Having conquered Set and restored order, Horus became known as Horu-Sema-Tawy, The Horus, Uniter of the Two Lands. He reinstated the policies of his parents, rejuvenating the land, and ruled wisely. It is for this reason that kings of Egypt, from the First Dynastic Period on, aligned themselves with Horus and chose a “Horus Name” to rule under at their coronation. Osiris had been the first king of Egypt who established order and then passed on to the underworld while Horus was the king who restored that order after it was overturned by Set and who raised Egypt up from chaos to harmony. Egyptian kings, therefore, identified themselves with Horus in life and Osiris in death. During their reign, they were the physical manifestation of Horus under the protection of Isis (a notable departure from this custom being the king Peribsen, sixth king of the Second Dynasty, who aligned himself clearly with Set). Ramesses II famously invokes the protection of Isis and Horus in his Poem of Pentaur following the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BCE as do many other kings and pharaohs of Egypt. Wilkinson writes:

Horus was directly linked with the kingship of Egypt in both his falcon form aspect and as son of Isis. From the earliest Dynastic Period the king’s name was written in the rectangular device known as the serekh which depicted the Horus falcon perched on a stylized palace enclosure and which seems to indicate the king as mediator between the heavenly and earthly realms, if not the god manifest within the palace as the king himself. To this “Horus Name” of the monarch, other titles were later added, including the “Golden Horus” name in which a divine falcon is depicted upon the hieroglyphic sign for gold (201).

Since the king of Egypt was the `great house’ who protected his people, all the citizens of Egypt were under the protection of Horus. He was worshipped in many forms and in many different sites. Wilkinson notes that, “Horus was worshipped along with other deities in many Egyptian temples and imporant sites of his worship are known from one end of Egypt to the other” (203). His importance as the uniter of the two lands and maintainer of order made him a representation of the concept of balance which was highly valued by the Egyptians.

Worship of Horus

Horus was worshipped in the same way as any of the other gods of Egypt: temples were built as homes for the god and his statue placed within the inner sanctum where only the chief priest was allowed to attend him. The clergy of the Horus Cult were always male as they associated themselves with Horus and claimed protection from their `mother’ Isis. Attendant priests took care of the temple complex which, like any other, was constructed to mirror the afterlife of the Field of Reeds. The reflecting pool of the temple was Lily Lake (also known as The Lake of Flowers) which the souls of the justified dead were rowed across by the divine ferryman Hraf-hef (`He-Who-Looks-Behind-Himself’). The temple was the afterlife palace and home of the god and the courtyard, decorated with flowers, was his garden.

The people of Egypt would come to the courtyard to ask for assistance or to receive alms, deliver donations or have their dreams interpreted. They would also visit the temple for advice, interpretation of omens, medical assistance, marriage counseling, and for protection from evil spirits or ghosts. The sites of the worship of Horus, as Wilkinson notes above, are too numerous to list but the major cult centers were Khem, in the Delta region, where Horus was hidden as a child, Pe, the site where Horus lost his eye in his battle with Set, and Behdet (both also in the Delta). In Upper Egypt he was worshipped along with Hathor and their son Harsomptus at Edfu and Kom Ombos. Edfu hosted the annual Coronation of the Sacred Falcon “in which an actual falcon was selected to represent the god as king of all Egypt, thus uniting the ancient falcon god with his form as Horus son of Osiris and with the king” (Wilkinson, 202). This ceremony, like other royal festivals, had to do with empowerment of the king and rejuvenation of his reign but was not as important as the Heb Sed Festival. Horus was also venerated at Abu Simbel through statuary and inscriptions and amulets were regularly worn by people seeking his protection.

The Four Sons of Horus

This protection extended through life and beyond death. Horus was associated with the afterlife through his Four Sons who protected the vital organs of the deceased. These four gods represented the four cardinal points of the compass and each was presided over and protected by a goddess. The Four Sons of Horus were:

  • Duamutef – a jackal god who protected the stomach, represented the east, and was protected by Neith.
  • Hapy – a baboon god who protected the lungs, represented the north, and was protected by Nephthys.
  • Imsety – a god in human form who protected the liver, represented the south, and was protected by Isis.
  • Qebehsenuef – a hawk god who protected the intestines, represented the west, and was protected by Selket.

These organs were held in canopic jars which sometimes had the head of the protector-god as the lid handle. The most famous example of the canopic protectors is the alabaster artifact from the tomb of Tutankhamun in which Isis, Neith, Nephthys, and Selket are carved. All four of the protector-gods were depicted as mummified men with their respective different heads of jackal, baboon, human, and hawk. These were all seen as manifestations of Horus who was a friend to the dead. Horus was invoked at funerals for protection and guidance for those who had departed and for the living who remained behind.