Bat (sometimes Bata) was an old goddess of fertility from Upper Egypt depicted as a cow, woman, or a human face with horns and a cow's ears. Sometimes she was seen with stars like the celestial cow Sopdet. In the Narmer Palette (above) she is present in the upper corners. Her name might be the female form of Ba (the soul) and the pyramid texts say that the deceased king identifies himself with "Bat with her two faces". Her main cult was in Hut-Sekhem, today's Hiw, capital of pro- vince six of Upper Egypt whose standard was the sistrum (a rattle, see below), which was Bat's own cultural object. In the Middle kingdom she was superseded by Hathor from the next-door province (#7) who took over her characters and personal regalia.Hathor's aspect Heret with frontal projection (right) was looking just like Bat without horns. She was seldom seen in everyday art like sculptures, paintings and reliefs, but appeared in jeweller in amulets for protection. After the beginning of the New Kingdom she was never seen or mentioned any more.
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