Editing Hathor (section)

===Foreign lands and goods===
[[File:Statue_of_Goddess_Hathor.jpg|thumb|Statue of Goddess Hathor at the British Museum, London, UK.]]
Hathor was connected with trade and foreign lands, possibly because her role as a sky goddess linked her with stars and hence navigation,{{sfn|Hollis|2020|p=53}} and because she was believed to protect ships on the Nile and in the seas beyond Egypt as she protected the barque of Ra in the sky.{{sfn|Bleeker|1973|pp=72–74}} The mythological wandering of the Eye goddess in Nubia or Libya gave her a connection with those lands as well.{{sfn|Darnell|1995|pp=93–94}}

Egypt maintained trade relations with the coastal cities of [[Syria (region)|Syria]] and [[Canaan]], particularly [[Byblos]], placing Egyptian religion in contact with the [[ancient Canaanite religion|religions of that region]].{{sfn|Hollis|2009|p=2}} At some point, perhaps as early as the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians began to refer to the patron goddess of Byblos, [[Baalat Gebal]], as a local form of Hathor.{{sfn|Espinel|2002|pp=117–119}} So strong was Hathor's link to Byblos that texts from Dendera say she resided there.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=139}} The Egyptians sometimes equated [[Anat]], an aggressive Canaanite goddess who came to be worshipped in Egypt during the New Kingdom, with Hathor.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=137}} Some Canaanite artworks depict a nude goddess with a curling wig taken from Hathor's iconography.{{sfn|Cornelius|2004|p=45}} Which goddess these images represent is not known, but the Egyptians adopted her iconography and came to regard her as an independent deity, [[Qetesh]],{{sfn|Cornelius|2004|pp=96–97}} whom they associated with Hathor.{{sfn|Hart|2005|p=132}}

Hathor was closely connected with the [[Sinai Peninsula]],{{sfn|Hart|2005|p=65}} which was not considered part of Egypt proper but was the site of Egyptian mines for copper, [[turquoise]], and [[malachite]] during the Middle and New Kingdoms.{{sfn|Pinch|1993|p=52}} One of Hathor's epithets, "Lady of ''Mefkat''", may have referred specifically to turquoise or to all blue-green minerals. She was also called "Lady of [[Egyptian faience|Faience]]", a blue-green ceramic that Egyptians likened to turquoise.{{sfn|Pinch|1993|pp=49–50}}{{sfn|Wilkinson|2003|p=143}} Hathor was also worshipped at various quarries and mining sites in Egypt's [[Eastern Desert]], such as the [[amethyst]] mines of Wadi el-Hudi, where she was sometimes called "Lady of Amethyst".{{sfn|Espinel|2005|pp=61, 65–66}}

South of Egypt, Hathor's influence was thought to have extended over the [[land of Punt]], which lay along the [[Red Sea]] coast and was a major source for the incense with which Hathor was linked, as well as with Nubia, northwest of Punt.{{sfn|Bleeker|1973|pp=72–74}} The [[autobiography of Harkhuf]], an official in the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] (c. 2345–2181 BC), describes his expedition to a land in or near Nubia, from which he brought back great quantities of [[ebony]], panther skins, and incense for the king. The text describes these exotic goods as Hathor's gift to the pharaoh.{{sfn|Hart|2005|p=65}} Egyptian expeditions to mine gold in Nubia introduced her cult to the region during the Middle and New Kingdoms,{{sfn|Yellin|2012|pp=125–128}} and New Kingdom pharaohs built several temples to her in the portions of Nubia that they ruled.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2000|pp=227–230}}