BAT Predynastic cow goddess originating in Upper Egypt (southern) whose image appears on the top register of the NARMER PALETTE, the carved stone that commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in 3100 B.C. Bat has a human head and the ears and horns of a cow. She was rarely shown in Egyptian art, but when she was, her body was in the shape of the MENAT, the counterpoise for a necklace that was shaped like a keyhole. Egyptian necklaces were often large and heavy, so to keep them in place a counterpoise would hang down the wearer's back for balance. The menat also resembled the shape of the SISTRUM, the sacred rattle, which was one of Bat's ritual objects. One of the names of Bat's cult center was the House of the Sistrum. The earliest mention of a Bat is found in the PYRAMID. TEXTS, in which King Unas is said to possess the two faces of Bat. There are few later references, and as was so often the case in Egyptian mythology, the goddess Bat merged with HATHOR, who became the universal cow goddess.
