Horus (Egyptian Har or Hor)
Egyptian sky god; son of Isis
and the dead Osiris. Usually depicted as a falcon or in human form with
the head of a falcon. The sun and the moon are said to be his eyes. He
was born at Khemmis in the Nile Delta, and Isis hid him in the papyrus
marshes to protect him against Set, his father's murderer.
Horus later avenged the death of his father against Set. Horus lost his left eye (the moon) in the contest between the two. Horus was identified with Lower Egypt and Set with Upper Egypt in this battle, which lasted eighty years. The gods judged Horus to be the winner, and Set was either killed or castrated. The consequence of Horus's victory was the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Egyptian Pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation of Horus, and the name of Horus formed part of his name. The Pharaoh was said to become Horus after death. Set restored the eye he had torn from Horus, but Horus gave it instead to Osiris. The image of the "eye of Horus", a human eye combined with the cheek markings of a falcon, became a powerful amulet among the Egyptians.
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