HATHOR

also called Athyr in ancient Egyptian religion, goddess of the sky, of women, and of fertility and love. Hathor's worship originated in predynastic times (4th millennium BC). The name Hathor means estate of Horus and may not be her original name. Her principal animal form was that of a cow, and she was strongly associated with motherhood. Hathor was closely connected with the sun god Re of Heliopolis, whose eye or daughter she was said to be. In her cult centre at Dandarah in Upper Egypt, she was worshiped with Horus. There were cults of Hathor in many towns in Egypt and also abroad, for she was the patroness of foreign parts and of many minerals won from the desert. At Dayr al-Bahri, in the necropolis of Thebes, she became Lady of the West and patroness of the region of the dead. In the Late Period (1st millennium BC), women aspired to be assimilated with Hathor in the next world, as men aspired to become Osiris. The Greeks identified Hathor with their Aphrodite.