Editing Horus (section)

== Horus and the pharaoh ==
[[File:Le roi Ramsès parmi les dieux (Louvre, B 13).jpg|thumb|Horus offers [[Ankh|life]] to the pharaoh, [[Ramesses II]]. Painted limestone. {{Circa|1275 BCE}}, 19th dynasty. From the small temple built by Ramses II in [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], [[Louvre museum]], Paris, France.|left]]
The [[pharaoh]] was associated with many specific deities. He was identified directly with Horus, who represented kingship itself and was seen as a protector of the pharaoh,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Patricia O'Connell |title=World History: Our Human Story |last2=Holdren |first2=John |date=May 2021 |publisher=Sheridan Kentucky |isbn=978-1-60153-123-0 |location=Versailles, Kentucky |pages=29}}</ref> and he was seen as the son of Ra, who ruled and regulated nature as the pharaoh ruled and regulated society.

The [[Pyramid Texts]] ({{Circa|2400–2300 BCE}}) describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, where he was united with the other gods. New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=James P.|author-link=James Peter Allen|title=The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VBJeCoDdTUC&pg=PA1|year=2005|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|isbn=978-1-58983-182-7}}</ref>{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}The lineage of Horus, the eventual product of unions between the children of [[Atum]], may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life. By identifying Horus as the offspring of these forces, then identifying him with Atum himself, and finally identifying the Pharaoh with Horus, the Pharaoh theologically had dominion over all the world.