HŌRO (HORUS). - Egyptian divinity [Egyptian Hr (w); Greek Ὡρος], originating in the Delta; his original iconographic form was that of a falcon. The cult and renown of H. spread rapidly from the period of the pre-Thinite rulers (third millennium B.C.), when Egypt was still divided into two kingdoms. Since these rulers had adopted H. as their dynastic god, they were subsequently called “servants of H.” From that time onward the pharaoh was constantly regarded as an incarnation of H.
Through a syncretistic process common in Egyptian religion, H. was from the remotest antiquity assimilated to or substituted for other divinities. Thus, at Heliopolis, under the name Hr-'b.t (Harahte = “H. of the horizon”), he became the god of the sky, represented in anthropomorphic form with a falcon’s head; at Edfu he was worshipped in the form of a solar disk flanked by two outspread falcon wings; at Letopolis he assumed the appearance of a warrior god called Hr-wr (Haruéris = “the great H.”).
The legend of Isis and Osiris (v.) also helped to increase the popularity of H., who was considered the son of the divine couple. It was told that the youthful H., born after the murder of his father by Seth, succeeded, after a bitter struggle, in asserting his right of succession to the throne of Egypt. The names assumed by H. in the legend are Hr-s'-s.t (Hariēsis = “H., son of Isis”) and Hr-p'-grd (Arpocrate = “H. the child”).