Horus

Horus
Egyptian deity
Name in Hieroglyphics
Transliteration unicode	r
Representation	falcon-headed man
Alternate Name	Horus, Hor
Main city of Worship	Nekhen
Other cities of Worship	Heliopolis , Kom Ombo , Edfu
Symbol	Eye of Horus
change

Horus is the Latin name of one of the most ancient Egyptian deities, the falcon god whose name probably means or The cult of Horus probably dates to prehistoric times, as the list Royal Turin Papyrus describes as Followers of Horus the legendary kings who ruled the Egypt after the reign of the gods (It may be noted here that Horus serekh is oldest Egyptian king who can be appointed). In early historic times, the saker falcon is depicted on the palette of King Narmer and therefore it will be consistently associated with the Pharaonic monarchy.

A god complex

Horus is a god with many faces, so that one wondered if the name does not refer to distinct deities:

• It is the heavenly falcon whose right eye is the sun and the moon the left eye. It is this aspect that he received a cult Nekhen , the Greek Hierakonpolis.

• At Heliopolis , he was revered as Horahkty , Horus of the Horizon, in conjunction with Ra. As such, it was both the morning sun and evening sun. In the Pyramid Texts , the deceased king revived under the appearance of solar falcon. By syncretism common in Egyptian religion, Horakhty eventually merge with the demiurge Heliopolis, in the form of Re-Harakhti.

• In the myth Osiris finally, Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis. Osiris, murdered by his brother Seth , was brought back to life, the time of a union, through the combined efforts of Isis and Nephthys. It is miraculous that this union is born Horus the Child, which the Greeks called Harpocrates or Harsiesis , Horus son of Isis.

To avenge the death of his father Osiris, Horus, Seth confronts his uncle, he won the bout and awarded the throne of Egypt as an inheritance. Hence his nickname "avenger of his father." It is the very first of the pharaohs after her father. However, its legitimacy will be constantly challenged by Seth. Horus is blind: when fighting that pitted him against Seth, Horus lost his left eye, which is restored by Thoth. Called Horus , the eye, that the Egyptians wore as an amulet, had magical properties and prophylactic.

In contrast, therefore, of Seth, who represents the violence and chaos, for its part Horus embodies order and, like Pharaoh, he is one of the guarantors of universal harmony, but it should not be reduced the complex theology of the Egyptians to a Manichean conception of good and evil because, in another myth, Seth is the indispensable aid of Ra in his nightly battle against the serpent Apophis. Good and evil are complementary aspects of creation, both present in any deity. (See personification of the evil ).

Whatever its appearance and its role - Falcon celestial creator god or son of Osiris - Horus is the dynastic god par excellence. Since Narmer , the king wears the name of Horus said. This is the first element of the Pharaonic titulature of ren maa, authentic name by which the Pharaoh defines its nature. Under the first three dynasties, the name of Horus was part of a rectangle surmounted by a sacred bird, the serekh , whose lower register represents the stylized facade of the royal palace. The significance of serekh is obvious: the king's palace is the Horus land, both the incarnation of the god and his legitimate successor to the throne of Egypt. From Khufu , the royal title is increased by another title, the Golden Horus name , whose interpretation is uncertain.

The "four son of Horus" are lesser divinities represented on canopic jars :

• Amset (head man);
• Hapi (baboon-headed);
• Duamutef (jackal-headed);
• Qebehsenuef (falcon-headed).

An endless struggle

At Horus, son and heir of Osiris, the crown of Egypt deserves. But Seth , jealous, seized it by force. Horus, supported his mother Isis , is convening the tribunal of the gods for any purpose to resolve this dispute. Re chairs, while Thoth is the role of the clerk.

Eighty years passed, however, without the debate has progressed. The same court is divided between supporters of the legitimate royalty (recovering Horus), and Re, which sees its perpetual defender Seth cons Apophis (the serpent god who has always been the enemy of Ra). The debates, which revolve around, requiring an outside opinion. So to Neith , the goddess of Sais , famous for its infinite wisdom, Thoth addressed. His answer is unambiguous: the crown back to Horus. However, to avoid penalizing Seth, Neith proposes to offer the goddesses Anat and Astarte as wives.

If the court is delighted with this solution, Re, he remains skeptical. Horus would not he a little young to assume the leadership of the kingdom? Isis , exasperated by so much procrastination, proposes to move the debate in Heliopolis to Atum and Khepri. Seth was furious and ordered that opposes the debates are conducted in the absence of Isis. But that was reckoning without the tenacity of the goddess.

She reintroduced into the courtroom in the guise of a beautiful young woman who fails to attract the attention of Seth quickly. Both end up even converse. Troubled by such beauty, Seth wanders about in compromising, even acknowledging the legitimacy under the cloak subsidiary of Horus! "The cunning" Isis are unveiled. The dramatic turn of events leaves Seth speechless. As for Re, he was able to judge the imprudence of Seth, who gave no heed to a stranger. Also the crown she returned to Horus from the hands of Ra himself.

But Seth , forever jealous, seems determined not to stop there. It proposes to Horus of sports games. Among them, a water test where the two gods turn into hippos. As one who stays the longest under water can become king. But Isis , which closely follows the misadventures of his son, disrupts the game and ultimately attracts the displeasure of the two protagonists: the three gods are torn by violent disputes.

Ra , desperate to finally attend a reconciliation, invites them to make peace around a banquet. But again, the fights continue to multiply. Seth will even try to feminize Horus to make it unworthy of power in the eyes of other gods by masturbating and ejaculating to shed his semen on the thighs of her nephew.

Osiris , who remained silent, then intervenes and directly challenges the court that he considers too lenient. As a god of vegetation, he threatens to cut funding to Egypt. The gods pushed around by such authority, soon to reach a verdict in favor of Horus. But Seth is not forgotten. Placed alongside Ra, he became "the one who screams in the sky" to be carried up to the creator god.

The six gods kings

1. Ra ,
2. Shou ,
3. Geb ,
4. Osiris ,
5. Horus
6. Thoth (uncertain).

See also

• Eye of Horus (or Eye of Horus)
• Egyptian astrology