Horus and His Many Names
There are no simple descriptions of Horus because he has many, many different forms. Because of this, he is considered one of the most complicated gods in Egyptian mythology. One of the main difficulties is when he is worked into the story of Isis and Osiris, because in the story he is their son but that story did not come into being until a long while after Horus was already a God. If we ignore the story of Isis and Osiris, we’d say Horus signified the idea of kingship and that sky (king of the sky, essentially). There’s a split between older and younger Horus, the older being depicted with a sundisk symbol and the younger one looking like a child. The name Horus itself comes from Hr but we spell it Horus because of the Greeks (it’s always the Greeks). Hr means two things, one of them being “high up/far off” (the one who is high up above/sky) which is why the falcon is used to depict him as falcons are known for hovering high in the sky. The second meaning of Hr is “face” so a person’s face is their Hr, which doesn’t at first seem as if there’s anything connection, however the sky is the face of God in some cultures so perhaps that is what they meant. Also considering that they saw the sun and moon as his eyes it does make sense that they saw it this way. Many of Horus’ names come from the Greeks, I’ll label these with a [G] next to the name, as well as the Egyptian version with its pronunciation and meaning in parenthesis following the [G]. Those that come from Egyptian I will label [E].
Harpocrates [G] (Hr p3 hrd, pronounced herr pah kared, Hr=Horus, p3=the, hrd=child so Horus the Child). This name is not used for the Isis Osiris story though it can be used in different ways. Previously, Horus was identified with Hathor, him being her son. The father in this version is actually Horus. What? Horus being the father of Horus? Yes. You have to remember that Horus can be split into older and younger Horus, two different beings.
Harsomtus [G] (Hr sm3 t3wy, pronunciation herr semah tawy, meaning Horus who unites the two lands. If you remember, there is a city called Its Tawy which means conquers the two lands) This name in the Egyptian version associates Horus with the king because he rules both North (lower) and South (upper) Egypt. This name is associated with the earlier form of Hathor’s son and older Horus).
Horus Udjaty [E] has the udjat eye. The original spelling was Hr wd3ty, the added y at the end making it into an adjective. We can call him Horus of the Udjat. The word wd3ty itself means “ to be whole/ restored” which is a major part of the Horus versus Seth stroy where Horus’ eye is injured and has to be restored for him. This ties back to the sky being the face of God that I was talking about, where the eyes are the sun and moon, with the moon as the injured eye that becomes restored, because it is less bright than the sun and waxes and wanes.
Harsiese[G] (Hr s3 3st, pronounced herr sah ahsset, 3st means Isis/throne, and s3 is son so the meaning is “Horus, son of Isis”) now is when the story of Isis and Osiris comes into play, everything listed before this name was before he was really associated with this myth/before Isis and Osiris became very important.
Horus Yunmutef [E] is another associated with Isis. If you remember from and earlier post, íwn means pillar and mwtf means his mother, so his name here means “pillar of his mother” signifying how she was putting her hopes in him so that he’d defeat Seth.
Horus Nedjitef [E] originally spelled Hr nd ítf which means “the one who avenges his father” which shows the duty he has to his father.
Horus Herakhti/Harakhty [E] originally spelled Hr 3h ty which means “Horus of the horizon” there’s an alternate meaning of “Horus of the two horizons” meaning the horizon for sunrise and sunset which are the two most important parts of the sun’s journey. The Herakhti part of the name is most often attached to Re for obvious reasons
Harmakhis [G] (Egyptian is Hr m 3ht which means “Horus IN the horizon”) this is the name associated with the sphinx.
Haroeris [G] (Egyptian is Hr wr, meaning “elder Horus/Horus the elder” which is a word that doesn’t just refer to age, but to wisdom or a person with authority. We think they used it mostly in the wisdom and authority sense, so it’s like “Horus in charge”).
Horus Behdety [E] is the winged sundisk (wings ok either side of a sundisk, often with two snakes as well). Behdet was a place in Egypt, we don’t know where it was but we know it must be somewhere in the delta region. The y at the end of the name makes it an adjective so we can also say “Horus of Behdet.” Edfu is another city associated with Horus Behdety, it’s located in the area where the dynasties were founded and it became known as Southern Behdet. It’s located near Hierakonpolis. Edfu has the best preserved temple in Ancient Egypt. The Greeks called the city Nekhen “Hierakonpolis” meaning “city of hawks” because Horus was a very important God there. This city was also instrumental in the establishment of the first cities and it’s where the Narmer palette was discovered!