DOVE / POST MUSEUM / TUT - ANKH - AMUN
TREASURES : UDJAT ; THE PROTECTIVE EYE OF
HORUS
Eye of
Horus
The Eye of Horus is an
ancient Egyptian
symbol of protection, royal power and
good health. The eye is personified in the goddess
Wadjet
(also written as Wedjat, or
"Udjat", Uadjet, Wedjoyet, Edjo or Uto). It is
also known as ''The Eye of
Ra''.
The name Wadjet is derived from "wadj"
meaning "green", hence "the green one", and was known to the Greeks
and Romans as "uraeus" from the Egyptian "iaret" meaning "risen
one" from the image of a cobra rising up in
protection. Wadjet was one of
the earliest of Egyptian deities who later became associated with
other goddesses such as Bast, Sekhmet, Mut,
and Hathor. She was
the tutelary deity of Lower Egypt and the major Delta shrine the
"per-nu" was under her protection. Hathor is
also depicted with this eye.
Funerary amulets were often made in the
shape of the Eye of Horus. The Wadjet or Eye of Horus is "the
central element" of seven "gold, faience, carnelian and lapis
lazuli" bracelets found on the mummy
of Shoshenq
II. The Wedjat
"was intended to protect the pharaoh [here] in the
afterlife" and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian
and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the
bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel
Horus
Horus was
the ancient
Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as
a falcon, most
likely a lanner or peregrine
falcon. His right
eye was associated with the sun Ra. The eye
symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon,
including the "teardrop" marking
sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye,
sometimes represented the moon and the god
Djehuti (Thoth).
In one myth, when Set and Horus were
fighting for the throne after Osiris's death,
Set gouged out Horus's left eye. The majority of the eye was
restored by either Hathor or Thoth
(with the last portion possibly being supplied magically). When
Horus's eye was recovered, he offered it to his
father, Osiris, in hopes
of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used to
symbolise sacrifice, healing, restoration, and
protection.
The eye as
hieroglyph and symbol
There are seven different
hieroglyphs
used to represent the eye, most commonly
"ir.t" in Egyptian, which also has the meaning "to make or do" or
"one who does". In Egyptian
myth the eye was not the passive organ of sight but more an agent
of action, protection or wrath.
Mathematics
There are seven different
hieroglyphs
used to represent the eye, most commonly
"ir.t" in Egyptian, which also has the meaning "to make or do" or
"one who does". In Egyptian
myth the eye was not the passive organ of sight but more an agent
of action, protection or wrath.
The Wedjat, later
called The Eye of Horus
Fractions drawn as portions of a
square.
Earthenware Wedjat amulet on display at
the Louvre, c.
500–300 BC
from
wikipedia
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