Precinct of Hathor Maat

Hathor and Maat were widely worshipped under the Ptolemaic dynasty. Hathor was the goddess of birth, joy, love and motherhood and, for women, the promise of eternal life. She was often depicted with a cow’s head, but she was also a sky goddess and linked to the Milky Way of the night sky. Maat, on the other hand, dealt with the fate of the soul after death, as she weighed the hearts of the dead against the feather of truth in Duat, the Egyptian underworld. She was a personification of order: truth, law and justice were under her influence, and also the movement of the heavens and the seasons. The temple complex to Hathor and Maat on the West Bank at Thebes was extensively rebuilt by Ptolemy IV Philopator during his reign (221-205BC). Many depictions of the last pharaohs include emblems of Hathor and Maat to emphasise the justice and order they bring to the world.