Hathor Meaning: Love, Joy, Music and the Cow Goddess of Egypt

Hathor was one of ancient Egypt's greatest and most wide-ranging goddesses. She was worshipped as a goddess of love, joy, music, dance, beauty and motherhood, as a protector of the king and as a guide of the dead, and her worship lasted for well over two thousand years.

Many roles in one goddess

British Museum material describes Hathor as a goddess of love, joy, music and beauty, closely associated with women, motherhood and fertility. She belonged both to the state religion of temples and kings and to the devotion of ordinary people, who could appeal to her directly. Her great temple at Dendera is one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt.

Cow, woman and sun disk

Hathor could appear as a cow, as a woman with cow's ears, or as a woman wearing cow horns around a sun disk. The cow expresses her nurturing, maternal side; the disk her close bond with the sun god. Her horned crown became so recognisable that Isis later wore it too, which is one reason the two goddesses are easily confused.

Music and the sistrum

Music and dance were central to Hathor's worship. The sistrum, a rattle shaken in ritual, was especially hers, and her face often decorates sistrum handles. Celebration, including ritual drinking, was part of her cult, and British Museum material records the epithet "Lady of Drunkenness".

Goddess of kings

The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that Hathor was bound up with Egyptian kingship from very early times. Temple scenes show her supporting, nursing or receiving the king.

Hathor, Isis and Aphrodite

Hathor and Isis are distinct goddesses whose imagery overlapped over time. Greek visitors identified Hathor with their own goddess of love, and the British Museum documents later blended forms such as Aphrodite-Hathor; that does not mean the two began as one. For the Greek and Roman side of that story, see Aphrodite and Venus.

Hathor in jewellery

A Hathor design can reference love, music, motherhood or the goddess's horned sun-disk crown. Take a look at the AURYN Egyptian Hathor charm, or read our guide to ancient Egyptian symbols.