Horus is the name of a sky god in ancient Egyptian mythology which designates primarily two deities: Horus the Elder (or Horus the Great), the last born of the first five original gods, and Horus the Younger, the son of Osiris and Isis. According to the historian Jimmy Dunn, “Horus is the most important of the avian deities” who takes on so many forms and is depicted so differently in various inscriptions that “it is nearly impossible to distinguish the ‘true’ Horus. Horus is mostly a general term for a great number of falcon deities” (2). While this is certainly true, the name ‘Horus’ will usually be found to designate either the older god of the first five or the son of Isis and Osiris who defeated his uncle Set and restored order to the land.
The name Horus is the Latin version of the Egyptian Hor which means “the Distant One”, a reference to his role as a sky god. The elder Horus, brother of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, is known as Horus the Great in English or Harwer and Haroeris in Egyptian. The son of Osiris and Isis is known as Horus the Child (Hor pa khered) who was transformed into the Greek god Harpocrates after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 331 BCE. ‘Harpocrates’ also means ‘Horus the Child’ but the deity differed from the Egyptian Horus. Harpocrates was the Greek god of silence and confidentiality, the keeper of secrets, whose statuary regularly depicts him as a winged child with his finger to his lips.
Horus the Younger, on the other hand, was a powerful sky god associated with the sun, primarily, but also the moon. He was the protector of the royalty of Egypt, avenger of wrongs, defender of order, uniter of the two lands and, based on his battles with Set, a god of war regularly invoked by Egyptian rulers before battle and praised afterwards. In time, he became combined with the sun god Ra to form a new deity, Ra-Harahkhte, god of the sun who sailed across the sky during the day and was depicted as a falcon-headed man wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with the sun disk on it. His symbols are the Eye of Horus (one of the most famous Egyptian symbols) and the falcon.
Horus the Elder
The elder Horus is one of the oldest gods of Egypt, born of the union between Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) shortly after the creation of the world. His older brother Osiris was given the responsibility of governing the earth along with Isis while Horus was given charge of the sky and, specifically, the sun. In another version of the story, Horus is the son of Hathor while, in others, she is his wife and, sometimes, she is mother, wife, and daughter of Horus. The scholar Geraldine Pinch notes that “one of the earliest divine images known from Egypt is that of a falcon in a barque” representing Horus in the sun barge traveling across the heavens (142). Horus is also depicted as a creator god and benevolent protector.
There were many falcon gods (known as Avian Deities) in Egyptian religion who were eventually absorbed into the god known as Horus. Some, such as Dunanwi from Upper Egypt, appear early in history while others, like Montu, were popular later. Horus’ early association with Dunanwi has been challenged by scholars but there is no doubt he was later combined with the god as Horus-Anubis. Dunanwi was a local god of the 18th upper nome(province) while Horus was widely worshipped throughout the country. It is possible that, like Inanna in Mesopotamia, the figure of Horus began as a local god such as Dunanwi but it seems more likely that Horus was fully realized early in Egypt’s religious development.
Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson comments on how “Horus was one of the earliest of Egyptian deities. His name is attested from the beginning of the Dynastic Period and it is probable that early falcon deities such as that shown restraining the `marsh dwellers’ on the Narmer Palette represent this same god” (200). Rulers of the Predynastic Period in Egypt(c. 6000-3150 BCE) were known as “Followers of Horus” which attests to an even earlier point of veneration in Egypt’s history.
In his role as The Distant One he performs the same task as The Distant Goddess, a function associated with Hathor (and a number of other female deities) who go forth from Ra and return, bringing transformation. The sun and the moon were considered Horus’ eyes as he watched over the people of the world day and night but could also draw near to them in times of trouble or doubt. Imagined as a falcon, he could fly far from Ra and return with vital information and, in the same way, could quickly bring comfort to those in need.
From the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-c.2613 BCE) onwards, Horus was linked with the king of Egypt (though later rulers associated themselves with Horus the Younger). Historian Margaret Bunson writes, “The Serekh, the earliest of the king’s symbols, depicted a falcon (or hawk) on a perch. As a result, devotion to Horus spread throughout Egypt but in various locales the forms, traditions, and rituals honoring the god varied greatly” (116). This variation gave rise to a number of different epithets and roles for this deity and eventually led to his transformation from the elder Horus to the child of Osiris and Isis.
Horus the Younger & The Osiris Myth
The younger Horus is sometimes mentioned as related to the older god but quickly eclipsed him and assumed many of his characteristics. By the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE), the last dynasty to rule Egypt, the elder Horus had been completely replaced by the younger. Statues of Horus the Child from the Ptolemaic period show him as a young boy with his finger to his lips perhaps representing the time when he had to remain quiet when hiding from his uncle Set as a child. In his young form he “came to represent a promise by the gods to take care of suffering humanity” since he had himself suffered as an child and knew how it felt to be fragile and surrounded by dangers (Pinch, 147). It was this form of Horus who would become the Greek Harpocrates whom Plutarch called “the second son of Isis” and who would go on to become popular in the Roman world. The Cult of Isis was the most popular mystery cult in Rome, greatly influencing the development of Christianity, and Harpocrates was the divine son depicted in ancient Roman art with his mother.
The story of Horus comes out of the Osiris Myth which was one of the most popular in ancient Egypt and gave rise to the Cult of Isis. This story begins shortly after the creation of the world when Osiris and Isis ruled over a paradise they created. When men and womenwere born from the tears of Atum (Ra) they were uncivilized and barbaric. Osiris taught them culture, religious observances to honor the gods, and the art of agriculture. The people were all equal at this time, men and women, owing to the gifts of Isis which were dispensed to all. Food was plentiful and there was no want or need unfulfilled.
Osiris’ brother, Set, grew jealous of him and this envy turned to hatred when Set discovered that his wife, Nephthys, had transformed herself into the likeness of Isis and seduced Osiris. Set was not angry with Nephthys, however, but focused his revenge on his brother, “The Beautiful One”, who had presented a temptation too strong for Nepthys to resist. Set tricked Osiris into laying down in a casket he had made to his brother’s exact specifications and, once Osiris was inside, Set slammed the lid on and threw the box into the Nile.
The casket floated down the river to eventually lodge in a tamarisk tree by the shores of Byblos where the king and queen admired its beauty and sweet scent and had it cut down for a pillar in their court. While this was going on, Set has usurped Osiris’ rule and reigned over the land with Nephthys. He neglected the gifts which Osiris and Isis had bequeathed and the land suffered drought and famine. Isis knew she had to bring Osiris back from wherever Set had banished him to and went out searching for him. She finally found him inside the tree-pillar at Byblos, asked the king and queen for it, and brought it back to Egypt.
Osiris was dead but Isis knew she could bring him back to life. She asked her sister Nephthys to stand guard over the body and protect it from Set while she went to gather herbs for potions. Set, meanwhile, had heard that his brother had returned and was out looking for him. He found Nephthys and tricked her into telling him where the body was hidden; then he hacked Osiris into pieces and scattered the body parts across the land and into the Nile. When Isis came back she was horrified to find her husband’s body missing. Nephthys told her how she had been tricked and what Set had done to Osiris.
The two sisters then went in search of the body parts and reassembled Osiris. His penis had been eaten by a fish and so he was incomplete but Isis could still return him to life. Isis used her magic and potions and, in some versions of the story, is aided in this by Nephthys. Osiris revived but could no longer rule among the living because he was no longer whole; he would have to descend to the underworld and reign there as Lord of the Dead. Prior to his departure, though, Isis transformed herself into a kite (a falcon) and flew around his body, drawing his seed into her own and becoming pregnant with Horus. Osiris left for the underworld and Isis went into hiding in the Delta region of Egypt to protect herself and her son from Set.
