THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 61 How Hathor ‘Mistress of the Counterweight’ has been used to glorify the precision scale

This is how ancient Egyptians glorified the precision beam balance, using cow goddess Hathor, who was known as ‘the Mistress of the counterweight’ and Sons of Horus-like gods to represent the graduations (big and fractions) of the reading ruler. [illustration representing Hathor]: “Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor, Divine Cow, Towing the Solar Barque, Tomb of Rameses I, Thebes”: https://thebanmappingproject.com/media/18048?site=5605

THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)

Section J • The obsession of the ancient Egyptians for Science and Technology

What egyptologists have really missed is the real cement, but also the obsession that the ancient Egyptians had with knowledge in general, science and technology in particular: their entire civilization was entirely focused on these disciplines. In many ways, they had absolutely nothing to envy of the development that the West achieved around the beginning of the 19th century AD.

Chapter 61 • How Hathor ‘Mistress of the Counterweight’ has been used to glorify the precision scale

In summary: this isn’t the first time I stumble upon something of the highest importance regarding the deciphering of the true nature of the so-called ancient Egyptian religion, something really ground breaking, and at the same time becoming aware that this very particular information seems to have been almost completely gone. Make your own research on goddess Hathor, and you’ll see that almost nobody is mentioning the fact she was known by every Egyptians as ‘Mistress of the counterweight’. Well, if you want to write something about Hathor, ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ is the first thing you want to mention.

There is one major difficulty in the deciphering process applied to Egyptian art, and it is about the problem of determining if what you are looking at is about the operation of the Great Pyramid, or the glorifying process of a scientific principle or technological ‘gizmo’.

This deciphering of Hathor will start with a ‘gizmo’ that almost everybody had faced at least once in his life: a mechanical scale, using a beam with counterweights and a reading ruler; and then we’ll discover the real meaning of Hathor and the crucial place she had in the operation of the impactor of the Great Pyramid. We’ll see that Hathor was had two major functions: act as a counterweight for the two central hauling ropes when descending inside the central wooden Djed caisson, and facilitate the connection with the two bollards of the impactor.

In short, Hathor is the glorification of what I called the hauling plug of the Great Pyramid.

“Menat counterweight with figures of Hathor as a woman and a cow”: metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548610

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cooling of a Solvay-like process (hypothetical).

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery, the hauling process is underway: the impactor is being pulled up.

How to metaphorically represent the fact that a magnifying glass is only meant for one eye: by positioning the Eye of Horus (or the Eye of Ra) on the glass. [left] detail from "The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, outer hypostyle hall in the Temple of Hathor in the Dendera Temple complex, near Dendera, Egypt: first Band west from the centre, showing the full healed moon on a pillar depicted as "Wadjet" the Eye of Horus healed by [the god of Science] Thoth, who is portrayed at the right." Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u:   https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/9295311496

[right] detail from "This engraving shows Dutch mathematician and physicist Jean Henri van Swinden (1746–1823) demonstrating the generation of electricity to the Felix Meritis Society in Amsterdam. The Felix Meritis Society was founded in the late 18th century to promote the arts and sciences (Felix Meritis translates as "Happiness through Merit")". Barbiers, Pieter Pietersz., and Jacques Kuyper. Laid paper, 1800–1899. Science History Institute, Philadelphia U.S.A.:  https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/zg64tm573

61.01  Hathor illustrates the second more iconic symbol of science after the magnifying glass: the precision beam balance and its counterweights

We’ve already seen many times that ancient Egyptians were extraordinary scientists and that they’ve glorified every single part of their knowledge into plethora of metaphors hidden inside what is probably their best accomplishment: the creation of the so-called Egyptian religion. In particular we’ve seen how Egyptians had represented the most iconic symbol of science: the magnifying glass, with a representation of the Eye of Horus on the glass, because the magnifying glass is only meant for one eye.

Here, we’re gonna see how Egyptians had represented the second most iconic symbol of science in their ‘religious reinterpretation’: the precision beam balance, that function with the use of counterweights. And we’ll see that goddess Hathor, who was called ‘Mistress of the counterweight’, was indeed all about these counterweights herself.

Jim Hutton as detective Ellery Queen, looking through a magnifying glass, courtesy of NBC Television: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnifying_glass#/media/File:Jim_Hutton_Ellery_Queen_1976.JPG

The ancient Egyptian way of glorifying the beam balance scale with counterweight. “Ancient Egypt, Painting, Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor, Divine Cow, Towing the Solar Barque, Tomb of Rameses I, Thebes”. Kheker frieze; Book of Gates, second division (P)/third hour (H), middle register, scene 11: Bark of the Earth. Image 10489: https://thebanmappingproject.com/media/18048?site=5605

61.02  Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ and the glorification of a beam balance scale

What a strange painting that the one represented on the above photograph from The Theban Project (ARCE), right? This is the comment accompanying the photograph: “Ancient Egypt, Painting, Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor, Divine Cow, Towing the Solar Barque, Tomb of Rameses I, Thebes”.

“Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor”, really? Isn’t there a billion things about this painting that doesn’t look right? Or questionable? Of course, when you look at all these weird paintings from the ancient world, the first reflex is to discard the possibility that underneath each and every single detail is a very precise and concrete meaning. It’s really tempting; even more if you haven’t understood a thing about what ancient Egyptians really were in real life.

So, of course I realize I sound so pretentious, right. I know, but again this is the way it is; and of course the above painting has an extremely specific and practical meaning: what you’re looking at isn’t “gods tethered to Hathor”, but a beautiful and esoteric glorifying representation of a very simple beam scale, with counterweight; because again, the most important epithet we have about Hathor, is ‘Mistress of the counterweight’.

Egyptologists are explaining to us that ancient Egyptians used to have heavy collars coupled with counterweights, and that would be the reason why Hathor is so strongly associated with counterweights. But, strangely, in modern times, you never see women wearing such counterweights even when they are showing off extremely heavy and luxurious collars. But of course, egyptologists didn’t get, or didn’t want to admit, that everything we know about ancient Egyptians is only relative to science and technology. Probably, there isn’t anything else than science and technology, period.

So of course, if Hathor was known as ‘Mistress of the counterweight’, it only because of the use of such tools, in a scientific and technological way. It has nothing to do with pretty women wearing heavy collars. On the above painting, we’ll see that the reason why Hathor is represented in the form of a beam, it is because as ‘Mistress of the counterweight’, she was used to represented and glorify the operation of a precision beam scale.

“The counterweight alone was a magical symbol of the goddess Hathor, and in the New Kingdom small menats were dedicated to the goddess by those visiting her sanctuaries.” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548610

“This amulet represents a "menat," a counterweight often made of metal worn on the back to keep large necklaces in place. "Menats" were regarded not only as jewelry but also as ritual objects sacred to the goddess Hathor, who was called, among many other titles, "Mistress of the Counterweight." This small-scale "menat" amulet shows the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet - closely associated with Hathor - wearing the sun disk and a broad collar. Below appears an "udjat," the eye of Horus, between two rearing cobras. The disk at the bottom depicts another pair of snakes spreading large protective wings around a seated deity in the middle.” https://art.thewalters.org/object/48.1626/

Illustration: antique iron balance beam hanging scale stamped by the maker H. Smith Middltown CT.: https://www.walpoleantiques.com/balance-beam-hanging-scales

The triple beam balance is with the double beam balance, the most commonly precision balance used in both middle school and high school science classes:  https://www.amazon.com/Parco-Scientific-PA0080-Balance-Capacity/dp/B07KFNNQF6?th=1

The ‘tethered to Hathor’ gods only are a representation of the reading marks of a beam scale’s ruler.

61.03  Hathor was also the ‘ruler-goddess’ because a scale needs a graduated rule: the 'tethered' gods are the reading marks

Now that we know that the real meaning of the above painting is about the glorification of a beam scale, we understand why there are two heads of Hathor at the ends of the central beam: on a beam scale, the counterweights are moving in both directions on the beams, from left to right and from right to left.

But there is something else: look closely at the beam in that painting and you’ll see that there is the exact same little notches that there is on the lower beam(s) of beam scales. These notches are very important, because the first step in the weighing process with such scale, is to immobilize the lower counterweight into one of these notches before finding the balance point with the upper beam, or the other beams for triple or quadruple beam scale.

“[Hathor] The ruler-goddess” https://symbolreader.net/2015/06/21/hathor-the-exuberant-goddess-of-abundant-life/

So, the notches are about the weighing process, and finding the balance, but once this is done, you have to read the result by using the ruler that is on the beam. Not only, Hathor was also known as the ‘ruler-goddess’, but look closely to all these gods ‘tethered’ to the beam. And look also at all these little other gods on top of the beam. Doesn’t that remind you of something? Doesn’t it look like the perfect representation of the ruler itself, with a full size god, then a half size god, then another full size god, and another half size god, and so on? 

And there is something else. Remember, we’ve just seen in previous Section 53 that the Four Sons of Horus are the glorification of the four skate blades of the impactor of the Great Pyramid, and if you just look at it, you’ll see that the full size and half size gods on the painting representing a beam scale, look just like some representations of the Four Sons of Horus.

So, what happened, is that Egyptians used the fact the skate blades could be also used metaphorically as real blades and that it is these blades that would have created the grooves on the beam of a scale. This is why they’ve used not the real Four Sons of Horus, but other gods who just look like the Sons of Horus: they only wanted to use the fact the Sons of Horus skate blades could be seen as cutting blades. Do you see how elaborate and beautiful that is?

The Four Sons of Horus (jackal, falcon, baboon and human headed), represented ‘full size’. Photograph by Asl Fayl:  https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayl:Meresimen_osiris_quatre_fils_four_sons_horus_Louvre_N4024.jpg

The Four Sons of Horus ‘half size’. Detail of a wall painting in the Tomb of Nefertari (QV66), Valley of the Queens, West Thebes: https://www.facebook.com/Egypt.Museum/posts/the-four-sons-of-horus-duamutef-qebehsenuef-hapi-and-imsety-were-a-group-of-four/3643649772337554/

61.04  Egyptians probably have glorified both the double and triple beam balance all at the same time

It took me some time to get to the hypothesis I’m presenting today, because if it is absolutely certain Egyptians used beam balances, which type was that? Today, there is only two major mechanical precision balances still used all over the world, in particular in middle and high school science classes:

• the double beam scale, with two plates (the second plate allows you to disregard gravity and you can measure the mass of an object placed on the first plate)

• the triple beam balance, which only has one single plate to put the object on (this gives you the weight of the object)

My guess, is that Egyptians decided to glorify both balances in the same representations. If I say that it is because there are some characteristics of both balances in the above painting and in the artifacts known as sistrum. Here, this is only the sistrum with the head of Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ that count. For example

• the above painting is showing two rows of markings (the full size and half size Sons of Horus-like gods)

• the sistrum with the head of Hathor always show three pairs of holes for three metallic rods

• a traditional gift for Hathor was either one or two mirrors (and of course, the temptation to see into these mirrors the representation of the plate(s) of the balance

So I think it is fair to say that Egyptians used both types of balance, the double and the triple beam balance, just like we still do today, in particular in the middle and high school science classes. Both balances are complementary, and I think Egyptians wanted to glorify them both at the same time.

The triple beam balance is commonly used in middle school and high school science classes; it has three beams and only one single plate:  https://www.amazon.com/Parco-Scientific-PA0080-Balance-Capacity/dp/B07KFNNQF6?th=1

Double beam balance scale, with two beams and two plates. “Vision Scientific VB150 2000g Economy Double Pan Balance with Weight Set”: https://www.amazon.ca/Vision-Scientific-Economy-Double-Balance/dp/B08BSZ9M8C

61.05  The 'votive mirrors' of Hathor: the plates of the balance hypothesis (highly probable)

“Hathor was the goddess of beauty and patron of the cosmetic arts. Her traditional votive offering was two mirrors and she was often depicted on mirrors and cosmetic palettes. Yet, she was not considered to be vain or shallow, rather she was assured of her own beauty and goodness and loved beautiful and good things.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor/

61.06  Hathor goddess of mining, cosmetic arts, dance and music: the swinging balance zeroing

Once you know that Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ has been used to glorify the operation of precision double and triple beam balances with counterweights, many of her epithets suddenly make sense; whether it was because the mining or cosmetic art craftsmanship used this kind of precision balance, or because of the hypnotic way that the zeroing of the balance is made, with endless dancing left to right movements.

Today, modern beam balances have a magnetic damping design to reduce this endless movement during zeroing, nut at the time of ancient Egypt, they probably didn’t, and the zeroing process would most certainly have last for ever; and that is why Hathor has also been associated with dance.

There are many more epithets about Hathor, and each and every one of them can be explained having in mind that Hathor is all about a counterweight. But it doesn’t mean it always have to do with a beam balance: we’ll see that Hathor was also about the hauling plug of the Great Pyramid, and that as a counterweight, Hathor also is about tuning forks. And that explains why Hathor also is associated with music.

“Hathor was associated with turquoise, malachite, gold, and copper. As “the Mistress of Turquoise” and the “Lady of Malachite” she was the patron of miners and the goddess of the Sinai Peninsula (the location of the famous turquoise and copper mines). The Egyptians used eye makeup made from ground malachite which had a protective function (in fighting eye infections) which was attributed to Hathor. […] Hathor was the goddess of beauty and patron of the cosmetic arts. Her traditional votive offering was two mirrors and she was often depicted on mirrors and cosmetic palettes. […] She was known as “the mistress of life” and was seen as the embodiment of joy, love, romance, perfume, dance, music, and alcohol.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor/

“To get the balance balanced, the pointer should swing an equal distance above and below the zero point.” http://my.spc.edu.ph:70/diwa/science_01/chap%202/how%20to%20read%20triple%20beam%20balance.htm

“Egyptian religion celebrated the sensory pleasures of life, believed to be among the gods' gifts to humanity. Egyptians ate, drank, danced, and played music at their religious festivals. They perfumed the air with flowers and incense. Many of Hathor's epithets link her to celebration; she [Hathor] is called the mistress of music, dance, garlands, myrrh, and drunkenness. In hymns and temple reliefs, musicians play tambourines, harps, lyres, and sistra in Hathor's honor.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

Triple Beam Mechanical Balance: https://www.amazon.ca/Mechanical-Balance-Stainless-Weighing-Platter/dp/B08HMVFRHC

Antique Scale with Milk Glass Plates: etsy.com/listing/1687660605/antique-balance-scale-milk-glass-plates

61.07  Hathor ‘filling the Eye of Horus with milk' is about a mortar... a mortar made of milk glass (the ancestor of porcelain)

Everybody knows that Egyptians mastered glass manufacturing like no other civilization before us, so it is possible that the whole part of the myth where Hathor is filling the sockets of the eyes of Horus with milk, could be about what is called ‘milk glass’, or ‘opal glass’ mortar and that possibly, the plates used on Egyptian precision beam scales were also made of this material (totally hypothetical). But, what is very interesting, is that milk glass is made by the addition of some elaborate powders to the initial glass material, and that in the myth, Hathor fills the eyes with ‘specific plants and minerals’. Nevertheless, in my opinion, it is almost certain that the so-called ‘eye socket’ metaphor is about a mortar, and its lid (because of the eye lid).

I really love this little mortar thing, because it certainly is one of the most educative illustrations of all these thousands and thousands of metaphors used by ancient Egyptians. Imagine yourself you’re in a TV game show, and you are asked to find the point in common of the following ideas:

• something that looks like an eye socket

• something associated with milk

• something associated with plants and minerals

• something associated with weights because of Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweights’

Well, I’m pretty sure that in this very context of a game show (without anybody thinking one second about ancient Egypt), pretty much everybody will shout out: "Mortar! It’s a milk glass mortar!!”

And of course, milk glass is only the ancestor to porcelain, a material still worldly used today in lab equipment.

[illustration] Antique Figural Milk Glass Mortar Covered Dish Lidded Bowl: https://www.ebay.com/itm/374422085989

“The restoration of the eye was often referred to as "filling" the eye. Hathor filled Horus's eye sockets with the gazelle's milk, while texts from temples of the Greco-Roman era said that Thoth, together with a group of fourteen other deities, filled the eye with specific plants and minerals. The process of filling the Eye of Horus was likened to the waxing of the moon, and the fifteen deities in the Greco-Roman texts represented the fifteen days from the new moon to the full moon.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

“Milk glass contains dispersion particles with a refractive index significantly different from the glass matrix which scatters light by the Tyndall scattering effect. The size, distribution, and density of the particles controls the overall effect; which may range from mild opalization to opaque white. Some glasses are somewhat more blue from the side and somewhat red-orange in pass-through light. The particles are produced by the addition of opacifiers to the molten glass. Some opacifiers can be insoluble and are only dispersed in the melt. Others are added as precursors and react in the melt or dissolve in the molten glass and then precipitate as crystals upon cooling. This is similar to color production in striking glasses though the particles are much bigger. A variety of opacifiers can be used: bone ash, tin dioxide, arsenic, and antimony compounds. These are also added to ceramic glazes which, chemically; be considered a specific kind of milk glass.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_glass

“Milk glass was first made in Venice in the 16th century (lattimo) as a translucent competitor for porcelain. Colors include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and white. Some 19th-century glass makers called milky white opaque glass "opal glass". The name milk glass is relatively recent.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_glass

[above illustration] EuScope Porcelain Ware Lab Equipment: https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/porcelain-ware-lab-equipment-2853966896562.html

61.08  The Eye of Horus… and the mortar... illustrated by Egyptians themselves

Now that we have deciphered this part of the myth of the Eye of Horus associated with a milk glass mortar, we also can point to the ancient Egyptian way of representing just that, with the Eye of Horus (its socket really) ‘holding’ a mortar, maybe the third most important symbol of science, after the magnifying glass and the precision beam balance.

Here, same thing as usual: there is no eye holding anything, the eye is actually about the socket of the eye, that looks like a bowl, or a mortar. In short: the Eye is the bowl.

“A personified Eye of Horus offers incense, based of a painting from the tomb of Pashedu, thirteenth century BC”. PharaohCrab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus#/media/File:Personified_Eye_of_Horus.svg

Sistrum with the head of Hathor: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/553063

Upper part of a naos sistrum with the head of Hathor. “Three holes on either side are provided for wires to hold rattle disks.”: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/552831

61.09  The real meaning of the sistrum with the head of Hathor 'Mistress of the counterweight' is all in its three rods: they are about the three beams

Apparently, but I may be wrong here, it looks like every single sistrum with the head of cow goddess Hathor, had these three pairs of holes, designed to accommodate metallic rods with discs or squares of metal. What a beautiful reenacting of the original operation of the sliding counterweights that these metallic discs or squares, don’t you think? This is why the sistrum had to be ‘shaken’ and the metallic moving parts going from left to right, endlessly.

61.10  Egyptians did with Hathor and the sistrum the same thing they’ve done with Bes and the wedging block

We’ve seen that many times now: Egyptians loved to represent the same thing twice on the same artifact, by associating a deity with its corresponding true nature.

On the above image, this is Bes, who is indeed represented twice: both in his deity form, and in what Bes is all about, and that is the wedging block that immobilized the Taweret block that was the temporary plug of the well during the entire operation of the Great Pyramid for cold production (presumably for the cooling of a Solvay-like process resulting in the production of 100% pure natron, the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs).

In short, Bes isn’t kind of standing on a jumping stilt, but he is represented standing on himself.

And the thing is that the ‘naos’ on top of Hathor’s head on her sistrum, is the exact same thing: just like Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ is actually all about counterweights herself, the naos she has above her head, is actually also about the exact same counterweight.

61.11  The Sistrum's naos with Hathor's head is the counterweight itself

It is sad to see that today, pretty much every single beam scale you can find on the market, has very dull sliding counterweights; but if you look back in time, antique beam balances had much more elaborate counterweights, which pretty much look like viewing windows, with a beautiful red arrow in the middle to facilitate the reading. I only guess this time is over, because today everything has to be cost effective, and the old counterweight models with viewing windows and red arrows are simply too expensive to make.

But thankfully some antiques are still available, and you can find very nice characteristic old fashioned counterweights on the internet. And I don’t know how, but suddenly when I looked at these old beam balances and pretty counterweights, I understood the sistrum of Hathor with a 'naos' on top: the massive sistrum associated with the face of Hathor, is the counterweight itself, with its cute viewing window and little red pointing arrow!

Sistrum with the head of Hathor and a Naos on top: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/553063

61.12  Another use of the snake in the Egyptian glorification process: the little uraeus snake at the bottom of the naos is the exact same thing as our own red pointing arrow

And here, there is another thing to say, about the little uraeus snake: until now, snakes have been used mostly to represent water and ropes; so here, this is another representation, another explanation, another use of the snake. If I insist on that, it is only to highlight the difficulty and extreme complexity of ancient Egyptian religion deciphering: there are so many snakes in Egyptian art, and you never know for sure what it is all about until the deciphering is done. You can’t even rely on anything, because you don’t know why Egyptians would have used a snake or anything else: you can use the same object, or the same animal for many different reasons. So here, the little snake isn’t about water (a river just looks like a snake from a distance), it’s not about a rope (a snake does look like a rope on the ground), and it is not about the way a snake is spitting out his venom (the creation of microdroplets); here, the snake is just a little arrow, or the tip of snake’s tong.

Garter Snake by Éric Bégin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericbegin/3471791243/

61.13  The Three beams and the little uraeus red pointer

There is a very unusual artifact, described as a model for a sistrum or something, and evidently the description is pretty queasy, because a sistrum shouldn’t really look like that. But what egyptologists didn’t get is that the sistrum isn’t a real thing at all, that this is just a mental construction, a pure metaphor carved into real matter.

So this artifact isn’t different at all from all the other sistrum: it is just the glorification of the counterweight (the whole thing is the counterweight), with its internal little red pointing arrow, and the representation of the three beams of a triple beam precision balance.

What would be very interesting is to know if this kind of sistrum also exist with two ‘niches’ instead of three; because it would reinforce the idea that the sistrum is also about double beam balance.

“Architectural models illustrated a planned feature on a smaller scale. This model likely depicts a sistrum sound box, the upper part of an ancient Egyptian Hathor column from the Late to Ptolemaic periods. In the front of the soundbox is a uraeus with a sun disk framed by a shrine doorway. The niches above may represent a spandrel or clerestory. The sides and back of the naos are crudely finished with visible tool marks to show sculptors how to rough out the form. Two vertical channels are on either side of the recess.” https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/38354/model-of-a-naos

61.14  The counterweights of a beam balance are meant for sliding

The deciphering of the naos really is something unexpected, and to be honest, hilarious! Look at all these naos, some being gigantic in size, being only the glorification of such a small piece of instrument of a beam balance. Really, it is funny, isn’t it?

Of course, what isn’t funny at all now, is that we can understand why so many naos are either put onto sleds, or onto boats: the only reason is because the counterweights of these balances were indeed supposed to slide on the beams.

Golden shrine of King Tutankhamun on sled: https://www.upstart.net.au/getout-%E2%80%94-theres-something-about-king-tut/

61.15  The little red pointing arrow is back, but it is golden now

What’s also satisfying is that we can also now understand the very strange golden piece that is accompanying the naos structure: because the naos is the counterweight, the little thing inside the naos, it simply is our little red arrow, or their little uraeus snake, with his tong out.

There most probably is the explanation for the so-called 'Four Faces of Hathor', Mistress of the counterweight: there are three reading beams and one reading scale for zeroing. That makes four reading scales, all facing you.

61.16  The Eye of Ra and 'Hathor of the Four Faces' metaphor

Sometimes, even today, the counterweights used on the beam scales look like an eye, and you have to read the result of the weighing through this eye, as illustrated on the above Health o meter beam scale. This is most probably the reason why Hathor ‘Mistress of the counterweight’ has been associated with the Eye of Ra.

This is one of these examples where we don’t really care that it is the Eye of Ra, or the Eye of Horus on the magnifying glass (Section  ): the reading part of the counterweight just looks like an eye, and because at the time everybody knew about the eye of Ra, it is that Eye of Ra that has been used as metaphorical representation of this little piece of equipment counterweight that is all about Hathor herself.

“A form of the Eye of Ra known as "Hathor of the Four Faces", represented by a set of four cobras, was said to face in each of the cardinal directions to watch for threats to the sun god.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

Health-o-meter 402LB Physician Beam Scale with Rotating Poise Silent Slide: https://www.vitalitymedical.com/health-o-meter-402lb-physician-beam-scale-with-rotating-poise-silent-slide.html

Weighted versus unweighted Tuning Forks, by BE Light TT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZJ1FeYy62I

61.17  The Seven Hathors ‘Mistress of music’ is about the seven notes of the major scale

There is another epithet of Hathor that can be explained now, and that is about the famous “seven Hathors”. The solution of this particular metaphoric glorification of a counterweight, has actually already been discussed in Section 48 about the ‘seven magical words of Egyptian goddess Neith”

I’m pretty sure that the ‘seven magical words of Neith’ and the ‘seven Hathors’ are about the same thing: the seven notes of the major scale. Neith was about these very special seven notes of music because she is the glorification of Bronze itself, and because she would have been associated with the mouthpiece of instruments made of bronze.

With Hathor being 'Mistress of the counterweight’ and goddess of music at the same time, the metaphor that have been used is about the tuning fork, because if most of these tuning instruments only are resembling to a fork, the most costly of them are coupled with a counterweight on each of the two branches of the fork. 

[illustration] Tuning Fork Set Chakra 7 pieces

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery, the hauling process is underway: the impactor is being pulled up.

61.18  Hathor the Eye Goddess whose eye is shaped like the Eye of Horus

Now that the deciphering of Horus the elder is correct, and that this form of Horus (the impactor) is about the painstakingly hauling process that allowed the impactor to get back to the top of the central wooden Djed caisson, and because this impactor most certainly had two connecting bollards just like if it was a boat that needed to get secured to the shore, Hathor comes into play, because she was the wife of Horus the elder. If Horus the elder had two ‘male’ bollards, then his wife had to have the corresponding ‘female’ counterparts: some kind of connecting eyes.

And that is why Hathor, wife of Horus the elder is known as the Eye goddess, and why her own eyes are so often represented as the Eye of Horus. But Hathor is also known as ‘the Mistress of the counterweight’, and that is because that is her primary function: being a counterweight for the two central ropes when descending the Gallery.

“She [Hathor] was probably first considered to be the wife of Horus the elder and the daughter of Ra, but when Ra and Horus were linked as the composite deity Re-Horakty Hathor became both the wife and the daughter of Ra. This strengthened her association with Isis, who was the mother of Horus the child by Osiris.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor/

[illustration] “Facsimile of a vignette from the Book of the Dead of Ani. Hathor, as the Mistress of the West (a goddess of the afterlife) emerges from a hill representing the Theban necropolis. She is depicted as a cow, wearing her typical the horns and sun-disk, along with a menat-necklace. Her eye is shaped like the sacred Eye of Horus. At bottom right is a stylized tomb.” Published by James Wasserman; facsimile made by E. A. Wallis Budge; original artist unknown - Scanned from The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day by James Wasserman et al. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#/media/File:BD_Hathor_Mistress_of_the_West.jpg

“Hesat (Heset, Hesahet, or Hesaret) was a cow goddess of Ancient Egypt who was considered to be the earthly manifestation of Hathor.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hesat/

61.19  The ‘recumbent’ Hesat is actually Hathor speeding down the Grand Gallery

So, Hathor is the glorification of the hauling plug, towing up the impactor toward the top of the Grand Gallery, that’s fine; but we’ve already seen many times that Egyptians used to represent not just individual parts of an operating system, but the full operating cycle of operation. And this is what Hesat, ‘one of Hathor’s manifestations’, is all about.

Hesat is always represented in what egyptologists describe as ‘recumbent’, and it is right to say that in the way that the Hesat cow isn’t about the hauling process; but Hesat isn’t really recumbent at all: she is about the hauling plug descending the Grand Gallery after being released from the top of the Gallery so that she could be reattached with the floating impactor.

The above painting is certainly one of the most beautiful pieces of evidence describing the operation of the Grand Gallery: just like the impactor, the hauling plug also had to move by sliding into the hollow guide rails in which water was running through at some point; and this is exactly what is described here.

And again, because Hesat was speeding into wet hollow guide rails, she was projecting massive water plumes behind her path: this is why there is also a flail pointing toward her back (see previous Sections for more examples of the use of the flail).

“In Egyptian mythology, Hathor 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.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesat

61.20  The churning of milk metaphor

We’ve already seen this metaphor of the churning of milk in Section 37 about the famous Indian myth of the ‘churning of the ocean of milk’, and she has just come back! Imagine the operation of the hauling plug being endlessly released in the Gallery and focus on its primary role of a counterweight for the hauling ropes: this endless up and down movement of a weight is what is at the origin of the churning metaphor. There is no milk produced by Hesat, it simply is the waters of the inclined that would have looked like milk being churned.

It is funny, because just like the central wooden Djed caisson has a lower and northern part as well as a upper and southern part, the typical butter churn also has a lower part and an upper part.

“In Egyptian mythology, Hathor 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.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesat

[illustration] A typical plunger-type butter churn used by American pioneers, Bastianow (Bastian): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_churn#/media/File:Ma%C5%9Bniczka.svg

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery, with the impactor waiting to be reattached with the two central hauling ropes through the Hathor hauling and connecting plug.

61.21  Hathor and Isis: they were both 'hauling cows' hidden inside some kind of tree

One of the more recent discoveries of the study is that the wooden Djed caisson wasn’t limited to the Grand Gallery, as I first thought: it was also extending inside the inclined well, at least partially so that the skate blades of the impactor would continue being guided inside the well (see previous Section 53). Maybe the wooden caisson extended to the very bottom of the well and was in direct contact with the Taweret sealing block.

Of course, both Isis and Hathor were operated inside the central wooden Djed caisson, the famous 'Sycamore Tree of Life' and they were also both the perfect illustration of a hauling cow.

“Both Isis and Hathor are associated with Horus, Isis as His mother, Hathor sometimes as mother, sometimes as lover. Both are Cow Goddesses and Goddesses of the Sycamore, though Hathor probably has the prior claim on both these symbols. Both are Eyes of the Divine and holy Uraeus Serpents, powerful, fiery, protective and vengeful Goddesses. Thus both can become Sekhmet, that most fierce and bloodthirsty of Goddesses. Both Isis and Hathor are Goddesses of the Otherworld, Goddesses of rebirth and resurrection, Whom the dead ones adore. […] They are sister branches of the Divine Tree. They are ultimately united in the Tree’s trunk. […] Hathor imparts the excitement of living, and thus She is the Great Lady of Love, Joy, Drunkenness, and Dance. Her symbol par excellence is the sistrum, the sacred rattle that is shaken to stir things up. In Egyptian, to “play the sistrum” is iri sekhem, to “do power.”  https://isiopolis.com/2012/04/28/isis-hathor/

Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing that the hauling process is underway: the impactor is being pulled up by the two central hauling ropes in the southern part of the central wooden caisson, that probably extended all the way inside the inclined well to the Taweret plug.

61.22  Hathor: the Lady of the southern sycamore

There is another information reinforcing the idea that the central wooden Djed caisson extended in the well: Hathor was known as the “lady of the southern sycamore”; but if there is indeed a southern sycamore (the caisson in the Grand Gallery), there has to be a northern sycamore, and that is the caisson in the well (that is north of the Gallery).

“As the “lady of the west” and the “lady of the southern sycamore” she protected and assisted the dead on their final journey. Trees were not commonplace in ancient Egypt, and their shade was welcomed by the living and the dead alike. She was sometimes depicted as handing out water to the deceased from a sycamore tree (a role formerly associated with Amentet who was often described as the daughter of Hathor) and according to myth, she (or Isis) used the milk from the Sycamore tree to restore sight to Horus who had been blinded by Set.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor/

61.23  When Hathor and Ra ascended together

“The theology surrounding the pharaoh in the Old Kingdom, unlike that of earlier times, focused heavily on the sun god Ra as king of the gods and father and patron of the earthly king. Hathor ascended with Ra and became his mythological wife, and thus divine mother of the pharaoh. [...] Ra gave rise to his daughter [Hathor], the eye goddess, who in turn gave rise to him, her son, in a cycle of constant regeneration.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

61.24  When Hathor was indeed about the Eye of Ra

“She was one of many goddesses to take the role of the Eye of Ra, a feminine personification of the disk of the sun and an extension of Ra's own power. Ra was sometimes portrayed inside the disk, which Troy interprets as meaning that the eye goddess was thought of as a womb, from which the sun god was born. […] Ra gave rise to his daughter, the eye goddess, who in turn gave rise to him, her son, in a cycle of constant regeneration.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

61.25  When Hathor was the ‘feminine counterpart of Ra’ and ‘the feminine counterpart of Horus’

“Hathor was a solar deity, a feminine counterpart to sun gods such as Horus and Ra, and was a member of the divine entourage that accompanied Ra as he sailed through the sky in his barque.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

61.26  Hathor 'Mistress of the counterweight' was indeed holding ropes

“The counterweight alone was a magical symbol of the goddess Hathor”: metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548610

[above illustration] General Research Division, The New York Public Library. (1823 - 1825). Athor ou Hathor: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-5ba1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Both Hathor and Isis were hauling the impactor Ra inside the central wooden Djed caisson of the Grand Gallery.

61.27  When Hathor is also Isis and both are about cows and goddesses of the Sycamore Tree

Once you have understood that Hathor was meant to connect through two ‘eyes’ with the two bollards of the impactor on one side, and was constantly connected with the two Isis hauling ropes on the other side, and that they were both always hidden inside the central wooden Djed caisson (also glorified into the famous ‘Sycamore Tree of Life’ because the caisson was in charge of supplying pressurized air to the evaporative cooling passage), then a lot of the following excerpt becomes crystal clear:

“Isis was closely associated with Hathor. In fact, the two goddesses are often so alike in appearance that only the hieroglyphic inscription can confirm which of them is actually portrayed […]. A further link is provided by the fact that when Horus chopped off Isis’ head (because Isis would not strike the fatal blow against her brother Set) she responded by causing the head of a cow (one of the most common forms of Hathor) to grow in its place. She was also associated with Nut who also took the form of a cow and was associated with the sycamore tree.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/isisgod/

“Isis borrowed many of her [Hathor] functions and adapted her iconography to the extent that it is often difficult to be sure which of the two goddesses is depicted. However, the two deities were not the same. Isis was in many ways a more complex deity who suffered the death of her husband and had to fight to protect her infant son, so she understood the trials and tribulations of the people and could relate to them. Hathor, on the other hand, was the embodiment of power and success and did not experience doubts. While Isis was merciful, Hathor was single minded in pursuit of her goals. When she took the form of Sekhmet, she did not take pity on the people and even refused to stop killing when ordered to do so.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/hathor/

"Standing Figure of Isis or Isis-Hathor": https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/113788

61.28  When Isis and Hathor are also transforming into Sekhmet

In the above excerpt, it is also mentioned the fact that both Isis and Hathor can become Sekhmet. We’ll see why this assumption is both right and wrong. It is right to say that Isis can become Hathor because Hathor was directly connected to Isis, and it is right to say that Hathor can become Sekhmet (we’ll see in next Section 55, that if Hathor was ‘Mistress of the counterweight’, she was indeed able to ‘transform’ herself into Sekhmet, because Sekhmet is the disc with counterweight that was fixed to the Bastet check valve positioned right in between the exit of the inclined well and the fog nozzle); so unless I’m missing something (really probable), there is no reason for Isis to become Sekhmet.

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu for flash-evaporative cold production, hypothetically for cooling down a Solvay-like process and the manufacturing of chemically manufacturing of 100% pure natron, the salt used by Egyptians for the mummification process.

61.29  Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid for flash-evaporative cooling of a Solvay-like process

The Great Pyramid of Giza had only been designed for flash-evaporative cooling of a Solvay-like chemical manufacturing of 100% pure sodium carbonate, called natron by ancient Egyptians. Natron was the salt used for the mummification process of pharaohs. In short: the Great Pyramid has been associated with the eternal life of pharaohs not because it was a tomb, but because it was the place were magical natron was produced. The Dendera Light is its fog of microdroplets.

The Bastet and Sekhmet check valve with counterweight is discussed in next Section 55.

[above illustration] Dendera Light drawing from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-96c4-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

61.30  Hathor only appears during the Fourth Dynasty (just like the Great Pyramid itself)

“Cattle goddesses similar to Hathor were portrayed in Egyptian art in the fourth millennium BC, but she may not have appeared until the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC). […] Despite these earlier precedents, Hathor is not unambiguously mentioned or depicted until the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613–2494 BC) of the Old Kingdom, although several artifacts that refer to her may date to the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC). When Hathor does clearly appear, her horns curve outward, rather than inward like those in Predynastic art.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

Taweret being immobilized by Bes (Section 8). Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896). University Library Heidelberg: The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

[left image] Naos-Sistrum with Bes-Shaped Handle: https://art.thewalters.org/object/54.493/   [right image] “Spiritual Statue for Egyptian Deities Hathor and Bes made in Egypt from Stone”: https://www.ebay.com/itm/405342370937

61.31  The Push-Pull effect illustrated by Hathor and Bes turning their backs to each other but working together

What another crazy artifact that the one represented on the above right images. So, of course this one doesn’t come from a museum, but it is fair to say that it certainly is a legitimate copy of a real Egyptian figure. That being said, it really is a curious thing at first sight. Why is Hathor and Bes associated this way, turning their backs to each other? Well, just look at the above diagram of the operation of the Great Pyramid and you’ll understand right away:

• Bes was the little piece of granite, deeply embedded into the floor of the inclined well, immobilizing the Taweret sealing block of the well

• Hathor was the hauling plug that was towing the impactor up at the other end of the inclined well-central wooden Djed caisson unit

Another way of seeing this, is to say that Bes was the one to Push (Taweret up), while Hathor was the one to Pull (the impactor up). In short, this little cute but crazy artifact is the Egyptian way of demonstrating what we call today the Push-Pull effect. This is why Hathor and Bes are turning their backs to each other: it actually only looks like they are turning their backs to each other, when in fact they are going into the same direction.

The artifact on the left is even better, because the two deities are on top of each other, just like it was in the Great Pyramid: Bes was at the very bottom of the system, when Hathor was always at the very top.

“Ptolemaic plaque found at Dendera, showing a woman giving birth with the assistance of two cow-headed goddesses, both representing Hathor”. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 40627: https://i0.wp.com/egypt-museum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Plaque-of-a-Woman-Giving-Birth.-Egyptian-Museum-Cairo.-JE-40627.jpg?ssl=1

61.32  The Push-Pull effect illustrated: Hathor 'the pulling Lady'... for the pushing woman giving birth

The one thing a woman giving birth is doing is pushing. “Push… push… push”; and indeed her whole attitude is about pushing, as clearly illustrated by her arms on her knees. Look how beautifully, for each of her two pushing arms is a helping goddess in the form of Hathor; ‘the hauling Lady’ was also ‘the pulling Lady’.

So, every time a woman was giving birth, and every time she was pushing to let the baby out, she was also at the same time invoking and asking for help of the ‘pulling Lady’, Hathor.

“Ancient Egypt, Painting, Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor, Divine Cow, Towing the Solar Barque, Tomb of Rameses I, Thebes”. Book of Gates second division (P)/third hour (H), middle and lower registers, Burial chamber J, right (northwest) wall (center part). Courtesy of Uni Dia Verlag; Uni Dia. Original image 35664: https://thebanmappingproject.com/media/22557?site=5605

Composite image from “Ancient Egypt, Painting, Gods of the Underworld Tethered to Hathor, Divine Cow, Towing the Solar Barque, Tomb of Rameses I, Thebes”. Kheker frieze; Book of Gates, second division (P)/third hour (H), middle register, scene 11: Bark of the Earth. Image 35664: https://thebanmappingproject.com/media/18048?site=5605 and 35668: https://thebanmappingproject.com/media/22560

61.33  “Slide back Hathor… slide… and haul back that wooden vessel Ra”

Above is a composite image made of two original pictures showing the whole story of what we already have discussed in the beginning of this section: it shows Hathor literally represented hauling the so-called solar boat of Ra.

What is crucial to understand is the reason why Egyptians have used not a usual a representation of Hathor as a cow or in a human form, but as this wonderful glorification of the precision beam balance: the whole point of this particular relief was to show that Hathor, not only was hauling the solar boat (the wooden part of the impactor, Ra), but really to show that Hathor was supposed to slide, just like the weights of a beam balance are sliding through the beam.

61.33  “Seti… get in the car!”

On the left is another very interesting painting showing Hathor, presenting to Seti I the connecting eye. Here, Hathor isn’t “welcoming” Seti I, she is presenting to him the connecting plug (that is herself) that would allow him to be hauled just like the above solar barque. Another modern way of seeing it, is Hathor saying to Seti I: “Hello sweety, get in the car!”

Hathor welcoming Seti I into the afterlife, 13th century BC: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010009693

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Table of contents

Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

Index

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