Horus was one of the earliest and most important Egyptian gods. He was originally portrayed as a hawk or falcon and worshiped as a sun god and creator of the sky. His right eye represented the sun, and his left eye represented the moon. Later images show him as a man with the head of a bird.

The early rulers of southern Egypt were followers of Horus. When they conquered northern Egypt and reunited the two lands (around 2200 B.C.), Horus became the symbol of the newly unified country, and the pharaohruler of ancient Egypt was considered the incarnationappearance of a god, spirit, or soul in earthly form of Horus. In time, the worship of Horus—under his various names—spread to many places.

Horus became a major figure in Egyptian mythology. Before he was born, his father Osiris...