Hathor Temple at Timna

Overview

The Hathor Temple at Timna is a small Egyptian shrine at the foot of the sandstone cliffs in Timna Valley, dedicated to Hathor, the Egyptian goddess associated with mining and distant lands. It served the copper-mining expeditions of Egypt's New Kingdom.

Archaeological Evidence

The site, known as Site 200, was located in 1964 and excavated by Beno Rothenberg in 1969 and 1974, yielding some 11,000 objects. Egyptian finds carry the names of pharaohs from Seti I or Ramesses II to Ramesses V, dating the shrine's Egyptian use to roughly 1300-1150 BC; Egyptian activity at Timna ended around 1140 BC. Rothenberg interpreted a later phase as a tent shrine of people from Midian, citing Midianite pottery, remains of woolen cloth along the courtyard walls, and a small copper serpent with a gilded head found in the sanctuary. The shrine's discovery led most scholars for decades to date all of Timna's smelting to the Egyptian period, a conclusion later overturned by radiocarbon dating of the Iron Age smelting sites.

Biblical Significance

The shrine is Late Bronze Age evidence for Egyptian activity in the Arabah. The copper serpent from its later phase has been compared with the bronze serpent of Numbers 21:8-9, and the tented shrine with the Tabernacle, though no direct connection is established.