Qadesh

Mythology of Qadesh

Qadesh was a Syrian goddess of sacred ecstasy and sexual pleasure. Her Semitic name would seem to mean 'holy' and despite her Near Eastern origins, the goddess was thoroughly assimilated into ancient Egyptian religion in New Kingdom times to the extent that she was worshipped as part of a popular divine triad along with the fertility god Min and the Asiatic god Reshep. Qadesh was often linked with Hathor whom she resembled in some ways and with the inherently sensual Near Eastern goddesses Anat and Astarte, both of whom were known in ancient Egypt.

Iconography of Qadesh

In ancient Egyptian representations Qadesh is almost invariably depicted as a naked woman - shown frontally - holding lotus blossoms in her right hand and snakes or papyrus stems in her left hand, all of these being symbols of eroticism and fertility. Her similarities to Hathor meant that the iconography of her hairstyle and headdress sometimes approximate those of the Egyptian goddess. Frequently Qadesh is depicted standing on the back of a lion and in some representations she is flanked by Min on her right and Reshep on her left, the two gods usually being depicted standing on plinths or shrines which elevates them closer to the same height as the leonine-borne goddess.

Worship of Qadesh

In the Near East the cult of Qadesh involved in the simulation of a sacred marriage between the goddess and her consort Reshep by her followers. It is not known whether similar rites were enacted in Egypt, where the cult of Qadesh was established at least as early as the 18th Dynasty, but the goddess seems to have been fairly widely venerated. Her image is found on a good many 19th-dynasty votive and funerary stelae and she was worshipped in temples at Memphis and other locations.