Horus he was an Egyptian deity, known in the religion of these people as the god of the heavens. He was the protector of royalty, having a deep relationship with the Egyptian pharaohs, and the one responsible for maintaining order. He was the son of Osiris and Isis, two other extremely popular gods in Egyptian religiosity.
He was a great enemy of Set, because that god had murdered Osiris, his father, and persecuted Isis and Horus himself when he was just a child. This enmity resulted in battles over decades that resulted in the banishment of Set and the coronation of Horus as king, occupying his father's throne.
Read too:Zeus — the god of the sky in Greek religiosity
Summary about Horus
Horus was the god of the heavens Egyptian religiosity.
He was known to the Egyptians as Hor.
He was a very popular deity, worshiped in temples throughout Egypt.
He was the son of two extremely popular gods, Isis and Osiris.
His greatest enemy was Set, with whom he fought in several battles.
Who is Horus?
Horus is an important
divinity that was part of Egyptian religiosity in Antiquity, recognized as the god of the heavens and represented, mainly, as a falcon. He can also be called Horus the Younger, and the name by which we know this deity is its Latinized form.The Egyptians referred to Horus as Hor, a term that can be translated as “the distant one”, in reference to his role as god of heaven. Furthermore, this god was considered the protector of royalty, being also the defender of order and a god very related to war, since Egyptian myths mentioned several battles between this god and Set.
One of the great symbols of this god was what became known as the eye of Horus. The Egyptians claimed that Horus' eyes were actually the Sun and Moon, which allowed him to obtain information about what was happening on Earth.
What is the origin of the god Horus?
There are different versions about the origins of Horus, and one of them states that he was the son of Hathor, but the more traditional version points out that he was son of Osiris and Isis. In this version, Horus would have been born from the union between Osiris and Isis, in a context in which Osiris was intensely persecuted by his brother, Set.
Osiris and Isis ruled the Earth, and this made Set jealous, but this jealousy turned into hatred when Osiris slept with Nephthys (Set's wife). Osiris was murdered by Set, and his body, thrown into the Nile River. Isis rescued him, but Set dismembered him to prevent Isis from resurrecting him.
Isis rescued all parts of Osiris's body, with the exception of one, and performed a ritual to make her pregnant by her husband. Osiris went to the world of the dead, as she could no longer stay in the world of the living because part of her body was missing. Isisgot pregnant by her husband and she took care of herself to ensure that she could give birth to her child.
She was forced to give birth in swampy regions of the Nile Delta because Set was persecuting her. She could only look for food at night and was protected by seven scorpions that followed her wherever she went. Horus was born, but had to remain hidden throughout her childhood and when she grew up, she returned to challenge Set.
Know more: Anubis — god of the dead who helped Isis mummify the body of Osiris
Rivalry between Horus and Set
Set had murdered Horus's father, persecuted his mother, and forced Horus into hiding during his childhood. When becoming an adult, Horus claimed that Set had taken his father's throne illegally, and it became a huge dispute between the gods. Most of the Egyptian gods agreed with Horus' claims, but Ra demanded that Horus and Set fight battles to define the winner of the quarrel.
The dispute lasted 80 years without there being a victor, but it was resolved when Isis, under the guise of a woman, obtained a kind of confession from Set that what he had done had been unfair. With that, Set was banished to the desert, and Horus took the throne that had once belonged to his father.
Another version points out that the dispute took place after an 80-year trial that was decided with a decision by Neite, goddess of hunting. She ruled in favor of Horus, suggesting that Set reign over the desert and marry two foreign goddesses, Anat and Astarte. Anyway, after regaining the throne, Horus managed to establish a good reign.
Temples of Horus
The cult of Horus was traditional and quite old in Egyptian religiosity and dates back to the Pre-Dynastic Period, therefore he was already a popular god in the Dynastic Period. During this period, he was already related to the Egyptian pharaohs. Over time, Horus' popularity caused the ancient Horus, son of Geb and Nut, to be forgotten.
Horus was a popular deity and, like other gods, he had temples in his honor, and there were statues as image representations of this god. The priests who took care of his worship were all men, and they were also responsible for maintaining the temples in honor of Horus.
YouTemples of Horus were places of visitation for the faithful who frequented them to seek advice, seek interpretation of omens, guarantee medical care, request protection against evil spirits, among other objectives. The largest places of worship to this god were located in the delta of the Nile.
