A Critique Of Barbara Lesko on Claas Jouco Bleeker regarding Neith and Hathor

[Clayton_Veno]

                        

 

 

 

Hi Guys it's been a while so I am writing this article as a refutation/debunking of false statements made by Egyptologist Barbara Lesko In her Criticisms of Claas Jouco Bleeker in her Book The Great Goddesses of Ancient Egypt and making some of my own criticisms of Lesko in Bleekers defense.

 

Now I have great respect for both Lesko and Bleeker and I think both of them are great scholars in there respective fields and I am in no way writing this to attack Barbara Lesko In my critique of her responses to Claas Jouco Bleeker however I feel some of the statements she made were rather silly to put it nicely and kinda dumb to put it harshly

 

Here Is what She said in response to Neith as a Virgin Mother:

 

"On the great stone Sarcophagus of King Menerptah of the Nineteenth Dynasty a Text refers to Neith as a creator deity: again she is the mother of the major gods Re and Osiris the One who was present at the beginning This is the earliest known refrence to Neith as a creator again which is spelled out clearly again in her much later history That a female deity could be accepted by the Egyptians as creator deity is surely significant but scholars have tended either to overlook this fact or to downplay it into an androgynous persona However Neith is no virgin goddess like Athena even if a husband is not associated with her Her motherhood is clearly stated and her priesthood was primarily if not exclusivly female"

 

Barbara Lesko The Great Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (57-56)

 

She then goes on to discuss how Neith is a too womanly a figure to be androgynus as if that somehow disproves Neiths Virgin Mother Status but where to start: Neith being a mother to Ra, Osiris and many other Gods/Goddesses doesnt do anything to disprove her Virgin Mother Status at all and weather or not she was androgynus has nothing to do with it either. It is the fact that as Lesko herself admits throughout her entire chapter Neith had the ability to procreate many children and sometimes even the universe itself without Intercourse with any male partner.

 

Neith (Net) was the mother goddess, … She was a creator goddess who formed all things. In the beginning, she found herself in the watery waste of Nun, and she formed herself when the world was still in shadow and when there was no earth on which to rest, when no plant grew.

Dr. Harold Scheub, A Dictionary of Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller [5]

Now bearing those facts about Neith and her solitude in mind, there is a statue currently at the Vatican’s Gregorian Egyptian Museum which dates to the time of the Persian rule of Egypt, specifically the early reign of King Darius I, c. 519 BCE.[6] It is a depiction of Udjahorresnet, a Saitic physician and priest of Neith. The inscriptions on this statue contain several adorations to Neith, and one line in particular, located under the right arm, reads:

I let his majesty know the greatness of Sais, that it is the seat of Neith-the-Great, the mother who bore Re and inaugurated birth when birth had not yet been. [7]

Fig. 3: Statue of the priest Udjahorresnet, 6th century BCE, which attests to the virgin motherhood of Neith.

In corroboration with this is a statue of Neith herself that was once located at her temple in Sais. Though it is now no longer extant, its existence and inscription was documented by a couple of writers from antiquity. Reconstructing it from quotes by Plutarch[8] and Proclus,[9] the inscription said:

I am what is, and what will be, and what has been,
No one has lifted my veil.
The fruit I bore was the sun. [10]

Dr. Erik Hornung comments that the veil having never been lifted “clearly refers to sexual union,”[11] and the obvious lack thereof. Egyptologist Jan Assmann states, concerning the inscription:

It refers not to an epistemological dilemma, the absolute unattainability of truth, but to the parthenogenesis of the sun out of the womb of a maternal All-Goddess.[12]

 

Continuing that sentiment:

Neith was a creator goddess, and she did not need a partner in order to conceive and give birth.

Dr. Olaf Kaper, The Egyptian God Tutu [13]

In Sais in the Delta, for example, there was a virgin goddess who gave birth to the sun at the beginning of time by some form of parthenogenesis.

Dr. John D. Ray, Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt [14]

Neith did not depend on a male partner for her creative powers, which encompassed the entire universe of gods, animals, and humans.

Dr. Barabara Lesko, The Great Goddesses of Egypt [15]

So the Egyptian sun god Re was born of a virgin, and that was literally written in stone many centuries before the Common Era.

 

For primary sources/citations to the above refer yourself to the link below:

 

https://mythodoxy.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/bart-ehrman-vs-virgin-births/

 

"I am all that has been and is and shall be; and no mortal has ever lifted my garment The fruit of my womb was the sun"

-Isis-Neith inscription at Sais recorded by Proclus

 

So as we can see Neith in the form of Isis who's virgin mother status Ive already covered before gives obvious virginal conception to the sun Ra/Horus regardless of weather or not she was androgynus and regardless of how many children she had she concieved which renders her (Lesko's) entire statement as a red herring as to why scholars concider her to be a virgin mother in the first place.  

 

Her entire premise throughout her chapter on Neith runs in direct contradiction with her conclusion on Neith's Virgin Mother Status.

 

Next regarding Hathor here is what Bleeker had to say:

 

 

“Even In the latter days of Egyptian Culture and religion Hathor retained her Independence and Virginity. In this respect she can be more aptly compared to Athene who remain parthenos though sometimes called mother than with Aphrodite” 

 

Claas Jouco Bleeker Hathor and Thoth two key figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion (64-65)  

 

 

“It is characteristic of the position of Hathor in the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon that there is no mention of a father as is the case with Horus son of Osiris and Isis. Hathor’s motherhood is therefore conceived of as parthenogenesis or being purely symbolical.” 

 

Claas Jouco Bleeker Hathor and Thoth two key figures of the Ancient Egyptian Religion (63)

 

 

Here is Barbara Lesko's response:

 

"She was adored for herself and the power she held over sexual human life. It is for this reason that I disagree with Bleeker who regards Hathor as a Virgin Mother on the same plane as Neith....Moreover Hathor was too involved in sexual allure, erotic dance, romance and human fertility to be either androgynus or virginal"

 

Barbara Lesko The Great Goddesses of Egypt (114-115)

 

Now on the surface this sounds like a fairly well rounded critiqe of Bleeker's point and seems more reasonable than the last concerning Neith however this too as we shall see is also an absurd and untenable statement and position to hold for 3 reasons.

 

1. For one thing Lesko falls into the same trap that many modern Egyptologists fall for and that is taking these stories literally at face value rather than recognising these mystery school beliefs as what they really are: Astrotheology and Mythology not historical biographies of real people and life events. Hathor is merely a mythological allegory or metaphore symbolizing: A) Virgo the "Virgin" in the Zodiac. The Purity Chakra in the Kundalini. C) Taurus the Bull in the Zodiac not a literal real person who engages in these sexual functions.

 

It is for these reasons that Hathor is equally a goddess of Sex Love Beauty and Fertility and at the same time also has virginity that is comparable to Athena's as Bleeker noted earlier and contradiction is the key ingredient in Symbolism and Mythology Contradiction=Mythology and Mythology=Contradiction and you dont get mythology nor allegory without there being at least some form of Contradiction or absurdity being present within the mythos.

 

2. The Ancient Egyptians were very much like modern Christians in the sense that they had many different Mystery Cults (Denominations so too speak in Christian terms) that had many conflicting and differing opinions and beliefs about the Gods and Goddesses they worshiped hence why there are so many different versions of every world mythology to begin with and why the pagans worshiped so many different versions of the various Divinities that they worshiped in the first place not to mention why so many versions of them have compleatly differing roles/functions and myths from other versions.

 

 

Some Versions of Hathor potray her as the wife of Ra, daugther of Ra and even when Identified with Mehet-Wheret the mother of Ra.

Other versions as the wife of Horus or his mother, others still as wife of Khonsu or his mother in versions where she is the wife of Amen Ra in place of or in the form of Mut. In Some versions she is less of a cow goddess and more of a love/sex goddess other versions of her it is vice versa. Some versions potray her as a Queen goddess and others still potray her as a warrior goddess akin to Neith/Athena the point being that not all Egyptian Mystery Cults would have worshipped her in this one stagnent form as a Sex/love Goddess and there are many different versions of Hathor as established so naturally there would have been at least some who most certainly would have viewed her as a Virgin Mother some no doubt with Athene levels of virginity as Bleeker rightfully stated and he is most certainly not alone in this claim:

 

 

"The Pyramid Texts speak of “the great virgin” (hwn.t wr.t) three times (682c, 728a, 2002a…); she is anonymous, appears as the 

protectress of the king, and is explicitly called his mother once (809c). It is interesting that Isis is addresseed as hwn.t in a sarcophagus oracle that deals with her mysterious pregnancy. In a text in the Abydos Temple of Seti I, Isis herself declares: “I am the great virgin.”… In the Late Period (712-332 BCE) in particular, goddesses are frequently called “(beautiful) virgins,” especially Hathor, Isis, and Nephthys."

 

Dr. Jan Bergman, Dr. Helmer Ringgren and Johannas G. Botterweck in The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament Volume II (339)

 

 

 

“In Egypt the epithets add.t, rnn.t and Hwn.t, ‘girl; young woman; virgin’, are applied to many goddesses—e.g. Hathor and Isis—who had not yet had sexual intercourse.” 

 

Dr. Bob Becking, in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (891)

 

 

 

“-Cybele, Aphrodite, Demeter, Astarte, Isis, Hathor, Inanna and Ishtar. Like them she (Mary) is both virgin and mother and like      many of them she gives birth to a half-human half-divine child who dies and is reborn”

 

The Myth Of The Goddess: Evolution Of An Image by Anne Baring and Jules Cashford (548)

 

 

 

"According to the monuments themselves whose heiroglypghs we are now able to read he was a pious king who planned a temple to Hathor the virgin mother of the gods offered images and golden ivory and wrote 'the sacred book' "

 

Egyptologist James Bonwick  The Great Pyramid of Giza: History and Speculation 

 

 

 

"Hathor the divine mother: the Child Horus was now considered in the Lunar Cult as having been brought forth by Hathor. She was most commonly represented as a cow and was the mother goddess she was also the mother of generation childbirth and maternity. when she was depicted in human form she carried an ankh on her right hand and a staff in her left she was crowned with the double horns with the moons crecent wedged between them. When depicted as a cow she was wearing this same headgear in the legends she is concidered a Virgin" 

 

Jordan Maxwell, Paul Tice and Alan Snow That Old Time Religion (31)

 

   

“PARTHENOGENESIS. The myth that certain divine beings or culture-heroes have owed their birth, to a mother without the co-operation of a father has been found to be widespread. For example, Isis, Cybele, Leto, Demeter, and Venus are all represented as " virgin " mothers. The Chinese culture-hero Hon Chi was born of a mother who conceived by treading in a footprint of God. The principal deity of the Uapes Indians of Brazil, Jurupari, was born of a virgin who conceived after drinking a draught of native beer.”

 

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIONS by Maurice Arthur Canney (278)

 

 

“The more general archetype was often seen in mythology as threefold; thus, for example, Aphrodite was seen as Aphrodite the Virgin, Aphrodite the Wife, and Aphrodite the Whore. A similar triplicity is found in the figure of Isis as Sister, Wife and Widow of Osiris.”

 

Adam Mclean: The Triple Goddess (16)

 

 

Keeping in mind that Aphrodite/Venus Is in fact Hathor of course.

 

This is further supported by the fact that a "Virgin Cow" sometimes identified as an "Isis Cow" and other times as Hathor herself was impregnated with the Apis Bull via a flash of lightning or lunar rays:

 

 

“This Apis is the calf of a cow which is never afterwards able to have another. The Egyptian belief is that a flash of light descends upon the cow from heaven, and this causes her to receive Apis.”

 

Herodotus, Histories 3.28.2 

 

 

 

“The Apis, they say, is the animate image of Osiris, and he comes into being when a fructifying light thrusts forth from the moon and falls upon a cow in her breeding-season”

 

Plutarch, Moralia, 368C

 

 

 

“Apis—a black bull, marked by particular spots and different from other bulls in his tail and in his tongue—is the divinity of all the Aegyptian peoples. He is born only rarely, conceived not from mating cattle, as they say, but miraculously in a celestial fire. The day of his birth is particularly festive to the whole people."

 

Pomponius Mela, Description of the World.” 1.9.58 (mid 1st cen. CE)

 

 

Combine this with the fact that Apis was quite often syncretized with Osiris as D.N. Boswell has pointed out in these sources:

 

 

https://mythodoxy.wordpress.com/2019/07/18/syncretism-with-gentile-gods/

 

https://www.scribd.com/doc/217853241/Pagan-Parallels-The-Ultimate-Source-Guide#download

 

This therefore means Osiris/Serapis would have been born of Hathor and/or Isis in the form of a lightning flash or moon rays showing that there clearly were some mystery cults who worshipped versions of Hathor prior to christianity who concieved virginally.

 

 

3. As we have seen this claim that Neith wasn't a virgin mother made by Barbara Lesko is erroneous however it is also worth noting that Neith, Hathor and Isis are all the same goddess:

 

  E.A Wallis Budge In From Fetish To God In Ancient Egypt pgs 58-59 stated that Neith "as a cow goddess was Identified with Hathor and     Isis"

 

"Rock art throughout the northern part of the African continent dating as far back as 6000 B.C.E. widely depicts sacred bovines and female figures wearing horns, which may represent early forms of Neith and later goddesses with whom she was identified, such as Hathor and Isis "

 

Margerite Rigoglioso Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity (28)

 

 

"Joshua J Mark in his online article about Neith also said as much" " Neith (aka Net, Neit or Nit) and is one of the oldest deities of ancient Egypt who was worshipped early in the Pre-Dynastic Period (c. 6000 - 3150 BCE) and whose veneration continued through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323 - 30 BCE), the last to rule Egypt before the coming of Rome. She was a war goddess, goddess of creation, mother goddess who invented birth, and funerary goddess who cared for and helped to dress the souls of the dead. Her cult center was at Sais in the Nile Delta and she continued as the most popular goddess of Lower Egypt even after her attributes were largely given to Isis and Hathor and those goddesses became more popular in Egypt. Neith continued to be honored as the patron goddess of Sais throughout Egypt's history as she was considered a great protector of the people of the land and the most effective mediator between humanity and the gods."

 

"Although many of her attributes were given to Isis and Hathor, as previously noted, her worship never declined. Even during eras where more popular deities received the greater attention, Neith continued to be regarded with reverence and awe and her festival was considered one of the most important in ancient Egypt."

 

 https://www.ancient.eu/Neith/

 

 

 

"Even Wikipedia admits this conflation" "Both Plutarch and a later philosopher, Proclus, mentioned a veiled statue of the Egyptian goddess Neith, whom they conflated with Isis, citing it as an example of her universality and enigmatic wisdom. It bore the words "I am all that has been and is and will be; and no mortal has ever lifted my mantle."

 

"The statue was at a temple in Sais, Neith's cult center. She was largely conflated with Isis in Plutarch's time, and he says the statue is of "Athena [Neith], whom [the Egyptians] consider to be Isis". Proclus' version of the quotation says "no one has ever lifted my veil," implying that the goddess is virginal.^[169] This claim was occasionally made of Isis in Greco-Roman times, though it conflicted with the widespread belief that she and Osiris together conceived Horus.^[170] Proclus also adds "The fruit of my womb was the sun", suggesting that the goddess conceived and gave birth to the sun without the participation of a male deity, which would mean it referred to Egyptian myths about Neith as the mother of Ra"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

 

 

 

 

 

Mehet-Weret or Mehturt (Ancient Egyptian: mḥt-wrt) is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means "Great Flood".She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning of time, and in art she is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns. She is associated with the goddesses Neith, Hathor, and Isis, all of whom have similar characteristics, and like them she could be called the "Eye of Ra".^[2]

Mehet-Weret is primarily known as being the "Celestial Cow" or "Cow Goddess" because of her physical characteristics, but she contributes to the world in more ways than that. She is also the Goddess of Water, Creation, and Rebirth; in Egyptian mythology, Mehet-Weret is one of the main components in the making and survival of life.^[3]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehet-Weret

 

 

And Contra Carrier, Ehrman, Maurice Casey, Inspiring Philosophy and other demon possesed heathens blinded by the forces of evil Isis was most certainly a virgin mother

 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/5079016883_a02fef3005_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/isis-is-a-virgin-mother/

 

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/bart-ehrman-errs-again-this-time-about-virgin-births/

 

https://mythodoxy.wordpress.com/2019/12/25/virgin-motherhood/

 

https://stellarhousepublishing.com/luxor/

 

 

“As Mithraism moved westward it proved a fertile ground for the addition of mystic meaning. Practically all the symbolism of Osiris was added to the Mithraic cultus even to the fact that Isis became the virgin mother of Mithras.”

 

Religions Of The World by Gerald L. Berry (56)

 

 

 

“…[Osiris’s] parts were collected by Isis, and his body was duly resurrected by her, although the phallus was missing. This obliged the goddess to resort to parthenogenesis in order to conceive and bring forth Horus.”

–Dr. James S. Curl, The Egyptian Revival , p. 15.

 

So Hathor is identicle to Isis-Neith and therefore would have all of there Virginal creatrix powers Rigoglioso even states:

 

 "Hathor assumed the following characteristics of Neith: she was imaged as a cow; came to represent the entire sky; and, as the autogenetic “mother of the light,” birthed herself as the first act of creation and subsequently produced Shu and Tefnut. She is also described as “the great cow that gave birth to Re.” See Budge ([1904] 1969, 1:428–38) for a comprehensive discussion of Hathor. Hollis (1994–95, 49–50) also affirms that Hathor adopted many of Neith’s characteristics. However, Neith’s primary characterization was as autogenetic creatrix (which I argue that she retained down to the Graeco-Roman period). In contrast, Hathor, who also retained the identity of “mother of the god,” came to be defined in terms of her relationship to the god as mother, wife, or daughter, rather than as sovereign in her own right. I argue this represents an ontological demotion of the Great Goddess."

 

Margerite Rigoglioso The Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity (212)

 

While I disagree with her opinion that Hathor was not sovreign in her own right as she most certainly was but the point being she had Neith's creatrix powers and thus would have been a virgin mother.

 

In conclusion I disagree with Barbara Lesko's bogus statements regarding Neith and Hathor as both goddesses were both absolutly Virgin mothers long prior to Christianity and I am definitely sideing with Claas Jouco Bleeker on this one Barbara Lesko is most certainly a great Egyptologist and I highly recommend her book but she is however wrong in her analysis of Bleekers statements concerning these to goddesses and there parthenogenic capabilities....