How Many Horuses!?

Just how many Horuses are there? There were actually several Horuses or one deity with many aspects which I'm going to discuss in this article.

Horus has many names. Horus is Latin, Horos is one Greek name, and both are attempts to transliterate the Egyptian HRW - probably prounounced Heru in the early period but Har or Hor later?
Horus the Elder - HRW-WR in Egyptian was called Haroeris and identified with Apollo by the Greeks but he was only one of either several aspects of one deity or several deities who fused into one. Hrw may mean ascending or rising one - an appropriate name for a falcon solar deity. Horus is also identified as the son of Osiris and Isis but more on that soon.

Horus the Elder

No! Not the villian on Stargate though their aggressive warrior attitudes is something they both have in common!
Horus the Older was called Har wer, or in older texts like Budge Heru-ur, by the Egyptians, but Haroeris by the Greeks or sometimes, Aroueeris. This Horus, like the one on Stargate, was said to be the son of RA and Hathor in one story. In another he is the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Seth, the children of Geb and Nut.
Horus the Older is also described as the Father of the Younger Horus by Hathor.

Why is there more than one version of the story. Many scholars tend to describe Egypt as one long cultural continuum, or contribute regional differences to either the north or south,however there were many independent local cults. One example is that of Horus of Edfu or Mesen who seems to have been a variant on Horus the Older. Another example is the cultic triad worshipped at Kom Ombo of Horus and the Older with Hathor as his consort and the Younger Horus as thier divine child - this Horus (younger) was called Harsomtus, The Latin version of Hrw-sma-tawy - Unifier of the Two Lands, also known as HR-MAU.

Horus the Younger the Divine Child - Son of Osiris and Isis

The Greeks and Romans also called this deity Harpocrates, which is how they heard the Egyptian name * Hrw-pa-khered (god of silence and opener of mouths). This aspect of Horus as the Divine Child / Prince was also worshipped at Madamud as the Child of Montu , another falcon god, and his consort Ra't-tawy.

Horus the Younger is shown as a young child sitting on Isis' lap, naked, shaven headed save for his prince's sidelock. Another popular depiction of Horus is one showing him standing on a crocodile's back, holding snakes and scorpions. This depicts his ability to ward off dangerous creatures.

Horus as child of Isis was said to have been born at Khemmis in the North eastern Delta and known as Hrw-hry-wdj, Horus amongst the green papyrus, since his mother had taken refuge in the thickest most remote part of the delta marshes. Horus as son of Isis and Osiris is also known as Harsiese, and as Harendotes *Hr-ndj-itf, guardian of the dead and saviour of his father.

Horus the Solar Falcon

This is the falcon on a perch shown in hieroglyphs. (Images showing a falcon in a solar boat are of Sokar.)He is also shown as a hawk heaed man wearing a solar disc.This Horus is known as Harmachis * Hr-m-kht - Horus in the Horizon or as Horus of the 2 horizons, Hrw khuty. Another lesser known solar Horus is that of Letopolis where he seems to have been identified with the son of Bast, Mihos.

Horus of Edfu and Behdet and Other Places - As Regional Deity

At Heliopolis and other areas following their cult forms, he is one of the Sacred Nine, the Ennead or Pesdjet. I've already described the Kom Ombo Triad and Horus of Edfu/Mesen,(nome 2 the throne of horus upper egypt) who was also known as Pillar of his mother - *Anmutef.
One particularly interesting aspect of Horus for fans and followers of parahistory and Stargate is that of Horus as a god of smiths, metalworking and technology, Horus of Behdet (nome 17 Upper Egypt) in the Delta, warrior and master of metal weapons, though the metal would have been copper, not iron, Bia or bja is a generic word for ore or metal not iron.(Sorry Mr. Bauval!
Horus was also honored as the patron of a nome in Hebennu - the nome of the Oryx, nome 16, Upper Egypt.
Finally we come to Horus of Nkhn Nekhen or Hierakonopolis, one of the oldest cities in Egypt, in ruins now, but those ruins date back to the earliest Neolithic! so Horus'cults date back to back to 7000 years ago, an era when European forests, that are ancient and dimished today, were still growing and expanding after the retreat of the Glaciers!

Other Titles and Forms of Horus

In summary we have Horus the solar Falcon shown as a Falcon or a Warrior Prince with a Falcon's Head.
Horus the Divine Child
Horus the Avenger attacking Seth anh other hostile forces
Also known as the Golden Conqueror and the Spearer of Set
Horus the Unifier of the Two Lands - the last Divine King
Horus of the Horizon a sky god

Consorts, Offspring, and Associates

First Hathor as Mother and Consort, but Horus was also said to have had as consorts, Ta-sent-nefert - The Beautiful Sister - though this may be another title of Hathor, and another goddess as bride, Tabitjet the Scorpion. He is accompanied and guarded by the Companions of Horus, Warrior /smith/technicians. By Hathor he is said to have a son called IHY the god of Music, and also at Kom Ombo, P-nb-tawy, the Lord of Two Lands, but this may be a variant title of Horus the Younger, as "P" is the masculine emphatic prefix - not quite the same thing as our "the" but serving a very similar grammatical function.

Horus is said to have had four sons -
Imsety, Hapy, Duatmutef, and Qebehsenuf,
Guardians of the Four Directions