The falcon of Horus, god of the sky and image of the pharaoh
Horus, the falcon god: the Narmer Palette, the Horus name of the kings, the struggle with Seth, the wedjat eye and the Ptolemaic temple of Edfu.
The falcon that soars high above the Nile valley and swoops on its prey with precision was for the Egyptians the image of the sky god, Horus. His name, Heru in Egyptian, is often explained as «the one who is above». More than any other sacred animal, the falcon was linked to the person of the king: the pharaoh was regarded as the living Horus on earth, and this idea accompanied the Egyptian monarchy from its origins to the Roman age.
The falcon of the first kings
The bond between falcon and kingship goes back to the beginnings of the Egyptian state. On the Narmer Palette, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and dated to around 3100 BC, a falcon holds a defeated enemy on a leash while the king strikes a prisoner. The oldest centre of the cult was Nekhen, which the Greeks called Hierakonpolis, «city of the falcon», in Upper Egypt.
From the earliest dynasties the ruler's main name, called the «Horus name», was written in a rectangular frame called a serekh, representing the façade of a palace, topped by the falcon. One of the most celebrated images of this idea is the statue of Khafre, of the Fourth Dynasty, in which a falcon perched behind the king's head enfolds him with its wings in a gesture of protection.
Horus against Seth
The most important myth linked to Horus is his contest with his uncle Seth, who had killed Osiris, father of Horus, in order to seize the throne. Raised by Isis in the marshes of the Delta, the young god faced Seth in a long series of trials and battles. A New Kingdom papyrus, known as the Contendings of Horus and Seth, tells the story in a tone that is at times even comic, with the gods divided and uncertain about their verdict.
During the struggle Seth tore out one of Horus's eyes, which was later healed, according to some versions by Thoth and according to others by Hathor. That eye, called the wedjat, became one of the most widespread amulets in Egypt, a symbol of wholeness and protection. According to a traditional interpretation its parts were also used to write fractions in grain measures, but this reading is now debated by Egyptologists.
Edfu, the last great temple
The best-preserved temple dedicated to Horus stands at Edfu, between Luxor and Aswan. It was begun in 237 BC under Ptolemy III and completed almost two centuries later, in 57 BC. At the entrance stand great granite falcons wearing the double crown, and the walls bear long texts describing the myth, the festivals and even the measurements of the building.
Every year a festival called the Beautiful Reunion celebrated the meeting between Horus of Edfu and the goddess Hathor of Dendera, whose statue travelled by boat along the Nile to join her companion. Near the temple, as in other sanctuaries of the god, falcons were raised, and one of them was chosen each year as the living image of the god and crowned during a ceremony.
Over the centuries Horus took on many forms: Ra-Horakhty, the solar falcon of the horizon; Harpocrates, the child Horus with his finger to his mouth, very popular in the Graeco-Roman period; Horus of Behdet, the winged sun disc that protects the gateways of temples. In each of these figures, however, the original idea of the falcon remains: the gaze that dominates from above and the power that protects the order of the world.