Hathor — Love, Joy & the Sky
Goddess of love and music with a hidden side that turns into a bloodthirsty lioness.
Also: Hathor · Hut-Hor · Het-Heru · goddess of love · Dendera · cow goddess · Eye of Ra
Egyptians worshipped Hathor as goddess of love, music, dance, joy, and motherhood, and as a sky goddess often shown as a cow or a woman with cow's horns and a sun disc. She had a gentle, nurturing side and a dangerous one — in the 'Eye of Ra' myths she becomes the lioness Sekhmet. Her great temple at Dendera was a major cult center, and she protected women, the dead, and the living alike.
In short
Hathor, one of the most widely worshipped goddesses, associated with the sky, love, music, joy, motherhood, and female sexuality, but also with a fierce destructive aspect; closely linked to the sun god as his 'Eye' and daughter.
Where it’s found
Old Kingdom onward; Dendera temple texts; the Eye-of-Ra myths
How the idea developed across Egypt
Attested from the Early Dynastic / Old Kingdom and prominent throughout; her cult at Dendera flourishes into the Ptolemaic period (the standing temple there is Greco-Roman). Frequently merged or paired with other goddesses (Isis, Sekhmet).
Hathor is a deity (never a person). Her overlap with Sekhmet and Isis means identifications should be handled per source, not flattened.