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Eye of Horus
The highly stylized eye of
the falcon-headed solar and sky god Horus (the Latin version of Her),
which is associated with regeneration, health, and prosperity. It was very
common as an amulet in ancient Egypt.
Horus, the son of
Osiris and Isis was called 'Horus who rules with two eyes'. His right eye
was white and represented the sun; his left eye was black and represented
the moon. According to myth Horus lost his left eye to his
evil
brother, Seth, whom he fought to avenge Seth's murder of Osiris. Seth tore
out the eye but lost the fight. The eye was reassembled by magic by Thoth,
the god of' writing, the moon, and magic. Horus presented
his eye to Osiris, who experienced rebirth in the underworld.
As an amulet, the Eye
of Horus has three versions: a left eye, a right eye, and two eyes. The
eye is constructed in fractional parts, with 1/64 missing, a piece
Thoth added by magic. The Egyptians used the eye as a funerary
amulet for protection against evil and rebirth in the underworld, and
decorated mummies, coffins, and tombs with it. The
Book of the Dead instructs that funerary eye amulets be
made out of lapis lazuli or a stone called mak. Some were gold-plated.
Worn as jewelry fashioned of gold, silver, lapis, wood, porcelain, or
carnelian, the eye served
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