Harsomtus

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata imageTemplate:Compare image with Wikidata Harsomtus (also known as Harsomptus and SomtusTemplate:Sfn) was an ancient Egyptian child god with main cult places at DenderaTemplate:Sfn and Edfu. 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.Template:Sfn The connection with Horus had formed early,Template:Sfn and Harsomtus is considered by researchers to be a form of Ra or Horus. His name translates to "Horus who unites the two lands."

Iconography

File:Dendera Krypta 48 (cropped).jpg

The so-called Dendera light depicting Harsomtus as a snake emerging from a lotus

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.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Due to connection with Horus, Harsomtus can appear with a falcon head. Template:Sfn

Mythology

Harsomtus simultaneously embodies sun, primordial, and creator god: the emergence of the world from the primordial matter is linked to the daily sunrise.Template:Sfn

Harsomtus is the son of HathorTemplate:Sfn and HorusTemplate:Sfn 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.

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").