually a modern interpretation of a scene that really meant nothing more than hunting in the marshes. I mean, I see where it comes from, I’m sure loads of innuendo can be seen from a big long hard object being driven into a moist, fertile environment, lol! But you’re saying this sexual meaning of the marsh scenes was actually how the ancient Egyptians saw it, not a modern view?

There’s one other thing…I thought the goddess who hid Horus in the marshes to nurture him was Isis, not Hathor? The stories of Isis and Horus hiding from Set in the marshes, and all the various scorpion-related myths that arose from that, are very well known, part of the great Isis-Osiris-Horus saga. I’ve seen scenes of Hathor as the nurturing cow but I’ve never heard of her, instead of Isis, doing the nursing of Horus in the marshes specifically…

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