Horus

Greek version of Egyptian Heru

 

There were two gods who bore the name Horus: the first was a solar deity and brother of Set, the second the child of Osiris and Isis. However in later times the Egyptians appear to have been either unable or unwilling to distinguish between the two, and the offspring of Osiris and Isis was also considered to be a sun god, thus the two gods became one. The name Horus is a Latinized form of the Greek ‘Hores’, which in turn is derived from the Egyptian ‘Hor’. The origin of this name may come from the same root as the Egyptian word for high or ‘far away’. Horus was represented either as a falcon or a falcon-headed man. His two eyes symbolized the two heavenly bodies, the sun and the moon, with the right eye being the sun and the left the moon. However the phrase ‘the eye of Horus’ usually refers to the moon. It was this eye that was lost to Set and later, after being recovered, presented to Osiris to aid him in his resurrection. The four sons of Horus, Imset, Qebehsenuf, Duamuttef and Hapi, acted as guides to the dead. They represented the cardinal points and were found either pictorially or by name on each of the four sides of the coffin. They protected the body from hunger and thirst and also watched over the internal organs of the deceased, which were removed from the body during mummification and held in canopic jars, each of which bore a moulded head of one of the sons. The falcon was sacred to Horus from the earliest times and the image of a falcon on its perch became the hieroglyphic symbol representing the word ‘god’. Many sanctuaries were dedicated to him, and in each one his priests appear to have developed their own collection of myths associated with the god. So varied did these become that at first glance it would appear that we have over a dozen gods bearing the name Horus, some of which are provided below.

 

As Heru-Ur, "Horus the Elder", he was the patron deity of Upper (Southern) Egypt from the earliest times; initially, viewed as the twin brother of Set (the patron of Lower Egypt), but he became the conqueror of Set c. 3000 BC. when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and formed the unified kingdom of Egypt.