Deity · Egyptian · c. 3000 BCE
Horus
Also called Heru, Harpocrates · also recorded as Hor (per Wikidata)
Son of Osiris, who contends eighty years with Set for the throne. Every living pharaoh was understood to be his incarnation.
Deep source base
The heir, and the doctrine of succession before he is a mythology: the living king is Horus and the dead king is Osiris, so every accession is the same event repeated. His eye, torn out by Set and restored, becomes the standard image for a thing made whole, and the wedjat amulet is the most common protective mark in Egypt. The Contendings gives the quarrel with Set as eighty years of litigation with a broad comic streak, and Plutarch reports the part that has an Egyptian source behind it and reaches modern readers through Greek: Horus defeats Set, Isis releases him, and Horus strikes the crown from his mother's head for it.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
Edfu, whose Ptolemaic temple is the best preserved in Egypt; and Behdet in the Delta before it.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- First attested
- The Pyramid Texts · c. 2350–2100 BCE
- Rank
- Falcon King
- Pantheon
- Egyptian
- Order
- Egyptian pantheon
- Base of operations
- Edfu, whose Ptolemaic temple is the best preserved in Egypt; and Behdet in the Delta before it.
- Era
- c. 3000 BCE
- Traditions
- Egyptian
- Placed in
- The Great Gods of Egypt
Traits
- Domain
- Kingship, the sky, vengeance for the father
- Traditional form
- Falcon-headed, or a falcon
Stats
Known connections
Chain of command
Opposed by
3 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 3 offices attributed to Horus, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- martial3
3 marks
Which marks is it attached to?
A mark a figure carries and a mark used against a figure are opposite claims, so each link says which it is.
The Tyet
Carried as an emblem
Named in the spell as rejoicing to see it.
The Wedjat Eye
Carried as an emblem
His eye, and after the restoration his to give away.
The Winged Disc
Carried as an emblem
Horus of Behdet, the disc's original owner, carved over Egyptian temple doors.
3 texts
Which texts say so?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 3 texts that names Horus, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
3 texts spanning roughly 2,450 years
The heir who takes the throne and whose eye, torn out and restored, is the standard image of a thing made whole. The living king is Horus and the dead king is Osiris, which is a doctrine of succession before it is a mythology.
Avenges Osiris and is awarded the kingship by the tribunal of the gods.
The avenger, and the trial afterwards. Plutarch reports that Horus defeats Typhon but that Isis releases him, and that Horus strikes the crown from his mother's head for it — a piece of the quarrel that has an Egyptian source behind it and reaches modern readers through the Greek.
Connections
What is it connected to?
Placement
Where does it sit in the hierarchies?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Horus?
What rank is Horus?
How else is Horus spelled?
What is Horus said to do?
How old is Horus?
Nearest in the corpus
If Horus is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Khepri
The Morning Sun · Egyptian
The sun at dawn, in the form of a scarab beetle rolling it up over the horizon — one of the three daily aspects of the sun, and a pun on the word for coming into being.
Anubis
Guide of the Dead · Egyptian
Embalmer and psychopomp, who leads the dead to the scales — the office Western tradition eventually gives to Michael and to Azrael.
Isis
Great of Magic · Egyptian
The great magician who reassembles Osiris and tricks Ra into surrendering his secret name. Her cult eventually reached as far as Roman Britain.
Nephthys
Lady of the House · Egyptian
Set's wife who sides with her sister Isis against him, and mourns Osiris at the head of the bier.
Osiris
Lord of the Dead · Egyptian
Murdered by Set, reassembled by Isis, and installed as judge of the dead. He is the earliest fully developed dying-and-rising sovereign we have.
Set
God of Storms and Disorder · Egyptian
Murderer of Osiris and defender of the sun-barque — a god who was worshipped as a royal patron for two millennia before being recast as the enemy.
The books behind Horus
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
The Pyramid Texts
Anonymous; carved for the kings and queens of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties · c. 2350–2100 BCE · Old Egyptian
Read The Pyramid Texts in full ↗The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Anonymous; tr. E. A. Wallis Budge · c. 1550 BCE onward · Egyptian
Read The Egyptian Book of the Dead in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Hunefer · Wikimedia file page
On Isis and Osiris (De Iside et Osiride)
Plutarch of Chaeronea; tr. from the Moralia · c. 100 CE · Ancient Greek
Read On Isis and Osiris (De Iside et Osiride) in full ↗
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.