Re-horakhty

Emily Teeter discusses Re-horakhty

Re-Horakhty is the combination of two skygods, Re and Horus. Egyptian religion is a sophisticated and complicated form of polytheism, the belief in many gods. As the religion developed however, it became clear that there was a single unifying deity, and that all other deities are considered to be aspects of this unifying deity. Re is the earliest and most important unifying deity. As Egyptian religion evolves, all other deities are subsumed under Re, a process called syncretism. Another example of syncretism is the New Kingdom "king of gods," Amun-Ra.

The sun god Re, worshipped in Heliopolis, was so important in Egypt that eventually all of the most important deities were assimilated into the worship of Re, each having a place in an intricate mythology and iconography. Horus was initially the god of kingship of the unified Egypt. The kings were mortal manifestations of Horus. They were also known as "sons of Re." By the Twelfth Dynasty, the "son of Re" was appointed "shepherd of the Land" by Horakhty, "Horus on the Horizon." And by the Twenty-First Dynasty, Horakhty was now Re-Horakhty. He is depicted as a king with a falcon head, crowned with a red disc of the sun. He carries the two scepters of kingship, the crook and the flail, thus identifying Re-Horakhty as the ruling king and signifying that the king embodies both Horus and Re.