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Horus is one of the most ancient deities of the Ancient Egyptian religion, who appears in his earliest form in late Predynastic Egypt. Represented as a falcon, his name is believed to mean 'the high' or 'the far off' and his earliest connections are to the sky and kingship, derived from being the son of Hathor or Nut, as a sun god. Because the cult of Horus survived for the whole of the Ancient Egyptian civilization that extended for thousands of years, he gained many forms and associations.
Horus was usually represented as a man with a falcon's head. One important association is the Eye of Horus which was an Egyptian symbol of power (first identified with Wadjet and seen on images of his mother, Hathor, as she was emerging from the reeds) and of the offerings made to the god Osiris and by extension, to all of the dead. In one myth cycle Horus' left eye is injured during his struggle with his uncle Set, who had murdered Osiris in an attempt to seize the Egyptian throne. The Eye of Horus, its injury, and subsequent restoration became an important symbol for the unified land of Egypt and in the funerary rites of the renewal after death.
Origin of name
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ḥr "Horus" in hieroglyphs | ||
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Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr.w and is reconstructed to have been pronounced *Ḥāru, meaning "Falcon". By Coptic times, the name became Hōr.It was adopted into Greek as Template:Polytonic Hōros. The original name also survives in later Egyptian names such as Har-Si-Ese literally "Horus, son of Isis".
See also
References
- The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge, Oxford and New York, 2005. Edited by George Hart. 2nd Edition, Page 70.
- http://www.egyptianmyths.net/horus.htm