Husband of Hathor (sometimes son of Hathor)
Deity with several functions: celestial and solar god. direct protector of Egyptian royalty, representative of the gods on earth
Other deities assimilated to Horus: Harakhty, Harmakhis, Haroeris, Hurun, Harpokrates, Harsiese
Principal place of worship: Edfu {Upper Egypt} Representation: a falcon or a man with a falcon's head
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Many deities are represented as falcons in the Egyptian pantheon. The most famous one is Horus, who is several gods in one. First of all, he is a celestial god who has a close relationship with the solar god and reigns over the sky and the stars. He takes on the personalities of several gods, who are equally presented under the form of a falcon: Harakhty, Harmakhis, Haroeris, Hurun ...
After the unification of Egypt under the kings of Hierakonpolis, the falcon god of this town becomes of course the royal god: he is the protector of the king, who himself is considered to be the incarnation of Horus on earth. He is also member of the cosmogony of Heliopolis, as he is the son of Isis and Osiris, and so he includes deities linked through this kinship: Harpokrates, Harsomtus, Harsiese ... Through the centuries, all these personalities will merge into one divinity that stems from all these mythological streams.
The mythological texts tell us how, after Osiris had been killed by his brother Seth, Isis succeeds in conceiving a child, the future Horus, from her dead husband. That being done without the killer's knowledge, Isis is afraid for her life and the one of the son she carries in her womb. So she implores the creative god, Re'-Atum to protect her from eventual attacks from Seth. Then comes the much-awaited day of the birth:
"I am Horus, the great falcon ... My place is far from Seth's place, the enemy of my father Osiris. I have reached the roads of eternity and light. I flyaway thanks to my launch. No god can do what I have done. I shall fight the enemy of my father Osiris, I shall put him under my sandals in my name of Furious ... For I am Horus, whose place is far from gods and men. I am Horus, the son of Isis."
The tales about the travels of Isis and the childhood of Horus are numerous. It is clear that of all the gods, little Horus is the one most inclined to fall sick and to have accidents. As a prototype of the weak, unshielded, sickly, helpless, innocent and vulnerable child, he is spared absolutely nothing: scorpion bites, intestinal aches, unexplained fevers, indigestion, mutilations ... But the power of magic and the intervention of the gods always put an end to his sufferings.
One of the most well known extracts takes us to the marshes of the Delta, close to the town of Chemnis. It's a hostile region, and Isis knows that Seth will never venture into this desert. She therefore feels safe, but the days are long and difficult. She has to beg to subsist. In the morning, she hides her son and disguises herself as a beggar woman to go throughout the country and look for food.
One evening, she finds the young Horus completely unconscious. In spite of a ravenous hunger, he is so weak that he cannot suck his mother's breast. Isis calls in the people living in the marshes who try to help her, but unfortunately without success. Then an old woman, famous for her gift of magic, comes along. She declares that the ailment the baby is suffering from does not come from his uncle Seth. Horus has simply been bitten, she says, by a scorpion or a snake. Isis looks closer, and sees that he has indeed been poisoned. Then Nephthys and Serket, the scorpion goddess, arrive. They advise Isis to ask Re' to stop his course until Horus gets better. When he hears her prayer, the solar god sends Thoth to Isis. He looks at the child and says:
"Don't worry Isis! I've come to you, armed with the vital breath that will heal the child. Courage, Horus! The one who lives in the solar disc protects you, and your protection is eternal. Out! Poison. Re', the great god will make you disappear. The sun boat stopped, and will only resume is course once you're healed. The wells will be empty, the crops will fail, the men will be deprived of bread until Horus has his strength back for his mother's happiness. Courage, Horus. The poison is dead, it has been vanquished. "
The poison having been thrown off by the great magician, young Horus comes back to life. Thoth, after having asked the inhabitants of Chemnis to look after the child in the absence of his mother, leaves the scene of the accident, in order to "set the sun boat back on its course, and to announce to Re' that Horus is well again and the poison defeated. "
In the struggle that opposes him to Seth, he is often subject to mutilations, which each time are repaired thanks to his own powers. Nothing can hurt the inner part of a god; only a part of his potential strength can be affected. Certain accounts of the myth offer details on the episode when Seth invites Horus to his home, with the intention of laying a trap for him. The story tells how, after dinner, Seth tries to abuse Horus. But Horus, aware of the danger, manages to collect the sperm of his enemy in his hands. He goes back to Isis who, panic-stricken, cuts his hands off and throws them in the water. Wanting never to see them again, she uses her most powerful magic to sink them in the mud and prevent them from ever being replaced on her son's body. Handicapped of course, Horus askes help from the Universal Master who, understanding how annoying the situation is, sends the crocodile god Sobek to retrieve the lost hands. But since the accident the hands have become completely independent, and are very difficult to catch. They have incarnated ever since two of the sons of Horus. In the end Sobek retrieves the hands with a net, and gives them to the Universal Master, who decides to duplicate them, wanting to avoid any trouble: to satisfy Isis, he offers the first pair as a relic to the holy town of Nekhen and to free Horus, he gives him back the second pair.
Want to read more:
These pages were interesting:
http://members.tripod.com/Senenmut/page9.html
The birth of Horus: http://www.earth-history.com/Egypt/Legends/gods-10summary5.htm
The Falcon god: http://www.zahihawass.com/egytpian_hist_horus.htm
