Many ancient monuments along the Nile were aligned with the solar arc or aligned to a symbol of the High God such as the obelisk at Heliopolis (Biblical On).
Alice C. Linsley
Horus and his father Ra ruled over the cosmos in ancient Nilotic mythology. Together their rule is symbolized by the sun and the solar arc. In ancient Egyptian Ra comes from the word re, meaning father and the Greek word Horus comes from the ancient Egyptian word HR, meaning Most High One.
HR was believed to rise in the morning as a lamb and to set in the evening as a ram. The ram was a Messianic symbol of the early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC). That sets the story of Abraham on Mount Moriah in context.
HR is the only celestial figure portrayed as a Man in the ancient Egyptian pantheon and he was called the "son of God." His mother Hathor conceived by divine overshadowing (cf. Luke 1:35). This is why she is shown where the solar orb between the bull's horns.
The Horite and Sethite Hebrew were devotees of the High God, his Son, and Hathor. Wherever they dispersed, they shared their religious beliefs with the populations among whom they settled.
Horus was believed to be with his father Ra from the beginning (cf. John 1). He is the one who set the boundaries of the winds, seas, and dry land. He fixed the cardinal points and the clock like movements of the constellations. This is reflected in the many words that pertain to boundaries and measurements which have the hr root - hour, horotely, horizon, horologion (a wind tower) and horoscope.
The axis of the Dendera temple on the Upper Nile aligns with the figure of a Horus falcon perched on a papyrus stem (sema sign) on the Dendera zodiac. While sky watching on the summer solstice in 1728 BC (July 7), the priests of Dendera observed that the Sun and Mercury were in Leo on opposite sides of the king star Regulus. This is a Trinitarian alignment – The Father (Sun) and Spirit (Mercury) surrounded the King in the constellation of Leo, the lion totem of the tribe of Judah. This was observed 728 years before the time of King David.
The Sun continues to be a significant symbol of the Creator in Judaism. The Birkat Hachama ("Blessing of the Sun") is recited every twenty-eight years when the vernal equinox, as calculated by tradition, falls on a Tuesday at sundown. Observant Jews recite a blessing to the Creator on the exact day every 28 years. Most recently, the blessing was recited on April 8, 2009. Before that, it was recited on April 8, 1981, and on April 8, 1953. The next date of the blessing of the Sun will be April 8, 2037.
We find the idea of the Sun as the symbol of the High God in Luke's Gospel. Here the priest Zechariah prophesies concerning the Forerunner of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist. He declares: “And you, little child, you shall be called Prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare a way for Him, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins, because of the faithful love of our God in which the rising Sun has come from on high to visit us…” (Luke 1:76-78).
The image is especially strong in Malachi’s description of the Day of the Lord, “glowing like a furnace”. On the day God will purify the priesthood, consume the wicked, and preserve and justify the righteous. These will be God’s “most prized possession” upon whom the “Sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his rays.” (Malachi 3:16-20)
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| Temple of Dendera with the face of Hathor on the pillars |
Dendera is on the west bank of the Nile River opposite the modern town of Qena. It was called Iunet or Tantere by the ancient Egyptians and was the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt. In antiquity, the population of Dendera moved to Qena on the east bank of the Nile and the ancient temple now lies isolated on the edge of the Sahara.
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