A little closer to the "entrance-manhole" to the crypt, directly in front of the images with "electric lamps" there is a very strange, in the opinion of a techie, bas-relief. True, it does not raise any special questions among Egyptologists. As they believe, this is the "Great Menat" of the goddess Hathor, who is depicted nearby.
Menat is a woman's jewelry in the form of beads (more precisely, a necklace in the form of a "bag" of many beads) with a special counterweight, which was located on the back and compensated for the weight of the part of the jewelry that hung in front (sometimes only the counterweight itself is considered a menat) During the holidays, menat was also used as a self-sounding instrument - in fact, like a ratchet. The image of such beads is quite common - both in the hands and on the neck of various characters.
In this case, the “Great Menat” of the goddess Hathor is not a necklace of beads, but a plastron necklace. In addition, in addition to the necklace and counterweight, according to the Egyptologists, it contains additional decorations in the form of four sistras (already mentioned musical instruments), the tops of the handles of which bear the image of the face of the goddess Hathor herself. The two sistras are additionally united by the image of the boat of the god Ra (with the god himself in the form of the sun).
Menat and sistr.
It seems that the opinion of Egyptologists is quite logical. And why shouldn't the goddess really have such an adornment?.. As clearly not a very poor representative of the fair sex from among the gods, she could well afford it.
But why then the image of the "Great Menat" had to be hidden under the floor of the temple in a narrow secret crypt?.. Only because it was supposedly kept here, even if it was made "of gold, ebony and all kinds of precious stones with a face of turquoise" (as if reads the translation of one of the texts), but still only a certain symbolic model of the goddess's decoration?..
I will note in passing that in all the known images of the goddess Hathor this particular decoration is not found anywhere at all. If in some cases a really "classic" menat is worn on it, then these are just beads without any additional elements in the form of sistres and the boat of Ra. For example, this is how Hathor is depicted on a fresco in the tomb of Nefertari (tomb QV 66), where the goddess leads this queen by the hand. But more often than not, Hathor is wearing an ordinary plastron necklace - also without any complicated additional elements. And right next to the “Great Menat” in the Dendera crypt, the goddess is shown in such a “simplified” necklace-plastron - she sits in the image with her back to the “Great Menat”. Why isn't she wearing the Great Menat even here?..
This is strange to say the least …
Promotional video:
Hathor leads Queen Nefertari (fresco from tomb QV 66).
Other questions arise as well.
Why is the “Great Menat” so different from the “classical”?.. Why is what is considered to be images of sistras also noticeably different from the usual sistra?.. Instead of a curved arc, here is what could be called rather a depiction of a monumental entrance to a temple. Is it sistras at all?.. And was the "Great Menat" just an ornament?..
There are more questions than answers.
However, there is an answer to the last question. It is only given by Egyptian mythology, which historians consider to be ordinary inventions and fantasies of the ancient Egyptians.
According to the ideas of the Egyptians, the "Great Menat" of the goddess Hathor was not at all just her decoration, but had "magical" and healing powers. Shaking it drove away evil and contributed to the rebirth of a new life. When placed on the body, the "Great Menat" endowed it with vitality and the ability to reproduce.
As the Egyptians believed, during the temple service, the Ba (part of the soul, the deep essence and vital energy) of the goddess entered this "decoration" and animated it, and manifested in it, bestowed prosperity and immortality. At the same time, it was initially believed that only the gods possessed Ba, while people did not. The Egyptians portrayed Ba as a bird with a human head.
Soul of Ba.
Let us now take into account some considerations.
Firstly, in our expeditions, we had to repeatedly come across the fact that real facts confirm not only the actual existence of the ancient gods (as representatives of a highly developed civilization), but also the reliability of the information of the so-called myths, or rather, ancient legends and traditions that turn out to be not at all by the inventions of our ancestors, but by a kind of chronicle of quite real events.
Secondly, one can relate differently to specific healers, but the very fact of the possibility of successful healing is already impossible to deny. Modern scientific thought is gradually (albeit slowly but steadily) moving towards the recognition of healing as a reality.
Thirdly, specific methods of healing are most often built on the idea that healing occurs as a result of mobilization, first of all, of the internal resources of the body of the person being healed. The healer only stimulates this process, which is best achieved by simply transmitting to the diseased organ (or the entire body) figurative information about a healthy state.
Fourth, the possibility of transferring information from a person to a plant has already been experimentally recorded and confirmed, as well as successful experiments have been carried out to transfer information from a healthy plant to a patient (with the recovery of the latter). This suggests that healing is not just a placebo effect or just suggestion. As well as the fact that there is nothing supernatural in this process.
Fifth, for the transmission of information in known experiments, some kind of carrier was always used - the so-called biofield, coherent radiation, and so on.
Flower biofield, photographed by the Kirlian method.
Now let's just speculate.
If the healing process is associated with the transmission of information, for which a certain medium is used, then nothing prohibits the creation of such a technical device that will affect this medium and thus increase the intensity of transmission and the volume of transmitted information, ultimately leading to an increase in the effectiveness of healing. In this case, the “Great Menat” could well be just such a device that helped the goddess Hathor to carry out the procedure for healing and healing someone.
Then, if you dream a little …
The "counterweight" could well be, say, a source of energy (after all, any technical device needs energy for its functioning), and the so-called "sistras", "Ra boat" and "plastron necklace" are constituent parts connected into a single "package »And providing the basic functionality of the healing device. How exactly this device worked, what was the information carrier, and what was the function of a particular component, we cannot now determine. Not only is there a lack of initial data, but also our own knowledge.
We can only assume that the Egyptian gods had such a device in a single copy, which was exclusively at the disposal of Hathor, who, as a result, was sometimes referred to in ancient texts as the "Great Menat".
The statement that the "Great Menat" was made "of gold, ebony and all kinds of precious stones with a face of turquoise" may not have any meaning. Wealthy people can afford a diamond-encrusted gold mobile phone, but that doesn't negate the main purpose of such a phone - communication.
And the last thing. Echoes of knowledge about the functional purpose of this "decoration" of the goddess Hathor can be traced in the tradition of the ancient Egyptians to wear amulets with the same name. This amulet was used, at least, already during the reign of the 6th dynasty. It was often held in the hand, but sometimes worn around the neck. It was believed that this amulet brings joy and health to its owner and has magical powers. He was the personification of everything that nourishes and strengthens, and also symbolized the male and female genital organs, which in the mystical sense merged into one.
Author: A. Sklyarov.
Recommended reading: "Secrets of the Temple of Hathor".