Horus
Horus
(Ωρος), the Egyptian god of the sun, generally written in hieroglyphics by the sparrow hawk, and represented with a bird's beak. The old derivation from the Hebrew aur, light, is now recognized as incorrect. As an Egyptian divinity he is mentioned generally as the son of Isis and Osiris, and brother of Bubastis, the Egyptian Diana. Various esoteric explanations have been given of him, e.g. that "he represents the Nile, as Typhon the desert, the fruitful air or dew which revives the earth, the moon, the sun in relation to the changes of the year, or the god who presided over the course of the sun." He also represented three planets Jupiter (Harapshta), Saturn (Harka), and Mars (Harteshr). The sparrow hawk was sacred to him; so were lions, which were placed at the side of his throne. There was a festival to celebrate his eyes on the 30th Epiphi, when the sun and moon, which they represented, were on the same right line with the earth. A movable feast, that of his coronation, is supposed to have been selected for the coronations of the kings of Egypt, who are described as sitting upon his throne. When adult, he is generally represented hawk-headed; as a child, he is seen carried in his mother's arms, wearing the pshent or atf, and seated on a lotus-flower with his finger on his lips. He had an especial local worship at Edfou or Hut, the ancient Apollinopolis Magna, where he was identified with Ra, or the Sun. There were also books of Horus and Isis, probably referring to his legend (Lucian, De Somn. sive Gall. s. 183). The magnet was called his bone; he was of fair complexion (Chambers, Cyclop. 5 430 sq.). He was also worshipped very extensively in Greece, and later at Rome, in a somewhat modified form. In Grecian mythology he was compared with Apollo, and identified with Harpocrates, the last son of Osiris (Plut. De Is. et Os. 19). SEE HORAPOLLO. They were both represented as youths, and with the same attributes and symbols (Artemid. Oneiro 2, 36; Macrobius, Sat. 1, 23; Porphyry ap. Euseb. Prcep. Evang. 5, 10; Iamblichus, DeMyster. 7, 2). In the period of the worship of this god at Rome he seems to have been regarded as the god of quiet life and silence (Varro, De L. L. 4, 17, Bip. Ovid, Met. 9, 691; Ausonius, Epist. ad Paul.
25, 27), which was due no doubt, to the belief that he was born with his finger in his mouth, as indicative of secrecy and mystery. Horus acts also a prominent part in the mystic works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (q.v.). See Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities,. 2, 526; Birch, Gall. of Antig. p. 35; Wilkinson, Mann. and Cust. 4, 395; Jablonski, Panth. 2, 4, p. 222; Champollion, Panth. Eg.; Hincks, Dublin Univ. Mag. 28, 187; Bockh, Manetho, p. 61; Buseen, Aegyptens Stelle in d. Weltgesch. 1, 505 sq. SEE VALENTINIAN THEOLOGY. (J. H.W.)
