Horus

views updated May 29 2018

Horus in Egyptian mythology, a god regarded as the protector of the monarchy, and typically represented as a falcon-headed man. He assumed various aspects: in the myth of Isis and Osiris he was the posthumous son of the latter, whose murder he avenged, and in this aspect he was known to the Greeks as Harpocrates, most often represented as a chubby infant with a finger held to his mouth.