74-year-old Israeli Lydia Marner always goes for a morning walk along Palmachim beach outside Tel Aviv with her husband. But this June, she suddenly spotted a rock floating on the water that didn’t look like the other rocks she was used to seeing.
“I noticed there was something special about the stone,” she explained. And she was absolutely right.
Her husband was not quite ready to wade into the water and get the stone, but he listened to his wife and got the stone. She then sent pictures of the stone to some friends.
They advised her to contact the Israel Antiquities Authority, which immediately showed great interest in the meeting.
An Egyptian god was worshiped in ancient Israel
An expert on the Bronze Age, Dr. Amir Golani, was able to confirm that the stone was actually a 3,000-year-old microstatue.
He explained in a press release that “these statues were used for worship and were most often associated with the Egyptian goddess Hathor”.
“My husband laughed at me at first, but he doesn’t anymore,” says Marners.
Although Hathor originates from Egyptian mythology, it is not uncommon to find statues of her in Israel. She was worshiped by the Canaanites of Israel, who worshiped several Egyptian gods.
This small stone sculpture has probably been in a home where it has been placed on a small altar. Hathor is one of the oldest Egyptian deities and was tamed goddess of love The statue of the goddess will now presumably be placed in a museum.
