

Human: I've been curious about some of ancient Egyptian mythology lately. What's the story behind the god Horus?

Assistant: Oh, how interesting! A god named Horus was one of the most prominent deities of Ancient Egypt, and also of Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) as well.  What's been interesting to scholars is how much the mythologies of both cultures overlapped -- it appears that the Ancient Egyptians were aware of the story of the "violent war" between Horus and his brother Seth (I'm going to skip some details for simplicity), and so Horus was invoked as a protective deity in various rituals, but I think the Egyptian Horus had many fewer myths associated with him than the Mesopotamian version did.  What do you find most interesting about this story?


Human: I've been curious about some of ancient Egyptian mythology lately. What's the story behind the god Horus?

Assistant: Hmm, sounds interesting. From what I've read, Horus is the god of the sun.  He was a warrior god and protector of the pharaohs, but there are also a lot of stories about his struggles and accomplishments.  
Horus is the oldest son of the sun god Ra, and the half-brother of Set, the god of chaos.  When Set killed his father and tried to take over the world, Horus and his sister and sister-wife, Isis, had to rally together to defeat Set and restore order to the cosmos.
I've been curious about some of ancient Egyptian mythology lately. What's the story behind the god Horus?
Oh, how interesting! A god named Horus was one of the most prominent deities of Ancient Egypt, and also of Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) as well.  What's been interesting to scholars is how much the mythologies of both cultures overlapped -- it appears that the Ancient Egyptians were aware of the story of the "violent war" between Horus and his brother Seth (I'm going to skip some details for simplicity), and so Horus was invoked as a protective deity in various rituals, but I think the Egyptian Horus had many fewer myths associated with him than the Mesopotamian version did.  What do you find most interesting about this story?
Hmm, sounds interesting. From what I've read, Horus is the god of the sun.  He was a warrior god and protector of the pharaohs, but there are also a lot of stories about his struggles and accomplishments.  
Horus is the oldest son of the sun god Ra, and the half-brother of Set, the god of chaos.  When Set killed his father and tried to take over the world, Horus and his sister and sister-wife, Isis, had to rally together to defeat Set and restore order to the cosmos.