ORIGIN Egyptian. Sky god.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 3000 BC until end of Egyptian history (circa AD 400).
SYNONYMS Har (Egyptian); HAROERIS; Har-pakhered or Harpokrates (Greek); HARSIESE. Also Har-nedj-itef or Harendotes (Greek); Har-mau or HARSOMTUS (Greek); HARAKHTI; Har-emakhet or HARMACHIS (Greek).
CENTER(S) OF CULT universal throughout areas of Egyptian influence but particularly Mesen [Edfu] in Upper Egypt; Behdet in the delta; Nekhen or Hierakonpolis (Greek) [Kom el-Ahmar]; Khem or Letopolis (Greek) [Ausim]; also at Buhen close to the second Nile cataract; Aniba in lower Nubia.
ART REFERENCES pre-dynastic monuments; sculptures throughout Egyptian period.
LITERARY SOURCES Pyramid Texts; coffin texts, etc.
Horus is one of the most universally important gods in the Egyptian pantheon attested from the earliest recorded period. By tradition born at Khemmis in the Nile delta region, Horus’s father was the dead OSIRIS, his mother was ISIS, but a complex genealogy recognized him distinctly as Horus, Horus the child (HARPOKRATES) and Horus the elder. In legend he was the first ruler of all Egypt after an eighty-year struggle for supremacy with his brother and rival SETH.
Horus’s symbol is the falcon and he is generally depicted either wholly as a hawk or in human form with a falcon’s head. In some places the tradition by which his mother hid him in the papyrus marshes of the delta is recognized by depicting a falcon standing atop a column of papyrus reeds.
He is also recognized as the “eye of Horus”—a human eye embellished with a typical Egyptian cosmetic extension and subtended by the markings of a falcon’s cheek. As Horus the child, he is typically drawn naked and with fingers in mouth.
Horus is a form of the sun god. The alternative name Harakhti translates “Horus of the horizon” and he is sometimes depicted as a sun disc mounted between falcon’s wings. He is also the symbol of the god kings of Egypt. In early dynastic times the ruler was a “follower of Horus” but by 3000 BC he became Horus in life and Osiris in death.
As Harpokrates, Horus is depicted naked and being suckled on Isis’s knee and he often appears on amulets extending protection against lions, crocodiles, snakes and other dangerous animals. As the adult son of Isis, Haroeris, he performed the “opening of the mouth” ceremony on his dead father, Osiris, and avenged his death, regaining the throne of Egypt from Seth. Horus can also be the son of Horus the elder and HATHOR.
The “eye of Horus” arises from the legendary incident in which Seth tore out Horus’s eye, which was later restored by his mother. The symbol can represent security of kingship, perfection and protection against the evil influence of Seth.
Witch's Well 