HORUS. An Egyptian deity. (1) Horns was one of the names of the sun-god. As such he bears a number of different cognomens, according to the districts in which he was worshipped. Thus we have " Horns the Elder " (Greek Aroeris) of Letopolis; " Horns of the Two Eyes " of Shedennt ; " Horns Lord of Not Seeing" of Letopolis; " Horns on the Two Horizons " (Greek Harmakhis) of Heliopolis; " the Golden Horns "; " Horns the Bull " (Saturn); " the Red Horns " (Mars); " Horns the Opener of that which is Secret " (Jupiter). Horns the Sun-god is represented as a falcon or as a man with a falcon's head. Since the Egyptian word for falcon, here, is also Arabic, Naville finds in it support for the view that the original home of the conquering Egyptian was in Arabia. In several chronologies Horns is repre sented as the last of the prehistoric divine kings. The legendary epoch is represented as the age of the "com panions or followers of Horns." Naville explains that " on the threshold of history, we find Horns and his com panions, a clan. a tribe who had the falcon as their sacred
animal or their god; every king is himself a Horns, and in the oldest inscriptions that we possess, the king is not de signated by his prenomen, or personal name, he is a Horns with this or that qualification or description added." (2) Horns, the son of Isis, first referred to as " Horns the child," and represented with human form, is one of the chief characters in the Osiris myth. He was blended with Horns the Sun-god at an early date, and is also represented as hawk-headed. In the Osiris myth Horns fights with Set (q.v.), and is declared victorious. The gods assembled in the hall of Keb (q.v.) greet him with the words : " Welcome, Horns, son of Osiris, courageous, just, son of Isis and heir of Osiris!" See Alfred Wiede mann; Adolf Erman, Handbook; Naville, The Old Egyptian Faith, 1909.