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spirit of the sun. It protected the early kings, who were "the priests or descendants of Horus" a royal title
which continued ever afterwards in use. Like the Ra cult, the cult of Horus absorbed Egyptian beliefs, and the
conception of the hawk god varied accordingly in different districts.
The two outstanding Horuses arc the elder and the younger the Horus who was the brother of Osiris an-d the
Horus child who was the son of Osiris and Isis.
Horus of Letopolis, near Memphis, was a hawk-headed man and the son of Hathor, the sky goddess. In
Upper Egypt he was similarly represented, or simplyas a hawk. At Edfu in particular he has the attributes of a
sky god, and at Shedenu, a city in Lower Egypt, he was "Horus of the Two Eyes", the sun being one and the
moon another, thus resembling the conception of Ptah Tanen. He was also Harmachis, "Horus of the Two
Horizons", and in this character became one of the chief forms of Ra. As the "golden Horus" he was a dawn
god, and in this character received the dead in the Judgment Hall of Osiris. The planet Saturn was "Horus the
Bull", Mars was "Red Horus", and Jupiter "Horus, revealer of secrets". At Letopolis a temple was erected to
"Horus of Not Seeing". In this form he is supposed to have represented the sun at solar eclipse, but he may
have simply represented the firmament at night. It is possible that Hathor, as the chaos cow, was originally
the Great Mother; and that the sky, sun, moon, and stars were the various forms assumed by her son Horus, or
her various Horus sons.
CHAPTER XII. Triumph of the Sun God 86
 EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
When the child Horus became the son of Isis there may have been simply a change of mother. Isis and Hathor
are similar conceptions, indeed the deities were ultimately confused. Both also resemble Nut as Great
Mothers, but Nut represented Mother Heaven and Isis Mother Earth, while Hathor was the World Cow,
representing fertility in that form. Nut was also represented as a cat. In her human form she gave birth to the
sun daily, and the moon every month, and in another conception the sun and moon were her eyes. Ere Ra
became the "Great Father" he was born of Nut.
The tribal aspect of the Osiris, Isis, and Horus myth is dealt with in a previous chapter. There is abundant
evidence in Egyptian mythology that the union of deities signified the union of the tribes which worshipped
them. The multiplicity of deities was due to the fact that anoriginal conception remained in its old tribal form,
and was perpetuated alongside the new conception. Two gods might be fused into one, but Egypt retained not
only the new deity, but the two old deities as well, and thus instead of one god we have three. We need not be
surprised, therefore, to find more than one Horus. The name alone may survive in some cases, for the process
of blending varied in districts and at various periods. Egyptian religion is made up of many forms of faith.
Horus was united with Ra as Harmachis, and the sun god of Heliopolis became Ra Harmachis. The hawk god
was thus symbolized as the winged sun disk. The legend which was invented to account for the change may
here be summarized.
When Ra reigned as king over Egypt he sailed up the Nile towards Nubia, because his enemies were plotting
against him. At Edfu Horus entered the bark of the great god and hailed him as father. Ra greeted the hawk
god and entreated him to slay the rebels of Nubia. Then Horus flew up to the sun as a great winged disk, and
he was afterwards called "the great god, the lord of the sky". He perceived the enemies of Ra, and went
against them as a winged disk. Their eyes were blinded by his brightness, and their ears were made deaf, and
in the confusion they slew one another. Not a single conspirator remained alive.
Horus returned to the bark of Ra, and from that day he became Horus, god of Edfu, in the form of a winged
sun disk. Ka embraced him and said: "Thou hast made the water wine-red with blood, and my heart is glad."
Ra afterwards visited the battlefield, and, when he saw the dead bodies of his foes, he said: "Life is pleasant."
The name of the place thus became Horbehûdti, which means "Pleasant Life".The slain men were covered by
water (at inundation) and became crocodiles and hippopotami. Then they attacked Horus as he sailed past;
but his servants slew them with iron lances. Thoth rejoiced with glad heart when he beheld the enemies of Ra
lying dead.
The legend continues in this strain, and relates that Horus pursued the enemies of the god Ra downstream.
Apparently Egypt was full of them. We then learn that they were the followers of Set, who was driven
towards the frontier. He was afterwards taken prisoner, and with manacled hands and a spear stuck in his
neck he was brought before Ra. Then we find that there are two Horuses. The elder Horus is commanded by
the sun god to deliver Set to Horus, son of Isis. The younger Horus cuts off the head of Set, and the slayer of
Osiris becomes a roaring serpent which seeks refuge in a hole and is commanded to remain there.
Osiris is not mentioned in the legend, and Ra refers to the younger Horus as his own son. Apparently the
theorists of Heliopolis desired Ra to supplant Osiris. Place names are played upon so that their origin may be
ascribed to something said by the sun god, and grammatical construction is occasionally ignored with this
end in view.
Horus worship never became popular in Egypt. It was absorbed by the various cults, so that, as we have
indicated, its original form is confused. The religion of the sun cult at Heliopolis, which was imported by the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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