Harsomtus
Egyptian god
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harsomtus (also known as Harsomptus and Somtus[1]) was an ancient Egyptian child god with main cult places at Dendera[2] and Edfu.[3] This less-known deity was worshipped from the Old Kingdom period all the way to Graeco-Roman Egypt. Popularity of Harsomtus, along with other child gods, greatly increased in the Graeco-Roman period, with most information coming from that era.[2] The connection with Horus had formed early,[1] and Harsomtus is considered by researchers to be a form of Ra or Horus. His name translates to "Horus who unites the two lands."[4]
| Harsomtus | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Name in hieroglyphs |
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| Major cult center | Edfu and Dendera | |||||||||||||||||
| Parents | Heru-Behdeti and Hathor | |||||||||||||||||
Iconography
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Harsomtus usually appears as a naked child sitting on a lotus flower. He can also appear as a snake that emerges from a lotus flower as seen in several reliefs at the temple of Dendera.[5][6]
Due to connection with Horus, Harsomtus can appear with a falcon head. [1]
Mythology
Harsomtus simultaneously embodies sun, primordial, and creator god: the emergence of the world from the primordial matter is linked to the daily sunrise.[2]
Harsomtus is the son of Hathor[2] and Horus[7] in the form of Heru-Behdeti, with these two gods he formed the Triad of Edfu. Harsomtus is very similar to Ihy because both were child deities that were the son of Hathor and Horus.[citation needed]
In Thebes during the late New Kingdom, Harsomtus became the firstborn son of Amun and Hathor-chief-of-Thebes, a local Theban form of the goddess Hathor. He was worshiped in the Mammisi of the Hathor Temple in Deir el-Medina as well as in the Ptah Temple in Karnak. Hathor and Harsomtus were frequently equated with Isis and another childform of Horus named Hariese ("Horus, the son of Isis").[8]