- 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 judgement 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 .
- Other Names:
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