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EYE OF HORUS (also UDJAT, WEDJET) The Eye of Horus is a stylized representation of the eye of the falcon god, Horus. According to the myth, the Contending of Horus and Set, Horus fought his evil uncle Set to avenge the death of his father, Osiris. In one version of the myth, Horus loses his eyes in the battle, but Thoth, the god of writing, restores one of them. Each element of the Eye of Horus represented a different fraction: the hieroglyph for ½ and so on. All the parts of the fractions total 63/64, and the missing 1/64 supposedly was supplied magically by Thoth.
The amulet representing the Eye of Horus was called udjat, or sound eye. Because it was associated with the regeneration of Horus's eye, the Eye of Horus amulet was worn to ensure good health. The sign of the modern pharmacist, Rx, is a corruption of three proportions of the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus: 1/4, 1/32, and 1/64. The Eye of Horus did just ensure good health for the living; it was also an important funerary amulet. Chapter 140 of the Book of the Dead was to be recited on the last day of the second month of the second season over two Eyes of Horus.
One was GOD OF Fractions of Eye of Horus. Each segment of the parts of the falcon's eye was the hieroglyph for a fraction. (Courtesy of Bob Brier)
These magical Eyes of Horus amulets were worn for good health. During a battle with his evil uncle, Horus's eye was plucked out but was restored by magic.
(Photograph by Russell Rudzwick) to be made of real lapis lazuli (a rare dark blue stone) or damaged stone, set in gold; the other was to be of red jasper and worn on any limb preferred. The reason for the two Eyes of Horus of different colors may come from the belief that one eye of Horus was the moon and the other eye the sun.
