Egyptian goddess, also known as Athyr. Hathor was sometimes described as the wife of Horus, the sun god, at other times as his mother. Goddess of love, of the dance, and of music, she was also a sky-goddess and goddess of the dead. The instruments of her cult were the sistrum and the menat, a string of seed-pearls which, when shaken, produced a sound similar to the rustle of papyrus leaves. In pictures and sculpture Hathor was commonly shown with the head or at least with the horns of a cow, an animal sacred to her.