Horus the Elder

I am continuing my reading about the Egyptian god of the Sky Horus, and I came across this very interesting thing: According to Claudius Aelianus (175-235 AD): Egyptians called the god Apollo "Horus" in their own language...

However...

However, Plutarch (40-120AD), a Greek philosopher, historian...and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi (!!!) explained that the one "Horus" whom the Egyptians equated with the Apollo was not ordinary Horus, but "Horus the Elder"...

Why only this Horus?

Well this Horus was a very peculiar Horus indeed. Known in Egyptian as Heru-ur, Great Horus, he was sometimes depicted fully as a falcon, but was mostly depicted as a falcon headed lion, or falcon headed sphinx (!!!)...

Ok...Still don't get it. Why would this particular incarnation of the Sky God be equated with Apollo by the Plutarch, "a priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi"?

Cause Apollo was the Sun in Leo

IONIA. Miletos. Circa 340-325 BC. Drachm. 

Front: Laureate head of Apollo. 

Back: Lion with eight-pointed star above

This coin confirms my hypothesis that Apollo was Sun in Leo...Basically, Greek version of Mesopotamian Nergal...Sun in Leo...

Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia (and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere)...Talked abut him in my post "Winged superhuman hero"...

I explain why Apollo is Greek version of Nergal in these articles:

1. "Palil". About "Palil" a nickname of Nergal, the terrible, burning, destructive sun of Jul/Aug, Leo...And about the origin of the name Apollo and its meaning...

2. "Lord of the flies". About Nergal and Apollo as "The lords of the flies"...And about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the peak of the fly and fly born diseases season in Northern Hemisphere...

3. "Lions of Delos". About the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions. 

4. "Apollo and dolphins". About Jul/Aug, Leo being the "best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean", and the link between dolphins and Lions...and Apollo...

5. "Marble throne of Apollo". About snakes (symbols of sun's heat), dragons (symbols of burning sun's heat) and terrible sun gods, Nergal and Apollo who are dragons themselves...

6. "Apollo and Python". About why Python followed Apollo after his birth? Cause snakes are solar animals...According to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb)

7. "White raven". About the black and white raven legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology, Egyptian vultures and the twins that guard the gates of hell. And some other weird stuff...

8. "Threshing floor of Apollo". About the threshing floors as solar observatories/temples, about the threshing floor of Apollo from Delphi, about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the holy month of Apollo, and about solar bonfires...

9. "Apollo the great archer". About why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer...About arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the season of Perseid meteor shower...

10. "Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo his arrows that cause plague and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

11. "Apollo - Resheph". About how the transformation of Nergal into Apollo went through an an intermediary, Syrian god Resheph...

BTW, lion marks the period Jul/Aug because this is when the main mating season of Eurasian lions starts...Talked about lion as an animal calendar marker in many of my posts...

"Horus the Elder" was known as the "foremost of the two eyes", the two eyes being the Sun and the Moon, and the foremost of the two eyes being the Sun. The Sun in Leo...

But Apollo was not just the Sun in Leo. He was the Sky God in Leo. The most feared of the Olympic gods...The Terrible Archer...

I talked about this aspect of Apollo in several of my above posts about Apollo - Nergal connection. In them I explain why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer and what does this have to do with the arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the peak infectious diseases season, and the season of Perseid meteor shower...

Now "Horus the Elder" was also known as Horus, "strong of arm", "great of power" and "lord of the slaughter in the entire land"...

And he had a twin, Horus of Beḥuṭet, aka Horus of Edfû, who was depicted as a falcon headed lion, lion headed man, and "falcon with a phallus terminating in the head of a lion" 🙂...

Interestingly, this Horus of Beḥuṭet, aka Horus of Edfû, was also depicted as a falcon headed man carrying a club, bow and arrow...

Guess who else was depicted as an archer? Resheph, who was directly associated with both Nergal and Apollo...

And it seems that Resheph was in some parts of Egypt associated with Horus...Who was equated with Apollo...

BTW, guess who else is armed with club, bow and arrows and is prancing around dressed like a lion man? Heracles of course...Erythrai (Ionia) mint, 350-300 BC...

I discuss the true identity of the Heracles the Archer in my posts "Cetus", "Mithras", "Rudra" and "Red Archer"...

All these archers who shoot arrows from the sky in Leo are symbolic explanations for the Perseids meteor shower...You know, if there shining arrows (and clubs) are falling from the sky, there must be a great (heavenly) archer (also armed with a club) in the sky shooting them at us...

So, Plutarch, a priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, new why he identified Horus the Elder, Horus with lion body, The Sky God in Leo, as Apollo...But this got forgotten over time, until I think I rediscovered it recently...

If you are interested in reading more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, which are at the root of all our mythologies, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...