Cult of Gods

Horus

Egyptian tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
kingship, sky
Symbols and attributes
Falcon; Eye of Horus; double crown
Parents (per the sources used)
Osiris and Isis
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.
Papyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.

Key myth

Horus fought Seth for the kingship his father held. Every living king was Horus on earth. In one fight he loses his eye, which Thoth restores as the Wedjat.

Where sources differ or caution applies. There is also an older Horus, 'Horus the Elder', a sky god who is not Osiris's son.

Primary sources

  • Pyramid Texts
  • Contendings of Horus and Seth

All sources for the Egyptian pantheon

Lineage in the sources used: Osiris, Geb, Shu, Atum, Nun, Tefnut, Nut, Isis.

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

NunAtumRaAmunShuTefnutMaatHathorSekhmetPtahGebNutAnubisThothSobekOsirisIsisSethNephthysHorus

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorseA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.HinduFolio 309r of the Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin), c. 800.Celtic (Irish)

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Horus: sky, storm and thunder, war and fighting. This is overlap in one area only.

Norse

Odin

wisdom, poetry, war

Norse

Thor

thunder, protection of gods and people, strength

Norse

Freyr

peace, fertility, sunshine

Norse

Freyja

love, desire, magic (seiðr)

Norse

Týr

law, oaths, war

Mesopotamian

Enlil

wind, command, the fates of cities

Compare across cultures