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. 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.
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