 Anubis (jnpw) |
 Bastet (b3stt) |
 Hathor (ht-hrw) |
 Horus (hrw) |
 Khnum (khnwm) |
 Sekhmet (skhmt) |
 Set (sth) |
 Sobek (sbk) |
 Thoth (djhwty) |
hrw, hr-m-3kht, hr-p3-khrd, hr-s3-jst and other namesOther Egyptian Gods
Horus is the warrior-god of the Kingdom, representing just and upright leadership and an orderly future. He is the son of Isis and Osiris who avenged his father and reclaimed the crown from his uncle Seth, vanquishing chaos and establishing the primacy of the son in the order of succession. Actually, Horus and Seth were battling each other as symbols of Order and Chaos (or of South and North, or of Light and Dark) for centuries before Osiris showed up. Only later were the Osirian family relationships added to the stories. Horus is one of the oldest clearly identifiable Egyptian gods. He appears as a falcon above the serekh containing pre-Dynastic kings' names on the earliest hieroglyphic labels. His name derives from the word hr meaning "above", so he is "the one on high", symbolized by a falcon.
Horus is not really so much a god as a consortium of gods. The identification of a falcon with a sky god or sun god, "the one on high", is a direct and compelling concept so there were numerous falcon gods in ancient Egpypt and the Middle East. Many different local gods or foreign gods represented as falcons were all subsumed into "Horus" over time. Horus the child of Isis and Osiris (Har-Sa-Iset) is not really the same Horus as the regal Behdety falcon protecting the King during battle. There are many versions of Horus, worshipped at different places and times. The contention with Seth remains a central theme for most of the forms of Horus.
Here's a partial list of some of the forms of 'Horus', listing the names in Greek / Egyptian (English).
- Harsiesis / Har-sa-aset (Horus son of Isis)
- Horus as the defenceless baby born of Isis and Osiris, hidden in the marshes of Buto from the attacks of Seth. (Hiding a baby in the marshes is a standard part of many Egyptian stories. It's a wonder anybody could get to the river without tripping over a baby.)
- Harpokrates / Heru-pa-khered (The infant Horus)
- Horus as a child, representing the new born sun. Depicted as a shaved child with a sidelock, naked with a finger to his lips. Often depicted sitting in Isis' lap, nursing, in a Madonna-and-child image.
- Harendotes / Har-nedj-itef (Horus the avenger of his father)
- Horus as a grown man, who fought successfully to reclaim the land and avenge his father. Adult version of Harsiesis or Harpokrates.
- Harsomptus / Har-sema-tawi (Horus Uniter of the Two Lands) or Har-pa-neb-tawi (Horus Lord of the Two Lands)
- Horus as king of the Two Lands (Egypt), shown wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.
- Haroeris / Heru-ur or Har-wer (Horus the Elder)
- Haroeris is one of the earliest forms of Horus. He was a god of light whose eyes represented the sun and the moon. At the dawn of time he flew upward with the sun and fought against Seth as an enemy of light. Variations of this elder Horus include Khenty-Khem, "Foremost of Khem", an early falcon sun-god worshipped at Khem (Letopolis) in the Delta. Hor-Khenty-Irty (Horus with two eyes), becomes Hor-Khenty-en-Irty (Horus with no eyes) in the night of the new moon when there is neither sun nor moon.
- Horus of Behdet / Har behdety (Horus of Edfu).
- Horus as the midday sun, shown as a winged solar disk, or as a lion with the head of a hawk, or as a hawk with a flail hovering over the king. Horus Behdet is another of the oldest forms of Horus, probably brought to Egypt in pre-dynastic time by invaders from the Middle East. (Notice the similarity of the hawk-headed lion to a gryphon, a mythical creature imported to Egypt through mid-East contacts.) He is husband of Hathor (sometimes) and father of Har-sema-tawi. Horus of Edfu in the form of a winged sun disk or as a hawk-headed lion fights a great battle against Seth and his minions.
- Harakhte / Ra-Har-akheti (Horus of the two horizons)
- Horus as god of the rising sun and of the setting sun, the "two horizons". Also Horus identified as Re making the daily voyage of the sun from horizon to horizon, granting assurance the setting sun will be reborn the next morning. The composite deity was represented as a falcon or a falcon-headed man wearing a solar disk and sometimes the atef crown. The akhet was not only the physical horizon but also a spiritual boundary through which Ra journeyed twice each day -- moving from life to death at the western horizon and from death to life at the eastern horizon.
- Harmachis / Hor-em-akhet or Harmakhet (Horus in the Horizon)
- Horus as god of the dawn, linked with the rising sun. Horemakhet was often represented as a sphinx. He could also appear as a ram, like Khepri, another rising-sun god usually represented as a scarab beetle. The great sphinx of Giza faces the rising sun and was identified as a portrait of Hor-em-akhet by Thutmose IV (18th Dynasty). To justify his ascension to the throne, Thutmose claimed his father was the composite deity Horemakhet-Atum-Khepri, restored the sphinx, and erected a large stela presenting his story. The sphinx as Horemakhet was also associated with the Syro-Palestinian falcon god Hauron.
The Eye of Horus, known as the udjat eye, is a very powerful symbol for divine protection. The udjat is drawn as a stylized human eye and eyebrow with falcon facial markings. Horus' left eye was wounded by Seth, but restored by Thoth or Isis, so this eye represented recovery from disease or injury. It's also the origin of the "Rx" symbol still used for medical prescriptions today as a sign of hope for recovery. Or the udjat can be presented as Horus' uninjured right eye, with clear vision and strong protection from harm. There are many other layers of interpretation available for the Eye of Horus. Horus the Elder's right eye is the Sun (or the Eye of Re) and his left eye is the Moon. The injury and recovery of the left eye then serves to explain the phases of the Moon. The udjat as a right eye or as a left eye appears often in ancient jewelry and paintings, so both eyes were potent symbols.
Horus had four sons: Duamutef, Hapi, Imsety and Qebehsenuef. It's not clear who was their mother, but each son is associated with a goddess: Imsety and Isis, Hapy and Nephthys, Duamutef and Neith, Kebehsenuef and Selket. Those goddesses are the mother and aunts of Harsiesis or Harpokrates. There do not seem to have been cults established for worship of Horus' sons, but they became standard figures in funerary contexts. Their heads signal protection for the organs in canopic jars, and their images often appear on sarcophagi to extend their protection to the body.
Bibliography of Egyptology references used in these Stuffe & Nonsense Lore Pages.
