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Protective
Qetesh
qdštLove and sacred sexualityEcstasyHealing
How it changed
A Syrian goddess of love and fertility who arrived in the New Kingdom and was quickly drawn toward Hathor, whose sexual and joyful side she resembled. Even her name is uncertain: Qetesh may be a title, the holy one, rather than a personal name, and the reading is debated. She is one of the front-on figures in Egyptian art, which almost always works in profile.
Cult centre
Adopted from the Levant; no temple city of her own in Egypt
Best attested
New Kingdom, imported from the Levant
Family
- ConsortShown between Min and Reshep on New Kingdom stelae
Shown on popular stelae between the Egyptian Min and the Syrian Reshep.
Epithets
- “Mistress of all the gods”
- “Lady of the stars”
How to recognise the figure
A nude woman shown front-on standing on a lion, holding snakes in one hand and lotus or papyrus in the other.
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