Horus was the falcon-headed god of kingship, the sky and vengeance in ancient Egypt — the son of Osiris and Isis who avenged his murdered father by defeating his uncle Set and claiming the throne of Egypt, becoming the divine model of the rightful king. Every living pharaoh was regarded as the living Horus, making him one of the most fundamental gods of Egyptian kingship and the cosmos.
The Falcon of the Sky
Horus (Egyptian Heru) was one of the oldest and most important Egyptian gods, a sky-god depicted as a falcon or a falcon-headed man, whose two eyes were the sun and the moon. As a sky-god soaring above the world, his outstretched wings spanned the heavens. There were many forms of Horus across Egypt's long history — Horus the Elder, Horus of the Horizon (Horakhty, merged with Ra), and others — but the most famous was Horus the son of Isis and Osiris, the avenger and heir, the divine prince.
The Avenger of His Father
Horus was conceived by Isis from the resurrected Osiris after Osiris's murder by Set, and he was born to be the avenger and the rightful heir. Hidden and raised in the marshes by his mother to protect him from Set, Horus grew to manhood determined to claim his murdered father's throne and to punish his uncle. He came before the council of the gods to assert his right to rule Egypt as Osiris's legitimate son, beginning the great struggle known as the Contendings of Horus and Set.
The Contendings with Set
The conflict between Horus and Set for the throne of Egypt was long and violent, fought both in the divine court and in a series of fierce contests and battles. They competed in trials of strength and cunning; they fought as hippopotami underwater; they wounded one another grievously — in their struggle, Set tore out one of Horus's eyes (the Eye of Horus), which was later healed and restored by Thoth (or Hathor), becoming the Eye of Horus (the wedjat), the great symbol of healing, protection and wholeness. Eventually the gods, with the help of Osiris's intervention from the underworld and Isis's cunning, judged in favour of Horus: he was awarded the throne of Egypt as the rightful heir, and Set was defeated and (in many tellings) cast out to the deserts and storms.
The Living King
Horus's victory established him as the divine pattern of kingship itself. Every living pharaoh of Egypt was regarded as the earthly embodiment of Horus — the living Horus on the throne — while each dead pharaoh became identified with Osiris, the father in the underworld. Thus the eternal succession of Egyptian kingship reenacted the myth: the living king was Horus, the rightful heir; his deceased predecessor was Osiris; and the orderly passing of the throne from father to son was the triumph of legitimate order (Horus) over chaos and usurpation (Set). Horus endures as one of the most fundamental gods of ancient Egypt — the falcon of the sky, the avenger of his father, the rightful king, the living pharaoh, and the Eye that heals and protects. He embodies the Egyptian ideals of legitimate rule, filial duty, and the triumph of order and justice over chaos and wrong.
Born to avenge his murdered father, the falcon-prince fought his uncle for the throne of Egypt and won — and every pharaoh after him reigned as the living Horus.