Horus

Horus is one of the most ancient gods of the Ancient Egyptian religion who appears in his earliest form in late Predynastic Egypt. Represented as a falcon his name is believed to mean 'the high' or 'the far off' and his earliest connections are to the sky and kingship. Because the cult of Horus survived for the whole of the Ancient Egyptian civilization he gained many forms and associations.

Horus was usually represented as a man with a falcon's head. One important association is the Eye of Horus which was an Egyptian symbol of power and of the offerings made to the god Osiris and by extension all the dead. In one myth cycle Horus' left eye is injured during his struggle with his uncle Set, who had murdered Osiris in an attempt to seize the Egyptian throne. The Eye of Horus, its injury and subsequent restoration became an important symbol for the unified land of Egypt and in the funerary rites of the renewal after death.