Facts about Hathor

The cult of Hathor was one of the most venerable and wide-spread in ancient Egypt.

Arising from this syncretism, the goddess Seshat, who had earlier been thought of as Thoth's wife, came to be identified with Hathor.

Iconographically, Hathor, who was often depicted in bovine form, is typically represented bearing the solar disk atop her head.

Given her ubiquity in classical sources, it is not surprising that Hathor also played an important role in the extensive Egyptian myths surrounding the afterlife.

Consequently, Hathor, as Sekhmet-Hathor, was sometimes depicted as a lioness.

Hathor was worshipped in Canaan in the eleventh century B.C.E.

The Greeks, who became rulers of Egypt for three hundred years before the Roman domination in 31 B.C.E., also loved Hathor and equated her with their own goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.

worshiped Hathor, who they identified with their goddess Astarte.

When considered the wife of Thoth, Hathor often was depicted as a woman nursing her child.

Hathor's general association with sexuality and joy meant that many of her religious festivals were ecstatic, frenzied affairs.

Consequently, Hathor could not be identified as Ra-Herakhty's mother.

Most prominently, Hathor can be seen as an instance of the Great Goddess archetype, due to her association with fertility and sexuality.

One attempt to solve this conundrum gave Ra-Herakhty a new wife, Ausaas, which meant that Hathor could still be identified as the mother of the new sun god.