The Egyptian adaptation of the animal, and the for-
mation of the dreaded cavalry units of the Nile forces,
enabled the pharaohs to achieve their vast empire.
RAMESSES II(r. 1290–1224 B.C.E.) had a pair of favorite
horses that pulled his royal chariot and helped him
escape the HITTITEambush by Muwatallis and his forces
at KADESH. The horses were named “Victory in Thebes”
and “Mut Is Pleased.” These steeds were well cared for
and stabled at the royal residence. Other pharaohs
employed Hurrians, well known for their skills with
horses, and the cavalry of the empire period was well
supplied with new products of the ongoing breeding
programs.
Hor Shed See SHED.
Horurre(fl. 19th century B.C.E.)Expedition leader and
mining official of the Twelfth Dynasty
Horurre served AMENEMHET III(r. 1844–1797 B.C.E.) as
seal-bearer, director of gangs (work groups), friend of the
Great House (the palace), and expedition leader. He left a
STELAinscribed with his biographical details in SERABIT
EL-KHADIM, a turquoise mine in the SINAI. He dedicated a
temple altar and two other stelae to the goddess HATHOR
on the site. A temple had been erected at a cave, invoking
Hathor as “the Lady of Turquoise.”
Horus The Greek name for the Egyptian Hor, one of
the oldest deities of the nation. The original form of
Horus was that of a falcon or hawk. He was a solar deity,
considered a manifestation of the pharaoh in the afterlife.
Early inscriptions depict Horus with his wings out-
stretched as a protector of the nation’s rulers. In the Early
Dynastic Period (2920–2575 B.C.E.) and into the Old
Kingdom (2575–2134 B.C.E.) the rulers used the god’s
name as part of their royal titles. The SEREKH(1), the ear-
liest of the pharaoh’s symbols, depicted a falcon, or hawk,
on a perch for DJED(c. 2850 B.C.E.). As a result, devotion
to Horus spread throughout Egypt, but in various locales
the forms, traditions, and rituals honoring the god varied.
In each nome cult center Horus was known by a different
epithet.
In the form of Horus the Elder, the god’s eyes were
the sun and the moon, and his battle with the god SET
epitomized the eternal struggle between darkness and
light, good and evil. Horus was called Haroeris by the
Greeks when they came to Egypt. As Horus of Gold, Hor
Nubti, the god was the destroyer of Set. The Egyptian
name Harakhte meant “Horus of the Horizon,” who
merged with Ré at Heliopolis, gradually losing identity
and becoming Ré-Harakhte.
Horus the Behdetite was a celestial falcon god with a
great shrine at Edfu. When his father was attacked by Set
and his fellow demons, this Horus soared up into the air
to scout the terrain for demons. He was called Horus
Netj-Hor-Atef, Horus the Avenger of His Father. Turning
into a winged sun disk, he attacked Set’s forces and bat-
tled them, on the earth and in TUAT, the Underworld. The
war was almost endless, but Horus proved victorious. As
a result, the emblem of the sun disk became a popular
symbol in Egypt. This Horus was also depicted in reliefs
as the protector of Egypt’s dynasties. One of the most
famous Horus images can be found in the statue of
KHAFRE(r. 2520–2494 B.C.E.) in the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo. The falcon protects the head and shoulders of the
seated pharaoh.
Hor-sa-iset, or the Greek Harsiesis, was one of the
most popular forms of Horus in Egypt. This was the
Horus, Son of ISIS. As a child the god was called Har-
pocrates by the Greeks and Horpakhered by the Egyp-
tians and was a much-loved deity. The Horus, Son of Isis,
had been sired by the dead OSIRISand hidden on the
island of CHEMMISby his goddess mother. The goddess
WADJET, the protector of Lower Egypt, stayed on the
island as a serpent to keep watch over the child and his
mother. While Set’s henchmen sought the divine pair,
Wadjet kept them covered with reeds and papyrus. This
Horus suffered many assaults while still a child but sur-172 Hor ShedHorus, the great deity of Egypt, depicted as a hawk or falcon
in a temple sanctuary.(Courtesy Steve Beikirch.)