Hathor

How did the ancient Egyptians view cows and bulls, and why were some burials of them found in ancient Egyptian cemeteries?

This is what is explained in the book "Animal Worship between Burial and Symbolism in Egypt, the Levant and Iraq: in Prehistoric Times" by Zainab Abdel Tawab Riyad. The book says:

Its sanctification:

This sanctification has been evident since the Upper Paleolithic era, in the horns of cows and bulls that were found buried in human tombs (Gebel El-Sahaba and Toshka). Hoffman saw in finding them as initial signs of what appeared in Egyptian beliefs in historical eras of the symbolic importance of these animals, which had important doctrinal associations in ancient Egypt. While Gimbutas linked the horn to the mother goddess. Giedion pointed out the association of the horn with fertility among some African tribes that filled it with blood, while Levy linked the horn to the hunting phase; that is, the horns had a ritual importance due to their association with male power for some, and their association with motherhood for others. The study believes that Giedion's interpretation is closer to the truth; since blood symbolizes the continuation of life and resurrection, and filling the horn with blood is evidence of the animal's resurrection.

Thus, most of the signs of the beginning of the existence of bull and cow burials, even if only partially - represented by horns - were evidence of the religious symbolism of these animals, and of the emergence of a relationship of some kind that linked them to humans, since approximately the Upper Paleolithic era, which prompted Frankfort to say that Egypt was the first cradle from which the religious belief associated with the worship and sanctification of bulls and cows emerged, although the study sees the opposite; as the worship of bulls and cows was known in the Levant since approximately the eighth millennium BC.

Kessler explained the purpose of the burials of bulls and cows found in the Badari cemetery as these animals had the qualities of strength and fertility, and therefore he was interested in burying and caring for them to ensure that this strength and fertility would always remain with him, so that he could benefit from them, whether during his life or after his death. There is no doubt that these burials indicate the sanctification that surrounded these animals, and they are also a document that preserved for us the manner in which these burials were, and enabled us to understand and know the belief associated with cows and bulls.

The burial of the cow and the infant found in the cemetery of Tell Hassan Dawoud is a burial that is considered to be the origin of the myth of Isis and the son Horus, who was suckled and raised by the cow Hathor in the forests of the Delta; the goddess Hathor is the sacred cow, the mother who grants immortality to her children, and the goddess who protects the sun god, helping him face the dangers of the underworld, and who gives rebirth to the sun. From here the idea of ​​animal gods, or deified animals, was born, which linked man and animal, whether through ties of awe and fear or benefit, so the animal became a sacred symbol that links man and god.

As a sacrifice:

Bulls and cows were often offered as animal sacrifices, as an offering to the god, and in the hope of increasing goodness, as in the case of burial No. E.94 In in Nabta, in which a cow was found, which had been slaughtered before the burial process was completed, suggesting that it was a sacrifice.

As in the case of the bone accumulations found in Nabta as well, which were the result of accumulations of many years in which animals were slaughtered and offered as sacrifices at a specific time each year.

As in the case of tomb No. 385 C4 in the royal cemetery in Helwan, which included the remains of bones of more than one bull, in three layers, and below those three layers a flint knife was found, which was perhaps a sacrificial knife, and perhaps its presence in the tomb indicated that this tomb was a private tomb for one of the influential people, and that the knife had a ritual purpose associated with the bull.

Economic purpose:

It is believed that the worship of bulls and cows lies in their association with agriculture, as reported by classical historians such as Clemens of Alexandria, who stated that cows were considered a symbol of the earth, agriculture and food, in addition to the association of bulls and cows with sexual fertility.

Some believe that these animals, after being domesticated in the Neolithic Age, increased and reproduced where stability and the guarantee of obtaining sustenance were guaranteed, after a life of wandering and subjection to the harshness of the environment and the scarcity of livelihoods that the people of these ages suffered from. These people who domesticated these animals sanctified them because they were the ones who changed their situation for the better.

These animals were the main measure of wealth and agricultural economy, since the Neolithic Age, as mentioned above, especially in the societies of the Western Desert; as the acquisition of large numbers of cows and cattle was evidence of the strength, wealth and social status of their owners, and perhaps the interest in burying them reflects the desire to preserve them.