A sky deity and the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom were connected with kingship, and thus she is the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the pharaohs. She is one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, Ra's feminine counterpart, and in this form she has a vengeful aspect that protected him from his enemies. Her beneficent side represented music, dance, joy, love, sexuality, and maternal care, and she acted as the consort of several male deities and the mother of their sons. These two aspects of the goddess exemplified the Egyptian conception of femininity. Hathor crossed boundaries between worlds, helping deceased souls in the transition to the afterlife.
 
Hathor is often depicted as a cow, symbolizing her maternal and celestial aspect, although her most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of cow horns and a sun disk. She could also be represented as a lioness, a cobra, or a sycamore tree.