Burial of the Hesis cow by the priests of Aphrodite-Hathor
“The priests of Aphrodite to Apollonios [the dioiketes] greeting. In accordance with what the king has written to you, to give one hundred talents of myrrh for the burial of [the Hesis], please order this [to be given]. For you know that the Hesis
is not brought up to the nome unless we have in readiness everything
required for the burial, because [the embalming is done (?)] on the day
(of her death). Know that the Hesis is Isis, and may she give you favor in the eyes of the king. Farewell. Year 28, Hathyr 15.” - PSI 4.328
Temple of Aphrodite-Hathor rented out
“Year I I which is also year 8, Pharmouthi 21. Pikos son of Psemminis
sold three days of the Aphrodisieion belonging to him for 6 copper
talents.
“In the reign of Cleopatra and King Ptolemy her son, surnamed
Alexander, the Mother-Loving Savior Gods, year 11 which is also 8,
Pharmouthi 21, the priest of Alexander and the Savior Gods and the
Brother-and-Sister Gods and the Benefactor Gods and the Mother-Loving
Gods and the Manifest Gods and the Mother-Loving Gods and the God
Eupator and the Benefactor Gods, the athlophore of Berenike Euergetis
and the canephore of Arsinoe Philadelphos and the goddess Arsinoe
Eupator being those in office in Alexandria, and in Ptolemais of the
Thebaid the priest and priestess of Ptolemy Soter being those in
office, before Apollonios who is in charge of the office of agoranomos
for the Memnoneia of the Pathyrite (nome) of the Thebaid:
“Pikos son of Psemminis, about 25 years old, middle height, with
honey-colored broken skin, long-headed, straight-nosed, with a scar on
his left brow, has sold the perquisites from three days of purification
and their emoluments and services and everything pertaining to them and
falling due to them in each year and the portion coming to their credit
from the epagomenal days and everything that pertains to these in the
temple, the sanctuary of Aphrodite belonging to him, called Hathyr,
among the graves in the area of the Memnoneia;
“And Totoes son of Zmanres, one of the shrine-bearers from the
Memnoneia, about 35 years old, honey-colored, smooth-skinned,
round-faced, straight-nosed, has bought them for 6 talents of copper
money.
“The broker and guarantor of the contents of this sale is Pikos the seller, whom Totoes the buyer accepted.” - PSI 9.1022
Temple of Aphrodite-Hathor in Egypt
"There are many other towns on Prosopitis; the one from which the boats
come to gather the bones of the bulls is called Atarbekhis [probably
named after Athor-Hathor]; a temple of Aphrodite stands in it of great
sanctity." - Herodotus 2.41
Love spell invoking Aphrodite-Hathor
“Aphrodite's Name, which becomes known to no one quickly, is
NEPHERIE'RI [i.e. Nfr-iry.t, "the beautiful eye", an epithet for
Aphrodite/Hathor] - this is the Name. If you wish to win a woman who is
beautiful, be pure for 3 days, make an offering of Frankincense, and
call this Name over it. You approach the woman and say it seven times
in your Soul as you gaze at her, and in this way it will succeed. But
do this for 7 days.” - PGM IV.1265-74
Isis and Hathor equated
“For the world is something perceptible and visible, and Isis is
sometimes called Muth, and again Athyri or Methyer. By the first of
these names they signify "mother," by the second the mundane house of
Horus, the place and receptacle of generation, as Plato has it, and the
third is compounded of "full" and "cause"; for the material of the
world is full, and is associated with the good and pure and orderly.” –
Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris 374b
The sistrum and its powers
“The sistrum (rattle) also makes it clear that all things in existence
need to be shaken, or rattled about, and never to cease from motion
but, as it were, to be waked up and agitated when they grow drowsy and
torpid. DThey say that they avert and repel Typhon by means of the
sistrums, indicating thereby that when destruction constricts and
checks Nature, generation releases and arouses it by means of motion.
The upper part of the sistrum is circular and its circumference
contains the four things that are shaken; for that part of the world
which undergoes reproduction and destruction is contained underneath
the orb of the moon, and all things in it are subjected to motion and
to change through the four elements: fire, earth, water, and air. At
the top of the circumference of the sistrum they construct the figure
of a cat with a human face, and at the bottom, below the things that
are shaken, the face of Isis on one side, and on the other the face of
Nephthys. By these faces they symbolize birth and death, for these are
the changes and movements of the elements; and by the cat they
symbolize the moon because of the varied colouring, nocturnal activity,
and fecundity of the animal. For the cat is said to bring forth first
one, then two and three and four and five, thus increasing the number
by one until she reaches seven, so that she brings forth in all
twenty-eight, the number also of the moon's illuminations. Perhaps,
however, this may seem somewhat mythical. But the pupils in the eye of
the cat appear to grow large and round at the time of the full moon,
and to become thin and narrow at the time of the wanings of that
heavenly body. By the human features of the cat is indicated the
intelligence and the reason that guides the changes of the moon.” –
Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris 376d-f
