The
name "Horus" is a general catchall for multiple deities,
the most famous of whom is Harseisis (Heru-sa-Aset) or
Horus-son-of-Isis (sometimes called Horus the Younger)
who was conceived after the death of his father, Osiris,
and who later avenged him. In all the Horus deities the
traits of kingship, sky and solar symbology, and victory
reoccur.
As
the prototype of the earthly king, there were as many
Horus gods as there were rulers of Egypt, if not more.
.The
oldest of the Horus gods is appropriately named Horus
the Elder (Heru-ur), and was especially venerated in pre-Dynastic
Upper Egypt along with Hathor.
In
this very ancient form, Horus is also a creator god, the
falcon who flew up at the beginning of time. The pre-Pharaohnic
rulers of Upper Egypt were considered "shemsu-Heru" or
"followers of Horus", and the original Horus is himself
considered in some myths to be the brother of Seth
and Osiris, second-born of the five children of Geb and
Nut (Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis,
Nephthys).
Horus
the Elder's city was Letopolis, and his eyes were thought
to be the sun and moon. When these two heavenly bodies
are invisible (as on the night of the new moon) he goes
blind and takes the name Mekhenty-er-irty, "He who has
no eyes". When he recovers them, he becomes Khenty-irty,
"He who has eyes".
A
warrior-god armed with a sword, Horus could be especially
dangerous to those around him in his vision-deprived state,
and during one battle in particular he managed to not
only knock off the heads of his enemies but of the other
deities fighting alongside him, thus plunging the world
into immediate confusion that was only relieved when his
eyes returned.
Other
notable Horus gods are the previously mentioned Harseisis,
as well as Horus of Behdet (sometimes called simply Behdety)
who was represented as a winged sun disk, Anhur (a form
of Horus the Elder and Shu), Horakhety (Ra-Heru-akhety)
who was a syncretism of Ra and Horus, and Harpokrates
(Heru-pa-khered) or Horus the Child. In the form of Harpokrates,
Horus is the danger-beset son of Isis with one finger
to his lips, signifying his childish nature (also evident
in his princely sidelock and naked status). Harpokrates
represented not only the royal heir, but also the newborn
sun.
Horus
deities are frequently depicted as hawks or hawk-headed
men, though some are represented as fully human. The pharaoh
was considered to be the Living Horus, the temporal stand-in
for Horus in the earthly domain. As the opponent of Seth
(who, though initially an Upper Egyptian deity himself,
later came to represent not only Lower Egypt but the desert
surrounding Egypt), Horus is alternately a brother vying
for the throne and unification of Egypt (Horus the Elder),
or a royal heir come to reclaim his inheritance (Horus
the Younger).
Horus
can be seen at the top of the serekh of early kings, though
in very rare cases his place was usurped by Set (Peribsen,
Dynasty 2) or even shared with him (Khasekhemwy, Dynasty
2). Horus is also depicted on the famous Narmer palette
along with Bat, an earlier form of Hathor.
A
passage from the Coffin Texts (passage 148) sums up Horus
in his own words:
