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Topic Pages contain an overview, definitions, biographies, related topics, images, plus links to relevant articles and other content provided by your library. Topic Page: Hathor (Egyptian deity)

Definition: Hathor from The Macquarie Dictionary
1.

Egyptian Mythology

the goddess of love and joy, often represented with the head, horns, or ears of a cow.

Etymology: Egyptian Het-Herh the castle of Horus

Hathoric adjective

Fig 0058 01
Image from: Painting of Nefertari sacrificing to the goddess... in Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia
Summary Article: Hathor
from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

In ancient Egyptian mythology, a sky goddess; wife or mother of the sky god Horus; goddess of dance, music, and love, (equivalent to Greek Aphrodite); also, goddess of desert cemeteries. She may appear as the great celestial cow, creator of the world; or as a human with cow's horns and ears. Other variations include a hornlike hairstyle, or a headdress in the shape of a sun-disc with cow's horns. She was popular with women as their protector, and was later associated with the principal goddess Isis whose headdress was indistinguishable.

The centre of her cult was Dendera, where a Ptolemaic temple was built and dedicated to her, and where she was embodied as a sistrum (a musical instrument thought to drive away evil spirits).

As goddess of love and desert cemeteries, she displayed close parallels with the Mesopotamian Ishtar, goddess of love and war.

images

Egyptian temple

Hathor, Egyptian goddess of creation

"Hathor." In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, edited by Helicon. Helicon, 2018. https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/hathor_egyptian_deity
Hathor. (2018). In Helicon (Ed.), The Hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide. [Online]. Abington: Helicon. Available from: https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/hathor_egyptian_deity [Accessed 20 October 2018].
"Hathor." The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, edited by Helicon, 2018. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/hathor_egyptian_deity. Accessed 20 Oct. 2018.
© RM, 2018. All rights reserved.

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