Hathor

Goddess of love, music, dance

Cult Center: Dendera and throughout Egypt

Attributes: .Because her worship stretches back to pre-dynastic times, we find Hathor identified with many local goddesses, and it can be said that all the goddesses were forms of Hathor. At times we find her playing the role of a sky-goddess, a sun-goddess, a moon-goddess, a goddess of the east, a goddess of the west, a goddess of moisture, a goddess of fertility, an agricultural goddess, and a goddess of the underworld.

Hathor was the goddess of joy, motherhood, and love. She was considered the protectress of pregnant women and a midwife. She was the patron of all women, no matter their station in life. As the goddess of music and dancing her symbol was the sistrum. As a fertility goddess and a goddess of moisture, Hathor was associated with the inundation of the Nile. In this aspect she was associated with the Dog-star Sothis whose rising above the horizon heralded the annual flooding of the Nile. In the legend of Ra and Hathor she is called the "Eye of Ra."

In later times, when the Osiris cults gained popularity, her role changed. She now welcomed the arrival of the deceased to the underworld, dispensing water to the souls of the dead from the branches of a sycamore and offering them food. Hathor was also represented as a cow suckling the soul of the dead, thus giving them sustenance during their mummification, their journey to the judgment hall, and the weighing of their soul. In the Late Period, dead women identified themselves with Hathor, as men identified with Osiris.

Representation: Hathor was originally worshipped in the form of a cow, sometimes as a cow with stars on her. Later she is represented as a woman with the head of a cow, and finally with a human head, the face broad and placid, sometimes she is depicted with the ears or horns of a cow. She is also shown with a head-dress resembling a pair of horns with the moon-disk between them. Sometimes she is met with in the form of a cow standing in a boat, surrounded by tall papyrus reeds. As the "Mistress of the Necropolis" she is shown as the head of a cow protruding from a mountainside. In this case she wears a menat necklace, which is a symbol of rebirth.

Relations: Daughter of Nut and Ra. Wife of Ra, mother of Ihy. Many legends portray her as the mother of Horus the Elder. Other as the wife of Horus of Edfu, The fruit of this union was Horus the Younger.

Copyright © 2010 Tim Stouse
Last modified: December 10, 2010

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