Important Cities relating to Horus

Lower (Northern) Egypt

Damanhour/Damanhur

The Nile Delta city known as DMI-N-HOR (town of Horus) had what may have been the riginal Horus who became the Horus of Edfu (known as Horus of Bendhet). Horus was represented in the shape of a winged Sun disk. This Horus was a solar/sky god possibly also known as Behedety. His right eye was the sun, his left eye the moon, and he was symbolized by a winged URAEUS. This symbol was placed above the doors of the temples to keep away evil spirits. Bhdt may have led to Crowley's Hadit. The Greeks called Damanhur HERMOPOLIS-PARVA, which means "Small city of Hermes".

Khem (Letopolis/Ausim)

The Horus god is said to have been particularly venerated in the Delta at the ancient site of Khem (Greek Letopolis, modern Ausim) since at least the beginning of the Old Kingdom. There, he was known as Horus Khenty-irty ("he who has eyes"), or Khenty-khem, "Foremost One of Khem". But I cannot find the original texts referenced. His right eye was the Sun and his left the Moon as in nearby Damanhur.

The god is mentioned on a panel from the South Tomb of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara (c2620-2600 BCE) as 'Horus of Khem' in an inscription which uses the archetypal Lower Egyptian Shrine as the determinative for the cult place of Horus at Letopolis.

Buto

In the North, Hierakanopolis counterpart was Buto (Tell el-Farain), about 95km east of Alexandria. Qa'a's Tomb seal impression names a Royal Palace located at Buto as Hwt Pe Hor Mesen (or Hwt Pe Hor Way), which was built during the 1st Dynasty and was still active during the third dynasty. Buto is mentioned regularly in the pyramid texts. Its importance may have been symblic rather than actual as evidence indicates it was not a large city but a village for much of the Old and Middle Kingdom.

Buto probably came about as the merger of two different centers. The Pyramid Text refers to the "kings of Lower Egypt who were in Pe. In some of the references, Pe is associated with Horus, the Falcon god, so early on Horus was probably worshipped in both Lower and Upper Egypt. The text also references a place called Dep where the god Wadjet was worshipped. Pe and Dep were apparently neighboring cities. Eventually, these two cities together were called Per-Wadjet reflecting their two gods and from this came the Greek name of Buto. Hence, the Wadjet cobra goddess is often referred to as Buto. After Osiris was killed by Seth, Isis hid Horus near the sacred town of Buto with the help of the goddess Hathor.

Heliopolis (Iunu)

Heliopolis (Iunu) in Lower Egypt had a solar hawk god called Ra who was known also as "RA HOR AKHT Y" ("RA, the HOR, or king, of the Two Horizons").

Upper (Southern) Egypt

Nekhen (Hierakonpolis)

Horus (Hr) was the patron of the Nekhen monarchy that grew into the historical pharaonic state and hence, the first known national god. Across the river on the east bank from Nekhen was Nekheb ruled over by vulture goddess Nekhebet ("Lady of Nekheb").

The first capital of the Kingdom of Upper Egypt, the home of King Narmer, it's Greek name was Hierakonpolis meaning "city of the falcon". The Falcon, first called Nekheny the Nekhenite was represented with two tall plumes on its head. He was assimilated very early with the falcon Horus, patron god of kingship, and Nekhen remained a cult center for Horus even after it was supplanted by Edfu as both provincial capital and temple center. A special title, that of Horus the Nekhenite, still gave evidence of its origins.

The largest site from the Pre- and Protodynastic period (3800-3100 B.C.), Hierakonpolis is the most important site for understanding the foundations of Egyptian civilization. Nekhen's history begins around 4000 BCE, when local hunter-gatherers were joined by farming and herding colonists. Recent explorations have shown that by 3500 BCE Hierakonpolis was the most important settlement along the Nile, a vibrant, bustling city stretching for over 2 miles along the edge of the floodplain with large bands of people migrating into it from the outlying areas. There may have been contact between Nekhen and the ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk.

A large ceremonial center was excavated out on the low desert, which dates back to early Naqada II (Dynasty 0). Situated in the southern portion of the city enclosure of Nekhen stood the great temple to the city's falcon god, Nekheny. The temple itself covered approximately one-sixth of the total area and it would have dominated not only the temple complex, but the town itself. Some of the greatest finds to come from the Temple Complex were a cache of ceremonial items which included the palette of Narmer (3100-3000 BCE) and a great golden head of a falcon (c2300 BCE, 6th Dynasty, Old Kingdom) which is the oldest (known) cult image in existence).

Not much remains of the early temple. The centerpiece of the complex would have been a three-room shrine, its facade made of four huge timber pillars that would have stood at least 20 feet high and its walls lavishly appointed with colored mats. In front of the shrine would have been a large oval courtyard in which stood a solitary pole displaying the image of the falcon god. At its base were makeshift platforms, used by the early kings to make sacrifices to Nekheny of new-born goats, cattle, crocodiles and even fish.

The city began to decline during the First Dynasty, but the Temple of Nekhen still retained its status as an important religious center. The Temple itself was rebuilt during the 4th Dynasty.

Edfu (Edfu/Tbot/Djeba)

Edfu was the capital of the second nome (Horus) of Upper Egypt, it is located 60 Km to the north of Aswan and was the centre of the cult of a triad of gods; Horus of Behdet, Hathor, and their son Hor (Herumatawy/Sama-Tawy). Its ancient name was Wetjeset-Hrw, or "The Place Where Horus is Extolled." It was also known as Djeba, which meant "Retribution Town", since the enemies of the god were brought to justice therein. The site of ancient Djeba was the traditional location of the mythological battle between the gods of Horus and Set.

The current temple was built during the reigns of six Ptolemies, it was begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III and was finished in 57 BC. This is not only the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt, but the second largest after Karnak. It was believed that the temple was built on the site of the great battle between Horus and Seth. Hence, the current temple was but the last in a long series of temples build on this location. It was built on the site of a New Kingdom temple, which was oriented east to west, the Ptolemaic structure follows instead a north-south axis. It is said that the original structure housing a statue of Horus was a grass hut built in prehistoric times and that the first stone temple to be built at Edfu was designed around 2660 BC by Imhotep. It was dedicated to Horus of Behdet in commemoration of the fact that by this time the local falcon-god Horus had been identified with the Horus of Damanhur.

There are numerous reliefs, including a depiction of the Feast of the Beautiful Meeting, the annual reunion between Horus and his wife Hathor. During the third month of summer, the priests at the Dendera complex would place the statue of Hathor on her barque (a ceremonial barge) and would thus bring the statue to the Edfu Temple, where it was believed that Horus and Hathor shared a conjugal visit. There are also dramatic images depicting the defeat of Seth by Horus. There was an annual ritual known as the Triumph of Horus (10 harpoons) which ended in the slaying of a hippopotamus, the symbol of Seth. Beyond the great hypostyle hall is a second, smaller hypostyle hall which leads to a well called the Chamber of the Nile where the Priests obtained pure holy water.

This large bronze statuette (22cm) from the New Kingdom (probably Dynasty 18, 1570-1200 BCE) represents the falcon god, ‘lord of the sky', elemental Horus, and primordial symbol of kingship. As ‘Lord of the Two Lands,' he wears the double-crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Although there is no incontrovertible evidence of Early Dynastic occupation at Edfu, a number of oval graves, completely plundered, have been found. Edfu had an attractive geographic location, elevated within the floodplain in Upper Egypt, so logically it would have attracted settlers at that time. Confirming this, pottery dated from the Old Kingdom has been found within the town enclosure, perhaps as early as the Third Dynasty. No larger remains dating earlier than the 5th Dynasty have been found at Edfu. Its most ancient cemetery comprised the mastabas of the Old Kingdom as well as later tombs, and covers the area southwest of the precinct of the great temple of Horus. The entire area was called Behedet.

Naqada (Nubt/Ombos)

During the 2nd dynasty (2925-2790 BCE) Seth replaced Horus and instead of a Horus name kings had a Seth name. Seth had a temple in Naqada (Nubt/Ombos) in Upper Egypt dated around 1500 BCE (New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty) and he is referred to in the Pyramid texts as Set of Nubet. Gebel Tjauty graffiti, found in the Desert west of Thebes (not very far from Naqada) appears to relate a victory over the town of Naqada by King Scorpion of Abydos.

Herui Nome (Gebtu/Gesy/Madu/Iunet)

There were several temples of Horus in various forms in this nome. In Gesy (Qus) there is a Ptolemaic temple of Haroeris (Horus the Elder) and Heket. These two cities were at the start of the trade road to the Red Sea and did exist during the pre and early dynastic periods, but any Horus worship seems to date quite late. Min was the primary deity of the area. The Pyramid Texts (5-6th Dynasty) say "Haroeris of K.us is Lord of the South" - Utterance 319.

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