Horus is an ancient god of Egyptian
mythology, whose cult survived
so long that he evolved dramatically
over time and gained many names. The
most well known name is the Greek
Horus, representing the Egyptian Heru/Har,
which is the basic element in most
of the other names of Horus. Horus
was so important that the Eye of Horus
became an important Egyptian symbol
of power. Horus' consort was the goddess
Ta-Bitjet.
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Sky God
Originally, Horus was the god of the sky, and the son of Ra,
the creator (whose own birth was thought due to the Ogdoad).
His mother was originally said to have been Hathor,
since Hathor was considered as a
representation of the Milky way, which encirles the sky, specifically
as the cow whose milk produced it, and so Hathor
was thought of as Ra's wife. One title
that was often given to this form was Nenwen (also spelt Nenun),
roughly meaning the exposed abyss, a reference to the sky.
Since he was god of the sky, Horus became depicted as a falcon,
or as a falcon-headed man, leading to Horus' name, (in Egyptian,
Heru), which meant The distant one. Horus was also sometimes
known as Nekheny (meaning falcon), although it has been proposed
that Nekheny may have been another falcon-god, worshipped
at Nekhen (city of the hawk), that became identified as Horus
very early on. In this form, he was sometimes given the title
Kemwer, meaning (the) great black (one), referring to the
bird's colour.
As Horus was the son of Ra, and god
of the sky, he became closely associated with the Pharaoh
of Upper Egypt (where Horus was worshipped), and became their
patron. The association with the Pharaoh brought with it the
idea that he was married to Isis, in
her original form, who was regarded as a deification of the
Queen. Due to Egyptian beliefs about the soul, the bodies
of the deceased royalty were mummified, and four internal
organs were transferred to canopic jars, and so Horus, embodying
the Pharaoh, was said to be the father of these four children,
deifications of the jars, known as the Four
sons of Horus, with Isis, his wife,
as their mother.
It was said that after the world was created, Horus landed
on a perch, known as the djeba, which literally translates
as finger, in order to rest, which consequently became considered
sacred. On some occasions, Horus was referred to as lord of
the djeba (i.e. lord of the perch or lord of the finger),
a form in which he was especially worshipped at Buto, known
as Djebauti, meaning (ones) of the djeba (the reason for the
plural is not understood, and may just have been a result
of Epenthesis, or Paragoge). The form of Djebauti eventually
became depicted as an heron, nethertheless continuing to rest
on the sacred perch.
Sun God
Since Horus was said to be the sky, it was natural that he
was rapidly considered to also contain the sun and moon. It
became said that the sun was one of his eyes and the moon
the other, and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon,
flew across it. Thus he became known as Harmerty - Horus of
two eyes. Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright
as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the contestings
of Horus and Set, originating as a metaphor for the conquest
of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt in about 3000BC. In this tale,
it was said that Set, the patron of
Lower Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Upper Egypt, had battled
for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually
the gods sided with Horus.
As Horus was the ultimate victor he became known as Haroersis
(Heru-ur, and Har-Wer, in Egyptian), meaning Horus the Great,
but more usually translated as Horus the Elder. Meanwhile,
in the struggle, Set had lost a testicle,
explaining why the desert, which Set
represented is infertile. Horus' right eye had also been gouged
out, which explained why the moon, which it represented, was
so weak compared to the sun. It was also said that during
a new-moon, Horus had become blinded and was titled Mekhenty-er-irty
(he who has no eyes), while when the moon became visible again,
he was re-titled Khenty-irty (he who has eyes). While blind,
it was considered that Horus was quite dangerous, sometimes
attacking his friends after mistaking them for enemies.
Ultimately, as another sun god, Horus became identified with
Ra as Ra-Herakhty, literally Ra,
who is Horus of the two horizons. However, this identification
proved to be awkward, for it made Ra
the son of Hathor, and therefore
a created being rather than the creator. And, even worse,
it made Ra into Horus, who was the son
of Ra, i.e. it made Ra
his own son and father, in a standard sexually-reproductive
manner, an idea that would not be considered comprehensible
until the hellenic era. Consequently Ra
and Horus never completely merged into a single falcon-headed
sun god.
Nevertheless the idea of making the identification persisted,
and Ra continued to be depicted as falcon-headed.
Likewise, as Ra-Herakhty, in an allusion to the Ogdoad
creation myth, Horus was occasionally shown in art as a naked
boy, with a finger in his mouth, sitting on a lotus with his
mother. In the form of a youth, Horus was referred to as Neferhor
(also spelt Nefer Hor, Nephoros, and Nopheros), which, in
the Egyptian language, means beautiful Horus (i.e. youthful
Horus).
In an attempt to resolve the conflict, Ra-Herakhty was occasionally
said to be married to Iusaaset, which was technically his
own shadow, having previously been Atum's
shadow, before Atum was identified
as Ra, in the form Atum-Ra, and thus
of Ra-Herakhty when Ra was also identified
as a form of Horus. In the version of the Ogdoad
creation myth used by the Thoth cult,
Thoth created Ra-Herakhty, via an
egg, and so was said to be the father of Neferhor.
Conquerer of Set
During the overthrow of the hated Hyksos, foreign rulers over
Egypt, Set became demonised by the nationalistic
fervour, as he had been chosen by the Hyksos as their favourite
god. The previous brief enmity between Set
and Horus, in which Horus had ripped off one of Set's
testicles, was revitalised as a tale representing the conquest
over the Hyksos. Since by this time, Set
was considered to have been gay, Set
is depicted as trying to prove his dominance, by seducing
Horus (with the line how lovely your backside is) and then
having Intercrural intercourse with him, in which Set
takes the top role. However, Horus places his hand between
his thighs and catches Set's semen,
then subsequently cut the hand off, throwing it in the river,
so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set.
Subsequently, Horus secretly masturbates, and deliberately
spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's
favourite food (the Egyptians thought that lettuce was phallic,
since Egyptian lettuce was hard, long, and released a milk
substance when rubbed). After Set has
eaten the lettuce, they go to the gods to try to settle the
argument over the rule of Egypt. The gods first listen to
Set's claim of dominance over Horus,
and call his semen forth, but it answers from the river, invalidating
his claim. Then, the gods listen to Horus' claim of having
dominated Set, and call his semen forth,
and it answers from inside Set. In consequence,
Horus is declared the ruler of Egypt.
Brother of Isis
When Ra assimilated Atum
into Atum-Ra, Horus became considered part of what had been
the Ennead. Since Atum
had had no wife, having produced his children by masturbating,
Hathor was easily inserted as the
mother of the previously motherless subsequent generation
of children. However, Horus did not fit in so easily, since
if he was identified as the son of Hathor
and Atum-Ra, in the Ennead, he would
then be the brother of the primordial air and moisture, and
the uncle of the sky and earth, between which there was initially
nothing, which was not very consistent with him being the
sun. Instead, he was made the brother of Ausare (Osiris),
Aset (Isis), Set,
and Nebet Het (Nephthys), as this
was the only plausible level at which he could meaningfully
rule over the sun, and over the Pharaoh's kingdom. It was
in this form that he was worshipped at Behdet as Har-Behedti
(also abbreviated Bebti).
Since Horus had become more and more identified with the
sun, since his identification as Ra,
his identification as also the moon suffered, so it was possible
for the rise of other moon gods, without complicating the
system of belief too much. Consequently, Chons
became the moon god. Djehuty (Thoth),
who had also been the moon god, became much more associated
with secondary mythological aspects of the moon, such as wisdom,
healing, and peace making. When the cult of Thoth
arose in power, Thoth was retroactively
inserted into the earlier myths, making Thoth
the one whose magic caused Set and Horus'
semen to respond, in the tale of the contestings of Set
and Horus, for example.
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Thoth's
priests went on to explain how it
was that there were 5 children of
Geb and Nuit.
They said that Thoth
had prophecied the birth of a great
king of the gods, and so Ra,
afraid of being usurped, had cursed
Nuit with not
being able to give birth at any point
in the year. In order to remove this
curse, Thoth
proceeded to gamble with Chons,
winning 1/72nd of moonlight from him.
Prior to this time in egyptian history,
the calendar had had 360 days, and
so 1/72 of moonlight each day corresponded
to 5 extra days, and so the tale states
that Nuit was
able to give birth on each of these
extra days, having 5 children. The
egyptian calendar was reformed around
this time, and gained the 5 extra
days, which, by coincidence, meant
that this could be used to explain
the 5 children of Nuit. |
Son of Osiris
When Isis became identified as Hathor
(i.e. Isis-Hathor), Isis became the
mother of Horus, rather than his wife, and so, in his place,
as Isis had become regarded as one
of the Ennead, she was seen as the
wife of Osiris. However, it had to
be explained how Osiris, who as god
of the dead, was dead, could be considered a father to Horus
who was very much not considered dead. This lead to the evolution
of the idea that Osiris needed to
be resurrected, and so to the Legend of Osiris
and Isis, a myth so significant that
everything else paled in comparison.
As the son of Isis, Horus was referred
to as Harsiesis, literally meaning Horus, son of Isis.
There were also titles that differentiated between this form
of Horus as an adult, and him as a child, specifically, Harpocrates
(Har-Pa-Khered in Egyptian), meaning Horus the child, and
Har-nedj-itef, meaning Horus, saviour of his father, i.e.
a reference to Horus' actions against Set
once Horus had become an adult.
Since he had been the son of Hathor, a fertility goddess,
the idea that a major event about Horus was when he was a
child, Horus sometimes depicted as a fertility god, holding
a cornucopia, although it was much more common for him to
be shown as being nursed by Isis (more
accurately Isis-Hathor, who was depicted as Isis,
but with Hathor's horns).
In the New Kingdom, Anhur, a war
god, gained the title Saviour, due to the feelings of the
benefits of going to war to assert your own freedom, and so
he became conflated with Horus, who shared both these characteristics,
as the warrier against Set, with the
title Saviour of his father. The identification of Anhur
as Horus, referred to as Horus-Anhur, was given a new name
during the egyptian period of dominance over Nubia, when the
kushites named him as Arensnuphis (also Arsnuphis, Harensnuphis),
Ari-hes-nefer in Egyptian, meaning something along the lines
of Horus of the beautiful house.
In a certain few areas, Horus was identified as the son of
Banebdjed, who was an obscure version of Osiris,
technically his Ba, worshipped in Mendes, and consequently
also the son of Hatmehit, the local
chief goddess of Mendes who had become considered Osiris'
wife. Horus became very popular during the time of the Roman
Empire, in his form as a child, where he was depicted riding
a goose or ram (symbols of Thoth and
Banebdjed respectively).
Since Horus was sometimes identified as Ra,
Isis assimilated the mythos of Neith,
Ra's mother. Consequently, Horus was
sometimes considered took on the aspects of the tale that
Ra exhibited, to have been the son of
Neith, who remained a virgin, as a
result of Kneph's creative act of
breathing Horus' life into her via an ankh.
Kneph was connected to the Ba, and
became identified with Banebdjed, both being depicted as ram-headed,
and consequently this tale became viewed as Osiris,
the most important god (at this time), causing Isis
to become pregnant, while she still remained a virgin, by
breathing Horus' soul into her.
Mystery Religion
Since Horus, as the son of Osiris,
was only in existence after Osiris's
death, and because Horus, in his earlier guise, was the husband
of Isis, the difference between Horus
and Osiris blurred, and so, after
a few centuries, it came to be said that Horus was the resurrected
form of Osiris. Likewise, as the
form of Horus before his death and resurrection, Osiris,
who had already become considered a form of creator when belief
about Osiris assimilated that about
Ptah-Seker, also became considered to be the only creator,
since Horus had gained these aspects of Ra.
Eventually, in the Hellenic period, Horus was, in some locations,
identified completely as Osiris,
and became his own father, since this concept was not so disturbing
to greek philosophy as it had been to that of ancient egypt.
In this form, Horus was sometimes known as Heru-sema-tawy,
meaning Horus, uniter of two lands, since Horus ruled over
the land of the dead, and that of the living. Since the tale
became one of Horus' own death and rebirth, which happened
partly due to his own actions, he became a life-death-rebirth
deity.
In the time of Christ the term "son of god" had
come to mean the bearer of this title was the father god himself
as well as his own son incarnated on earth. Horus was Osiris
the father who incarnated as Horus the son.
By assimilating Hathor, who had
herself assimilated Bata, who was associated
with music, and in particular the sistrum, Isis
was likewise thought of in some areas in the same manner.
This particularly happened amongst the groups who thought
of Horus as his own father, and so Horus, in the form of the
son, amongst these groups often became known as Ihy (alternately:
Ihi, Ehi, Ahi, Ihu), meaning sistrum player, which allowed
the confusion between the father and son to be side-stepped.
The combination of this, now rather esoteric mythology, with
the philosophy of Plato, which was becoming popular on the
mediterranean shores, lead to the tale becoming the basis
of a mystery religion. Many Greeks, and those of other nations,
who encountered the faith, thought it so profound that they
sought to create their own, modelled upon it, but using their
own gods. This lead to the creation of what was effectively
one religion, which was, in many places, adjusted to superficially
reflect the local mythology although it substantially adjusted
them. The religion is known to modern scholars as that of
Osiris-Dionysus.
Horus and Jesus
A connection between Jesus and Horus-Osiris is frequently
raised by critics of the historicity of Jesus. Superficially,
the death and resurrection of Horus-Osiris, and Horus' nature
as both the son of Osiris and Osiris
himself, appear to be a template for the idea that this occurred
in Jesus. However, there is much more to both deities than
this, and so such basic comparisons are not terribly persuasive
to most academics.
Deeper similarities between Horus and Jesus, which are not
at all obvious to those who are not completely familiar with
ancient egyptian mythology and linguistics, have been said
by some to mean that certain elements of the story of Jesus
were embellishments, which were copied from the Horus as syncretism.
Indeed, according to a few more radical scholars, Jesus was
copied from Horus wholesale, and made into a Jewish teacher.
In particular, it is said that Horus is the basis for the
elements assigned to the M Gospel (the bits in Matthew which
are not in the Q Gospel or Mark) and the L Gospel (the bits
in Luke which are not in the Q gospel or Mark), especially
the infancy narratives.
Neith's nativity
The nativity sequence itself stands out for comparison with
the nativity of Ra, whose mother became
thought of as Neith, who had become
the personification of the primal waters of the Ogdoad.
As the primal waters, from which Ra arose
due to the interaction of the ogdoad,
Neith was considered to have given
birth whilst remaining a virgin. As the various religious
groups gained and lost power in Egypt, the legend altered,
and, when the cult of Thoth sought
to involve themselves in the story, it was said that Thoth's
wisdom (which he personified) meant that he foretold the birth
of Ra to Neith.
Since the later legends had other gods in existence at Ra's
birth, it was said that they acknowledged Ra's
authority by praising him at his birth.
Later, the tale evolved so that the god Kneph
was present, who represented the breath of life, which brought
new life to things. This was partly to do with the assertion,
of the small cult of Kneph, that Kneph
was the creator, although it was more accurate to say that
Kneph was the personification of the
concept of creation of life itself. As a creator, Kneph
became identified as the more dominant creator deity Amun,
and when Amun became Amun-Ra, so Kneph
gained Hathor as a wife.
Many of the features look similar to the nativity of Jesus
at first glance, such as the continued virginity, lack of
father, annunciation, birth of god, and so forth, but others
do not. There is much that is more subtle. Although many deities,
and indeed people, were referred to as beloved, it was a title
which was most frequently applied to Neith, indeed it became
something of an alternative name. The word used, in this context,
for beloved, is Mery in Egyptian.
Meanwhile, Kneph was said by Plutarch
to have been understood by the egyptians in the same way as
the greeks understood pneuma, meaning spirit, and so it was
that Neith became pregnant by the
actions of the holy spirit, like Mary does in the Christian
story. Thoth himself was identified by the Greeks, due to
his association with healing, as Hermes, and consequently,
in the hellenic era, Thoth was considered
the messenger of the gods. This role was taken by the Archangel
Michael in Jewish thought, and so if the Christians copied
the tale, it would have been Michael who made the annunciation
to Mary.
Much criticism of this similarity
is leveled at the fact that Neith
is a goddess, and not a human mother.
However, Pharaohs often attributed
tales of divinity to themselves, and
their families, and so divine birth
stories for themselves were common.
Nethertheless, the tale was essentially
about Neith
rather than the queens of pharoahs,
until that is, Amenhotep III applied
it to his wife and the birth of his
son, whom was consequently identified
as Horus, as after the amalgamation
of the gods Ra
and Horus, the tale became one of
Horus too. |
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The significance of Amenhotep making
the identification is both that it became
a tale of the birth of Akhenaten, who
left such an impression that, as the gods
evolved further, the tale became remembered
as being one of the birth from a human
mother of a human son, who was nevertheless
divine.
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