Harpocratēs

 

(härpŏk'rətēz) , the Greek name for the Egyptian sky god Horus. He was represented as a small boy with his finger held to his lips and came to be considered the god of silence. His cult, combined with that of Isis and Serapis, was very popular in the Roman Empire.

The child Horus represented to the ancient Egyptians the new-born Sun, rising each day at dawn. When the Greeks conquered Egypt under Alexander, they transformed the Egyptian Horus into their Hellenistic god known as Harpocrates (in Egyptian Har-pa-khered or Heru-pa-khered meaning "Har, the Child").

Horus

Horus was conceived by Isis, the mother goddess, from Osiris, the original god-king of Egypt who had been murdered by his brother Set (Typhon, or Chaos), and so became the god of the underworld. The Greeks melded Osiris with their underworld god, Hades, which thus became Serapis.

By the Egyptians the full-grown Horus was considered the victorious god of the Sun who each day overcomes darkness. He is often represented with the head of a sparrowhawk (as the hawk flies high above the Earth), which was sacred to him.

Horus fought vicious battles against Set, until he finally achieved victory and became the ruler of Egypt. All the Pharaohs of Egypt were seen as reincarnations of the victorious Horus.

Harpocrates

Harpocrates, the child Horus, personifies the newborn sun each day, the first strength of the winter sun, and also the image of early vegetation. Egyptian statues represent the child Horus, pictured as a naked boy with his finger on his mouth, a realization of the hieroglyph for "child" that is unrelated to the Greco-Roman and modern gesture for "silence". Misunderstanding this sign, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates the god of Silence and Secrecy.

"Upon her Isis' brow stood the crescent moon-horns, garlanded with glittering heads of golden grain, and grace of royal dignity; and at her side the baying dog Anubis, dappled Apis, sacred Bubastis and the god Harpokrates who holds his finger to his lips for silence sake." — Ovid, Metamorphoses 9:688 - 9:692.^[1]

In the Alexandrian and Roman renewed vogue for mystery cults at the turn of the millennium — mystery cults had already existed for almost a millennium — the worship of Horus became widely extended, linked with Isis (his mother) and Serapis (Osiris, his father). Inexpensive cast terracotta images of Harpocrates, suitable for house shrines, are scattered throughout the Roman Empire.

Another solar cult, not directly connected with Harpocrates, was that of the Unconquered Sun, Sol Invictus.

Stele depicting Heru-pa-Khered standing on the back of a crocodile, holding snakes in His outstretched hands were erected in Egyptian temple courtyards, where they would be immersed or lustrated in water; the water was then used for blessing and healing purposes as the Name was attributed with many protective and healing powers.

Modern occultist uses

Modern occultists display his image, loosely connected now with Hermeneutic gnosticism. Typically, "Harpocrates is the Babe in the Egg of Blue that sits upon the lotus flower in the Nile. He is the 'God of Silence' and represents the Higher Self and is the 'Holy Guardian Angel'" and more in similar vein.^{[citation needed]}

References

• Franz Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, Dover Publications, 1956.
• Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898: "Harpocrates."
• David Sacks, Language Visible: Unraveling the Mystery of the Alphabet, Random House 2003.

External links

• A brief definition
• Iconography of Harpocrates (PDF-article)

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