Hathor

## Mistress of the West

Hathor, known as the **"Golden One,"** is one of the most important and popular goddesses in Egyptian mythology. She embodies love, beauty, music, motherhood, joy, and feminine sexuality. As "Mistress of the West," she welcomed the dead into the afterlife, offering them food and drink.

### Cosmic Mother

Hathor was considered a celestial cow goddess who gave birth to and nursed the pharaoh, making each king symbolically her son. The Milky Way was seen as milk flowing from her udders. She was the divine mother who nourished all of Egypt.

### The Eye of Ra

In her fierce aspect, Hathor could become the **Eye of Ra**, a destructive force. In the famous myth, Ra sent her to punish rebellious humanity. As the lioness Sekhmet, she nearly destroyed all humankind until Ra flooded the fields with beer dyed red. Thinking it was blood, she drank it, became intoxicated, and transformed back into the gentle Hathor.

### Music, Dance, and Sacred Animals

Hathor was the patroness of music and dance, with the **sistrum** rattle sacred to her worship. Cows were her sacred animals, and she was depicted either as a cow or as a woman with cow's ears and horns cradling the sun disk. Her main cult center was **Dendera**, which houses one of the best-preserved temples in Egypt.