Season 1 Episode 4: Falcons & Pharaohs

Hello Egyptophiles! Ever wondered what the Egyptian eye really means? What exactly does it have to do with power and kingship? And who is Horus anyways?

In this episode, we’re introducing you to Horus and the many ways he’s been represented through history, from a sacred falcon-headed god to an evocative symbol of Egypt. From there, we’ll explore how these changes may have happened and what they can tell us about making meaningful cultural exchanges in an interconnected world.

Also featuring: Jeff Newman, PhD Candidate, UCLA

Transcript

Section 1: Introduction (0:00)

BECKY BELISLE: Hi everyone, welcome to Season 1, Episode 4 of Now as Then, with Becky,

PHILIP LEE: Philip,

AVA KJOS: Ava,

NICOLE LIU: and Nicole. Today we’ll be talking about Horus, the ancient Egyptian god of kingship. Some of the questions we’ll be asking are: “How has he been represented?”, “What roles did he play in society?”, and “Why was he significant?”

KJOS: Over the course of history, Horus’ role has transitioned from that of a venerated religious figure to a modern-day commercialized symbol of ancient Egypt. By looking at how Horus was appropriated by different foreigners through time, we can see how other cultures viewed Egypt and determine what they valued, as they altered him to suit their societal needs.

LEE: We can then use these as lessons in how to participate in cultural exchanges that are respectful and culturally conscious.

BELISLE: We’ll be starting off with a conversation between Philip and Nicole about what Horus’ role in ancient Egypt was, and then Ava and I will move into how his role has changed throughout time and across various cultures. During this podcast, we’ll also feature some cool old stuff from the UCLA Special Collections and hear from a very special guest along the way.

JEFF NEWMAN: Hi, my name is Jeff Newman. I am currently a PhD student in the NELC [Near Eastern Languages & Culture] Department at UCLA. The focus of my PhD… I’m really interested in early Egypt: the reception of early Egypt in later time periods, like the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom, and archaism in ancient Egypt and the use of archaism in ancient Egyptian thought, literature, and iconography.

LIU: We’re very excited to have Jeff with us here today, and you’ll be hearing from him as we move along with our discussion. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into ancient Egypt!

Section 2: Horus in Pharaonic Egypt (1:48)

LEE: What are the first things that come to mind when you hear the phrase “ancient Egypt”?

LIU: Pyramids, pharaohs, mummies, scarabs, the Nile… This is the romanticized image of ancient Egypt perpetuated by the media, a far-off land of occult rituals and unspoken secrets, an exotic, eternal Egypt of golden sands and lotus flowers.

LEE: However, ancient Egypt, also known as pharaonic or dynastic Egypt, spanned a vast amount of time, from 3150 to 332 BCE, and it went through many changes in art, government, and religion.

LIU: Hence, the changes in the depictions, myths, and worship of Horus through time. But wait! Who is Horus? Well, that is what we’re here to find out.

LIU: Horus was a super important deity in dynastic Egypt who was usually represented as a falcon or a man with a falcon head.¹ Since ancient Egypt covered such a large geographic area and had a history that spanned thousands of years, there were tons of different variants of Horus. To keep things simple, we’re just going to focus on two of his main forms: Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger.

LEE: As you would expect, Horus the Elder predates Horus the Younger, and the myths surrounding his origin featured deities from the dawn of creation. According to the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, the sky goddess Nut gives birth to five children: Osiris, Seth, Isis, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder. At his birth, Horus the Elder is born as a falcon and, of his own accord, soars into the sky, beyond the horizon. Thus, he gained the title of Lord of the Sky and was usually represented as a celestial falcon with his wings spread across the horizon, with his right eye as the sun and his left eye as the moon.²

LIU: That’s so cool. Imagine having eyes that are literally the sun and moon. Did that mean he had laser vision, like Superman? We’ll talk more about Horus’ eyes later.

LEE: Egyptologists think that one of the earliest representations of Horus is a tiny falcon figurine found in Tell el-Farkha,³ dating from the Early Dynastic Period. It was discovered during the early 2000s among other animal figures, all of which were made from hippopotamus tusk. The figurine of Horus is a relatively flat, schematic depiction of a falcon, with a small hole on its chest, which means that it was most likely to be mounted in a shrine.

LIU: How do we know that the figurine is supposed to represent Horus? Well, since Horus was so widely worshipped across Egypt, whenever we see any representation of a falcon, we kinda just assume it’s Horus. Fun fact— Egyptologists think that the species used to represent Horus was most likely the peregrine or lanner falcon.⁴

LEE: In later renditions of the myth, Horus the Elder also fights his brother Seth, the god of storms and chaos. Because the two represent opposing forces, the solar Horus against the turbulent Seth, the two were engaged in constant conflict. Eventually, however, they reconcile, and this is supposed to represent the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.⁵

LIU: Based on this, we can already begin to see the possible sociocultural significance of Horus as a symbol of kingship through the unification of Egypt under a central power and the protection of the king. The choice to represent Horus as a falcon also has symbolic significance. Here’s what Jeff has to say about that:

NEWMAN: He was absolutely, he was very intimately connected with the protection of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians… A lot of their religious ideals sort of come from their natural environment. There’s a lot of falcons in Egypt and ancient Egyptians always saw that falcons, before they stalk their prey, they like to circle around and very keenly look upon everything that’s going on. And that’s sort of why Horus had become a protective figure in general, but then specifically of the king. He’s always seen as a god specifically to protect the king. You can see, actually, there’s some Old Kingdom statuary, particularly of Khafre, where the Horus falcon is actually surrounding the king’s head, physically embracing him, protecting him, so it’s a very literal demonstration of that concept.

LIU: This association becomes all the more prominent with the appearance of Horus the Younger.

LEE: As his name suggests, Horus the Younger came after Horus the Elder, though this isn’t necessarily a Horus Jr. and Sr. situation. Horus the Younger is actually the son of Isis and Osiris. If you remember from before, Isis and Osiris are the siblings of Horus the Elder. So, does this mean that Horus is his own uncle? Or are there two separate gods walking around with the same name?

LIU: Depends; some sources say that Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger are two different aspects of the same deity, while others say that they’re completely separate. Here’s an example from the Coffin Texts of the First Intermediate Period, where elements of the two are blended together:

LEE: “I am Horus the Great Falcon who is on the battlement of the Mansion of Him-whose-name-is-hidden. My flight has reached the horizon, having overpassed the gods of the sky, thus promoting my position more than that of the Primeval Ones… so that my place is far from Seth, the enemy of my father Osiris. I have passed the eternal roads to the dawn, going up in my flight… I am Horus more distant of place than people and gods; I am Horus son of Osiris.”⁶

At first, it seems like this text is referring to Horus the Elder, since it describes Horus as a “Great Falcon” who flies over the horizon, which is a key component of Horus the Elder’s origin story. However, it also says that Horus is the son of Osiris, which is from Horus the Younger! In any case, the key takeaway here is that Egypt is really big, and lots of people had competing ideas about who’s who and what’s what.

LIU: As mentioned earlier, Horus the Younger was the son of Isis and Osiris, one of the many gods who ruled Egypt before the reign of human pharaohs. And if you thought Horus the Elder’s story was dramatic, then get ready for Horus the Younger, because things are about to go down!

Section 2.5: The Contendings of Horus and Seth Skit (7:27)⁷

NARRATOR (CASSANDRA HIBBS): Once upon a time, Egypt was ruled by a god named Osiris.

OSIRIS (RICHARD CERVANTES): I am Osiris! I am a great king.

NARRATOR: One day, Osiris was murdered in cold blood.

OSIRIS: Ugh!!!

NARRATOR: With Osiris dead, the gods now had a difficult decision to make: Who would be the next ruler of Egypt? Most of the gods thought that Osiris’ son, Horus, was the best choice.

SHU (SIMON YONG): We must give the crown to Horus! After all, he is Osiris’ heir. What do you think, Thoth?

THOTH (NORMAN CHEN): I agree, Shu! I believe Horus would make a great king.

SHU: Splendid! “We shall give the office to Horus!” (214).

THOTH: Excellent! “That is right a million times!” (214).

NARRATOR: However, one of the gods had other plans.

SETH (CASSANDRA HIBBS): Halt! I am Seth, brother of Osiris and god of chaos and storms. My wretched nephew, Horus, has absolutely no experience! He must not be allowed to rule.

HORUS (RAY HUANG): Shut up, uncle! How dare you try “to take the office of my father Osiris away from me!” (216).

SETH: Ha! You are weak, Horus. “I, I am Seth, greatest of strength among the Ennead. For I slay the enemy of Pre every day, standing in the prow of the Bark-of-Millions, and no other god can do it. I should receive the office of Osiris!” (216).

NARRATOR: The stage was set. “The Contendings of Horus and Seth,” a series of epic contests between two deities, was about to take place.

SETH: Come, my nephew! “Let us change ourselves into two hippopotamuses and plunge into the depth in the midst of the sea. And he who emerges in the course of three whole months, he shall not receive the office” (218).

HORUS: Ok, sounds fair to me!

NARRATOR: As the two gods moved swiftly through the waters, Isis, Horus’ mother, decided to intervene.

ISIS (AVA KJOS): Oh no! If I don’t do anything, “Seth will kill Horus, my son!” (218). I know! I’ll make a harpoon and catch Seth! Then he can’t hurt Horus anymore.

NARRATOR: With these words, Isis took a piece of rope and copper and crafted the deadly tool.

ISIS: I will save you, my son!

HORUS: Ow, mom! You hit me!

ISIS: Whoops, sorry Horus! Let me try again.

SETH: Ugh!!! It is I, Seth. “What have I done to you, my sister Isis? Call to your weapon to let go of me! I am your maternal brother, O Isis!” (219).

NARRATOR: After hearing these words, Isis felt badly for her brother, Seth, and decided to release her harpoon.

HORUS:Hey, mom! Why did you release your harpoon from Seth?

ISIS: He is my brother, Horus. It… it just didn’t feel right to hurt him like that.

NARRATOR: In a fit of anger, Horus raised his knife, beheaded Isis, and hid in a mountain. When the rest of the gods saw this, they decided that Horus must be punished for his actions. They sent Seth to search for Horus, and he eventually found Horus resting under a tree.

SETH: Nephew, how dare you cut off the head of your own mother! Your punishment shall be severe.

NARRATOR: With that said, Seth threw Horus onto his back and pulled out both of Horus’ eyes.

NARRATOR: Seth then buried the eyes under the mountain and told the rest of the deities that he could not find Horus. Luckily, Hathor, “Mistress of the Southern Sycamore” (219), found Horus crying in a desert.

HATHOR (NICOLE LIU): Horus! Why are you crying? Also, how’s he crying without eyes?

HORUS: Oh Hathor, please help me! Seth just stole both of my eyes and buried them! I can’t see! I can’t do anything!

HATHOR: Don’t worry! I will find a way to restore your vision.

NARRATOR: Hathor quickly caught a gazelle, milked it, and poured it into Horus’ empty eye sockets. Miraculously, this completely regenerated Horus’ eyes! With his eyes now healed, the battles between Horus and Seth continued.

SETH: Bah! I must admit you are persistent, my dear nephew!

HORUS: Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, uncle!

NARRATOR: The conflict between these two continued for another eighty years, and the deities competed in a variety of different events. However, the rest of the gods eventually decided to ask Osiris himself who should be seated on the throne.

OSIRIS: Uhhg… can’t a dead man rest in peace?

DEITIES (ALL): Please, Osiris! Please tell us who shall take your place as ruler of Egypt!

OSIRIS: Hmm? “Why is my son Horus being defrauded when it was I who made you strong? It was I who made barley and emmer to nourish the gods, and the cattle after the gods, while no god or goddess was able to do it!” (221).

NARRATOR: With these words from Osiris, the contendings were finally over.

SETH: All right, nephew, you win. “Let Horus, son of Isis, be summoned, and let him be given the office of his father Osiris!” (222).

ISIS: My son! “You are the good King! My heart rejoices that you will brighten the earth with your lustre!” (222).

NARRATOR:

“Horus has risen as Ruler, life, prosperity, health!

The Ennead is in feast, heaven in joy!

They take garlands seeing Horus, son of Isis

Risen as great Ruler of Egypt.

The hearts of the Ennead exult,

The entire land rejoices

As they see Horus, son of Isis

Given the office of his father,

Osiris, lord of Busiris” (223).

LEE: That drama you just heard is based on a story called “The Contendings of Horus and Seth.” Egyptologists have found bits and pieces of this story from all sorts of places and times. The most complete version of the story we have is from the Chester Beatty Papyrus, which dates to the New Kingdom.

LIU: Horus the Younger also retained his predecessors’ falcon iconography, appearing in the form of a falcon-headed man, often wearing the red and white double crown of Egypt, or the pschent.⁸ This makes sense, ‘cause Horus did become king after the death of his father Osiris, but even more, this emphasized his role as protector of pharaohs and god of kingship.

LEE: This is important, because at this point, Horus had become not only a symbol of the power of kings, but he legitimized the whole idea of divine kingship.⁹ It’s way easier to justify being on the throne when you can say that you got the job from your divine ancestors and have their protection. Because the order of succession is hereditary and the gods ruled Egypt before humans did, this also means that the pharaohs were descended from the gods, or in some cases, the reincarnation of Horus himself. Roll that up in one, and no one would dare question your rule.

LIU: Keep in mind that Horus the Younger rose to popularity in the New Kingdom, which came after the collapse of the Old and Middle Kingdom and the chaotic Intermediate Periods, where multiple factions struggled for power. Personally, I think the evolution of Horus as a god of kingship arose from the necessity of preserving a stable centralized power to avoid governmental collapse.

LEE: However, the importance of the pharaoh extends beyond that. According to Jeff, it’s also deeply rooted in ancient Egyptian religion.

NEWMAN: Ancient Egyptian religion— not getting into how this started— but built into the concept of ancient Egyptian religion is the necessity of having a pharaoh. There has to be a living version of Horus ruling over everybody, according to their ideology. You can almost call it a propaganda, to a certain extent. Almost very built in to their whole religious thought is the idea that you have to have a living Horus as king ruling over you, and this is going back to the idea that somebody has to be the sole intermediary between the gods and humans. So, most everyday Egyptians probably had, to a certain degree, the concept of needing a pharaoh to have to be a sort of intermediary. He was the political king, but he was also the high priest of all the temples, including Horus, sort of the sole divine communicator. So, in that aspect, Horus, as the living king, was very necessary to keep cosmic order, or ma’at, in balance.

LEE: Personally, I think it’s cool to see how there’s this overlap in the necessity of Horus in both ancient Egyptian government and religion. The rule of the pharaoh is responsible for the very state of being, for the flooding of the Nile, for the rhythm of the seasons, the rising of the sun…

LIU: Going back to “The Contendings of Horus and Seth,” the myth also brought up some underlying worries with hereditary kingship, like “What do you do when the successor to the throne has no experience?” and “What if the stronger candidate is also the one who assassinated the king to begin with?” or even, “Should the line of kingship be hereditary at all?”¹⁰ More than ever, I feel like this is the reason for the popularity of Horus the Younger and why he persists in the modern mind, because he addressed these crucial issues.

But alas, I digress. Hey Philip, what was that you said about divine protection? I need me some of that.

LEE: Well, one of the most important symbols of protection in ancient Egypt was the Eye of Horus. If you remember, in “The Contendings of Horus and Seth,” Seth punishes Horus for chopping off his mom’s head by pulling out both of Horus’ eyes. Luckily for Horus, the goddess Hathor helps him to restore his eyes. These restored eyes are known by the ancients as “wadjet eyes,” and these are what was represented by the Eye of Horus symbol.¹¹

LIU: So these are one of the most popular symbols of ancient Egypt. The Eye of Horus looks like a stylized human eye with a long curve and short teardrop coming from its bottom, and it tries to combine features from human eyes and the facial features of a falcon.¹² If you look at coffins from the Old Kingdom, you might be able to see pairs of wadjets painted on them. As symbols of protection, they would protect the dead and provide convenient eyeholes for the dead to look through.

LEE: Another thing I should mention is that after the battles between Horus and Seth, Horus uses his newly restored eyes to revive his father, Osiris, who, as you remember was assassinated. So, the ancient Egyptians also believed the wadjet had healing properties. For example, wadjet eyes were often placed over the incision wounds on mummies to make sure that the dead body would heal and be “whole.” The ancient Egyptians even prescribed medicine based on the proportions of the wadjet!¹³

LIU: Speaking of proportions, the structure of the wadjet is deeply rooted in fractions. How? Well, in some versions of “The Contendings of Horus and Seth”, Seth only tears out Horus’ left eye— which, if you remember from Horus the Elder, is also the moon— and rips it into six pieces, with each piece representing a fraction of the Eye of Horus: one half, one fourth, one eighth, one sixteenth, one thirty-second, and one sixty-fourth.¹⁴

In Egypt, the number of days in a month is equal to thirty. Ancient Egyptians would often report days in terms of fractions of thirty. For example, the seventh day of the month would be written as one fifth times thirty plus one thirtieth times thirty, which is the same as six plus one. If you add up all of the fractions from the Eye of Horus and multiply that by thirty, you get 29.53125 days. This is an incredibly accurate approximation of the number of days in a lunar month, off by only fifty-seven seconds!¹⁵

LEE: Coincidence or science? I think it’s amazing that the ancient Egyptians were able to figure out these types of astronomical phenomena with pure math alone.

LIU: And here I am, struggling to calculate how much to tip after a night out. But anyways, the last thing we’re gonna talk about for Pharaonic Egypt is the symbol of Horus the Child, which was an extension of Horus the Younger.

LEE: Oh, yeah! I remember when I first started doing research on Horus, I tried looking up pictures of him and found a bunch of statues of naked babies standing on crocodiles! Do you know what these mean, Nicole?

LIU: Yeah! So that’s one of the most popular images of baby Horus, aka Horus the Child. In stories where Seth kills Osiris, Isis hides baby Horus in a patch of papyrus on a marsh next to the Nile Delta. These marshes had lots of dangerous animals, such as crocodiles.

The first pharaoh that was connected with Horus the Child was Pepi II, who was depicted as a baby Horus in the lap of his mother.¹⁶ Horus the Child was an extremely popular image for the pharaohs, since the child represents overcoming great danger and obstacles. There are lots of stelae from the New Kingdom that show a baby Horus trampling crocodiles, strangling snakes, and defeating other animals. ¹⁷ Talk about fearless.

LEE: And that concludes our overview of Horus in pharaonic Egypt! Again, because of Egypt’s vast size and history, it would be difficult for us to cover every single form of him, so we’re sorry if you don’t hear about your favorite version of Horus.

LIU: However, there are a few key ideas that are essentially the same across all of the different versions of Horus during this time. First of all, he is the main deity of kingship. He was seen as the god who united Upper and Lower Egypt and the vanquisher of dangerous enemies, such as Seth. These were qualities that the ancient Egyptians wanted their pharaohs to embody.

LEE: He was also the source of many popular symbols that spread across Egypt, like the stelae of Horus the Child and the Eye of Horus. These images represented strength and protection and are commonly found in tombs or as amulets.

LIU: Now that we’ve established who Horus was during this time, we can start talking about ways in which he’s changed, starting with the arrival of the ancient Greeks and Romans all the way up to today. For that, we’ll pass the mic over to Becky and Ava.

See you at the end of the episode!

Section 3: Horus Through Time (20:22)

KJOS: Thanks Nicole and Philip for that great introduction on Horus! Moving out of pharaonic Egypt, Becky and I are here to discuss how Horus has been adapted in more recent years. We will begin with the Ptolemaic Kingdom, when the Greeks reigned in Egypt, which began in 323 BCE, after the death of Alexander the Great.

BELISLE: During this era, the Greeks actually misinterpreted Egyptian depictions of Horus the Child and consequently created their own manifestation of Horus, named Harpocrates.¹⁸ Basically, what happened was that ancient Egyptians typically portrayed this version of Horus with his finger to his mouth as a symbol of childhood. However, the Greeks assumed that this symbolized silence so Harpocrates was, in the Greek poet Ovid’s words, “the god who holds his finger to his lips for silence sake.”¹⁹

KJOS: This was one of the first major examples of foreigners taking the ancient Egyptian Horus and altering aspects of him before adopting him into their own culture. In this case, the Horus-Harpocrates transformation arose from a misunderstanding of Egyptian religion.

BELISLE: Exactly. They also associated Harpocrates with Hercules because they saw depictions of Horus the Child overpowering snakes, lions, antelopes, and crocodiles, which reminded them of how Hercules apparently strangled two snakes that attacked him as a child.²⁰

KJOS: The Greeks also adapted Egyptian gods by naming them with the Egyptian term and the term for a comparable Greek god. The Greek historian, Herodotus, actually referred to Horus as Horus-Apollo in his writings because he wanted his Greek audience to know that Horus was the Egyptian version of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, similar to how Horus was initially god of the sun.²¹Once again, we have a foreign country taking Horus and fitting him into their own culture. I mean Horus and Apollo really only have the sun in common and are rather different. Equating the two and suggesting Horus is the Egyptian translation for Apollo really shows the Greeks’ ethnocentrism.

BELISLE: Over time, these little adjustments to Horus as he is passed between cultures really build up. Jumping forward a little bit to when Christianity began to gain popularity… The Cult of Isis was widely spread in both Greece and Rome, and it was considered the biggest threat to the new religion. During this time, Horus was often depicted in the form of Horus the Child with his mother Isis.²² A lot of people today argue that these depictions led to the renderings of Madonna and Child.

KJOS: That’s a really interesting point. There certainly are clear similarities between the images of Isis and Horus and the images of Mary and Jesus. I mean, the way the child rests on the mother’s arm is mostly the same in both the ancient Egyptian statues and the Madonna and Child paintings, and I think that is pretty strong evidence for this theory.²³ In both images, the child is typically sitting on the lap of the mother with his back against one of her arms, and in a lot of renderings, the mother has her other hand to her chest.

It’s possible that early Christians were influenced by the image of Isis and Horus in the portrayal of Madonna and Child due to the ubiquity of the Cult of Isis. However, this is just our speculation. If you’re interested in a more conclusive analysis of Isis and Horus’ influence in the depictions of Madonna and Child, check out the 5th episode of Season 1, “Like a Virgin,” in this series for more information.

BELISLE: Yeah, it’s easy to see how that theory arose. Although a lot of Christians would consider the idea heretical, some scholars have gone as far as to argue that Christianity was developed entirely from Egyptian mythology. For instance, Horus’ father, Osiris, was absent, similar to that of Jesus, and he had a stepfather Geb who can be compared to Joseph. Horus was born because his mother resurrected his father’s penis to conceive the child. And since Horus represents the living pharaoh and Osiris, the dead pharaoh, one can almost equate Horus and Osiris into one being who was resurrected, like Jesus.²⁴ Jeff can offer insight into the plausibility of this theory.

NEWMAN: Christianity is an ancient Near Eastern religion and because it is that— and it was born in the ancient Near East— it tends to adopt a lot of stories, a lot of themes that had been floating around the ancient Near East that had been floating around for three thousand, four thousand years.

KJOS: Jeff is right that unfortunately we cannot currently prove or disprove this theory based on evidence. If it’s true that the story of Horus eventually evolved into the story of Jesus— and I’d like to emphasize that this is just one theory— then that would explain why we don’t really see Horus himself as a religious figure today. Essentially, his story was altered so much that he’s no longer recognizable. But, in a way, it could be argued that Horus is still being worshipped through the worship of Jesus, even though he’s been changed drastically through the years and as he’s crossed various cultural boundaries.

BELISLE: That’s true, but I’d like to point out that there are some people today who still worship Horus. There’s a modern day religion called the Kemetic Orthodoxy, which is basically a modern day revival of ancient Egyptian mythology. I looked at their various temples and shrines and apparently there’s one located in Germany that serves the god Heru-sa-Aset.²⁵This is actually one of the many manifestations of the god Horus from ancient Egyptian times.

KJOS: That’s really interesting, but we have to remember that it’s a modern revival of an ancient tradition. Essentially, the fact that they worship a manifestation of Horus from ancient Egypt does not mean that he didn’t change. I think it’s actually the opposite— he changed so much over time that people felt like he, along with the other gods of ancient Egypt, were lost and then they made a decision to bring them back. But we also have to remember that this is only a tiny of percentage of people in the world today. I think it’s safe to say that in our society, it’s pretty uncommon to see people who worship Horus directly.

BELISLE: So, now that we’ve established that Horus is no longer as commonly worshipped as he once was, why do we still care about him?

KJOS: Well, one way that he still pops up in our culture is actually through multiforms, which, as the name suggests, are different forms of the same story. If you remember the “Contendings of Horus and Seth”— which Philip and Nicole talked about earlier— The Lion King is actually one of its multiforms!²⁶ I had no idea before I began researching for this podcast, but it makes complete sense if you think about it. Scar plays the role of the evil uncle, who, like Seth, kills his brother, and tries to take the throne. Simba plays the same role as Horus— the heir who is trying to take his rightful place as king.

BELISLE: I can think of a couple more multiforms of that story too, like Hamlet and Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia.

On another note, I’d actually like to transition a bit and talk some about the Eye of Horus because I think that it shows up in a lot of interesting ways in current society as well. For instance, the airline company, Airmalta, actually posted a travel blog which talks about these colorful boats called the Maltese Luzzu.²⁷ They’re used by fishermen and actually have the Eye of Horus engraved at the front of the boats for protection at sea. I think it’s interesting that Horus himself has changed so much through the years but the Eye of Horus is still being used for its protective purpose.

KJOS: It’s funny; the Eye of Horus pretty much looks the same today as it did back in ancient Egypt, but I think the meaning has changed a lot through the years. I see it pretty frequently on the internet, jewelry, tattoos, and even in Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” music video. But it’s typically sold more as a tourist item or fashion accessory than a means of protection. I think it’s a little sad actually. We’ve kind of adopted this symbol into our culture that was of extreme importance to the ancient Egyptians and we casually wear it as a fashion accessory.

BELISLE: That is sad. I think most people don’t even know the original meaning behind the Eye of Horus or about Horus himself.

KJOS: Jeff actually mentioned a similar thing…

NEWMAN: As for its significance today, I know it’s a very popular symbol. I see it tattooed on people all over the place in UCLA. I wonder how much they actually know about what they have on themselves, ‘cause as you guys know, it’s a very complicated symbol. There’s a lot of deep meaning to it, there’s a lot of different meanings to it. But it remains important to this day. People love to invoke that image, it’s sort of the classic image that you get of ancient Egypt, sort of the big eye with the paint coming off the side of it.

KJOS: I was curious about this so I decided to do some asking around. I found that, of the 10 or so family members and friends that I asked, everyone had seen the symbol of the Eye of Horus before, about half knew what it was called, but only one person knew that it represents protection and health. I think that this is a good example of Western culture adopting something we like from another culture but leaving behind the parts that conflict with our views. No one really has a problem wearing a fun Egyptian necklace, but I think a lot of people would be uncomfortable with wearing a magical “pagan” symbol. So we just don’t talk about its cultural significance and lose the meaning behind it.

BELISLE: Unfortunately, that kind of thing has been going on since the Greeks and Romans started exploring Egypt. Going back to what we talked about earlier… the Greeks adopted Horus into their culture as Harpocrates but, in doing so, completely changed his meaning. And it’s likely that the same was done with the images of Madonna and Child when Christianity rose in popularity. Every culture takes the parts they like from Egyptian mythology and the rest is either lost or altered so that it’s considered culturally appropriate.

KJOS: The commercialization of ancient Egyptian culture is even prevalent in Egypt, especially at the Temple of Horus in Edfu. Although the temple was constructed during the Ptolemaic period, the period of Greece’s reign in Egypt, they stylistically archaized the temple to better match what they perceived an Egyptian temple was supposed to look like. Jeff will now elaborate on the history and impact of the temple.

NEWMAN: It’s just a time period when things get super international. Egypt is now being conquered by different people. It’s not being ruled by pharaohs that are from Egypt, but a lot of the myths, a lot of the iconography, gets preserved very well and very accurately. In fact, if it weren’t for temples like the Edfu temple, we wouldn’t know half as much of what we know about Horus.

KJOS: As Jeff said, the temple is actually very accurate and today, it’s known as a very well-preserved example of ancient Egyptian temples. Sadly, the temple is now surrounded by shops for tourists, who typically do not know the full story of the temple and that it is only an imitation of true ancient Egyptian architecture and religion.²⁸ Becky and I actually got the chance to head over to UCLA Special Collections and take a look at some old photos of the temple.

KJOS: I’m here with Becky in UCLA Special Collections,²⁹ and we’re looking at an old photo book, which has a bunch of pictures of the Temple of Edfu.

BELISLE: The book is called Photograph Album of Antiquities of Egypt and it’s by Antonio Beato and I see here it was made in 1887.

KJOS: Looking at the pictures of the temple, it’s really interesting how you can see that the walls look all charred and black, and this actually happened because when Christians came into Egypt, they burnt a lot of the temples for the Egyptian gods.

BELISLE: Yeah, someone committed arson and it permanently blackened all the ceilings, and another group of Christians also attempted to ruin the relief on the outside of the temple here.

KJOS: This is really interesting because, going back to what we were talking about earlier, Christianity did adopt a lot of ideas from Egyptian religion. We talked about how a lot of people think that the concept of the Virgin Mary and Jesus was based on Horus and Isis. However, they clearly hated the practice of Egyptian religion and tried to abolish it by destroying a bunch of the sacred temples.

BELISLE: A lot of this occurred when non-Christian worship was banned in 391 CE. Let’s head back to the studio and talk about why this kind of thing happened.

I think this type of behavior occurs because ancient Egypt is viewed as such a foreign and almost mystical place. Because of this, I think that Western cultures tend to feel justified in taking parts of their religion, such as Horus and the Eye of Horus, and just adapting it to their culture. In his book Orientalism, Edward Said talks about this pattern of Western cultures basing their view of Middle East off of romanticized images and therefore feeling superior and entitled to parts of their culture.³⁰ There’s a huge “Us” vs. “Them” dynamic going on… we tend to look down on polytheistic practices and seemingly absurd beliefs of the ancient Egyptians because, of course, we know better than to actually believe in a god like Horus. However, we still feel like it’s okay to take the parts that we like from their religion and completely commercialize them or “improve upon them,” as we like to think.

KJOS: And that concludes this episode of Now As Then. Nicole and Philip will be joining us again to summarize what we’ve learned.

Section 4: Conclusion (33:30)

LEE: First, we learned that Horus, even in pharaonic Egypt, existed in numerous forms. His two most prominent ones were Horus the Elder, who was god of the sky, and Horus the Younger, god and protector of kingship. “The Contendings of Horus and Seth”, the myth in which he is featured most prominently, addressed issues in hereditary kingship, even as it legitimized the authority of pharaohs as a form of government.

KJOS: Second, we learned that after pharaonic Egypt, Horus continued to change as he was adopted by the Greeks as Harpocrates and possibly even Christianity as a precursor to Jesus. In the modern day, we know him as a popular symbol of Egypt, where he’s been commercialized with tattoos and jewelry being the most common. Meanwhile, the multiforms of “The Contendings of Horus and Seth,” appear to us today in literature and movies, such as The Lion King.

Thus, we see that, through time, Horus’ role has progressed from an important god of kingship and protection in ancient Egyptian religion to a figure with varying attributes depending on the cultures who appropriated him and now, as a popular symbol of Egypt.

BELISLE: But what does this mean for us? We need to be aware of the impacts of Orientalist and ethnocentric adaptations of cultures, both ancient and current, because they affect the way we view other peoples and interact with one another. We should acknowledge our biases when exploring other people’s religions and lifestyles, because they can lead to negative or inaccurate representations of cultures that persist for generations. We also should appreciate multiforms and strive to know more about their origins, which are responsible for a good portion of the media we consume. In doing so, they can help unite people cross culturally, as well as remind us of the ongoing influence of ancient civilizations in our daily lives.

KJOS: Before we go, we’d like take a moment to acknowledge everyone who helped us in the making of this episode. First, we’d like to thank Jeff Newman for joining us and offering his expertise in the interview. It was a pleasure to hear your thoughts.

BELISLE: We’d also like to thank library liaisons Simon Lee for helping us navigate the Young Research Library and Courtney Jacobs for providing us with access to Special Collections. Many thanks to Deidre Whitmore and Tom Barbelotti for teaching us how to use recording equipment and for troubleshooting along the way.

LEE: A special thanks also goes out to our voice actors in our skit for the “Contendings of Horus and Seth”: Cassandra Hibbs for her role as Narrator and Seth, Richard Cervantes as Osiris, Ray Huang as Horus, Simon Yong as Shu, and Norman Chen as Thoth.

LIU: Last but not least, we’d like to extend our gratitude toward our instructor Robyn Price for inspiring us to explore ancient Egypt and encouraging us to think critically about the influence of the past on the present. And of course, thanks to you, the listener, for being such a wonderful audience and tuning in to our podcast!

BELISLE: This is Becky,

KJOS: Ava,

LEE: Philip,

LIU: and Nicole. We hope you learned a lot and continue listening to future episodes of Now as Then! Bye!

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