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Description
Deity of joy, song, dance, female love, and motherhood.
And then… she was a psychopomp.
Leading you over to the next side after your death…
That was her job.
Cow goddess Hathor
Love, joy, song, and dance-goddes Hathor.

Because that is not an interesting duality at all…

Screaming of “memento mori”
Of “carpe diem”
Of “remember to have fun while you can. You will be dead soon enough.”

Which begs the question…
Surely, this is an attribute of the Renaissance?
Isn’t it a little early to start “remembering your death” already in the 2000s BC?

Or is it?

Doing a quick search, what one will find is that shockingly often, these older gods will have a surprisingly wide spectrum of job descriptions.

Inanna – love, beauty, sex, war, justice and political power.
Afrodite areia – desire, fertility, beauty, and war.
Dionysus – wine, and also a psychopomp.

The dualities will, it seems, find no end.

So maybe the memento mori isn’t as new as we would like to think.
Do you need a massive plague to start seizing the day?
Isn’t history filled with catastrophic events?
Hasn’t death always been pretty close?
Hasn’t life always been pretty fragile?

So when the mistress of the west leads you on your way.
And you know that your days are numbered…
Remember all the fun you had at her devising.
Remember that you lived.

Description
Deity of joy, song, dance, female love, and motherhood.
And then… she was a psychopomp.
Leading you over to the next side after your death…
That was her job.
Cow goddess Hathor
Love, joy, song, and dance-goddes Hathor.

Because that is not an interesting duality at all…

Screaming of “memento mori”
Of “carpe diem”
Of “remember to have fun while you can. You will be dead soon enough.”

Which begs the question…
Surely, this is an attribute of the Renaissance?
Isn’t it a little early to start “remembering your death” already in the 2000s BC?

Or is it?

Doing a quick search, what one will find is that shockingly often, these older gods will have a surprisingly wide spectrum of job descriptions.

Inanna – love, beauty, sex, war, justice and political power.
Afrodite areia – desire, fertility, beauty, and war.
Dionysus – wine, and also a psychopomp.

The dualities will, it seems, find no end.

So maybe the memento mori isn’t as new as we would like to think.
Do you need a massive plague to start seizing the day?
Isn’t history filled with catastrophic events?
Hasn’t death always been pretty close?
Hasn’t life always been pretty fragile?

So when the mistress of the west leads you on your way.
And you know that your days are numbered…
Remember all the fun you had at her devising.
Remember that you lived.