Editing Hathor (section)

===Afterlife===
[[File:BD Hathor Mistress of the West.jpg|thumb|alt=Painting of a cow whose head protrudes from a hill, in front of which stand papyrus stalks and a pyramidal chapel|Hathor, in bovine form, emerges from a hill representing the [[Theban necropolis]], in a copy of the ''[[Book of the Dead]]'' from the 13th century BC]]
Although the Pyramid Texts, the earliest [[Egyptian funerary texts]], rarely mention her,{{sfn|Hollis|2020|p=48}} Hathor was invoked in private tomb inscriptions from the same era, and in the Middle Kingdom [[Coffin Texts]] and later sources, she is frequently linked with the afterlife.{{sfn|Smith|2017|pp=251–252}}

Just as she crossed the boundary between Egypt and foreign lands, Hathor passed through the boundary between the living and the [[Duat]], the realm of the dead.{{sfn|Graves-Brown|2010|p=166}} She helped the spirits of deceased humans enter the Duat and was closely linked with tomb sites, where that transition began.{{sfn|Meeks|Favard-Meeks|1996|pp=88, 164}} The [[necropolises]], or clusters of tombs, on the west bank of the Nile were personified as [[Imentet]], the goddess of the west, who was frequently regarded as a manifestation of Hathor.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|pp=145–146}} The [[Theban necropolis]], for example, was often portrayed as a stylized mountain with the cow of Hathor emerging from it.{{sfn|Pinch|1993|pp=179–180}} Her role as a sky goddess was also linked to the afterlife. Because the sky goddess—either Nut or Hathor—assisted Ra in his daily rebirth, she had an important part in [[ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs]], according to which deceased humans were reborn like the sun god.{{sfn|Vischak|2001|p=82}} Coffins, tombs, and the underworld itself were interpreted as the womb of this goddess, from which the deceased soul would be reborn.{{sfn|Assmann|2005|pp=170–173}}{{sfn|Lesko|1999|pp=39–40, 110}}

Nut, Hathor, and Imentet could each, in different texts, lead the deceased into a place where they would receive food and drink for eternal sustenance. Thus, Hathor, as Imentet, often appears on tombs, welcoming the deceased person as her child into a blissful afterlife.{{sfn|Assmann|2005|pp=152–154, 170–173}} In New Kingdom funerary texts and artwork, the afterlife was often illustrated as a pleasant, fertile garden, over which Hathor sometimes presided.{{sfn|Billing|2004|pp=42–43}} The welcoming afterlife goddess was often portrayed as a goddess in the form of a tree, giving water to the deceased. Nut most commonly filled this role, but the tree goddess was sometimes called Hathor instead.{{sfn|Billing|2004|pp=37–38}}

The afterlife also had a sexual aspect. In the Osiris myth, the murdered god [[Osiris]] was resurrected when he copulated with Isis and conceived Horus. In solar ideology, Ra's union with the sky goddess allowed his own rebirth. Sex therefore enabled the rebirth of the deceased, and goddesses like Isis and Hathor served to rouse the deceased to new life. But they merely stimulated the male deities' regenerative powers, rather than playing the central role.{{sfn|Cooney|2010|pp=227–229}}

Ancient Egyptians prefixed the names of the deceased with Osiris's name to connect them with his [[resurrection]]. For example, a woman named [[Henutmehyt]] would be dubbed "Osiris-Henutmehyt". Over time they increasingly associated the deceased with both male and female divine powers.{{sfn|Cooney|2010|pp=227–229, 235–236}} As early as the late Old Kingdom, women were sometimes said to join the worshippers of Hathor in the afterlife, just as men joined the following of Osiris. In the [[Third Intermediate Period of Egypt|Third Intermediate Period]] (c. 1070–664 BC), Egyptians began to add Hathor's name to that of deceased women in place of that of Osiris. In some cases, women were called "Osiris-Hathor", indicating that they benefited from the revivifying power of both deities. In these late periods, Hathor was sometimes said to rule the afterlife as Osiris did.{{sfn|Smith|2017|pp=251–254}}