JOURNAL OF CREATION 35(2) 2021 || VIEWPOINT

Horus—the deified Ham: part 1

Gavin Cox

One of the most famous and ancient of Egypt’s many deities was Horus, the falcon sun-god. In two articles I explore 12
key motifs of the life of Ham (Noah’s third son) drawn from the Genesis text. I then compare them to Horus drawn from
Egyptian evidence, concentrating on the oldest evidence first. Part 1 looks at the following motifs: 1) Ham is 11th from
Adam; 2) etymology of Ham’s name; 3) Ham came from a family of eight; and 4) Ham, the youngest of three brothers.
These comparisons support the thesis that Ham was deified by the pagan Egyptians as Horus.

Biblical historical foundations who was considered a creator god, as well as a form of
the sun. His father was Osiris/Geb, with a notable brother,

E gypt is eponymously called “the land of Ham” (Noah’s

third son) in the Psalms (105:23, 27; 106:22) and “tents
of Ham” (Psalm 78:51). Ham and Mizraim (Ham’s third son)
Seth. Myths associated with this family include the struggle
between Horus and Seth after Osiris’s murder (see part 2).
Here, both brothers injure each other through violent struggle
appear together in Psalm 105:23 as designations for Egypt: for dominion. Horus loses his eye, which itself becomes
“… Israel came to Egypt (micräºyim); Jacob deified as the moon (Thoth), and his healthy eye as the sun
sojourned in the land of Ham (Häm).”
(Rē Ꜥ). Numerous aspects of Horus became separate deities—
Here, ‘Mizraim’ is the common name for Egypt through-
for instance ‘Horus the child’, ‘Horus the elder’, and Horus
out Scripture. Ham was a first-hand witness of the Flood, and
in his solar form. Pharaohs became the living embodiment
likely lived to a similar age as his brother Shem (500 years
of Horus, and received their ‘Horus name’. Upon death they
post-Flood, Genesis 11:11). Via Noah’s teaching, Ham knew
were believed to fly to heaven as the Horus falcon, to join
about creation and the pre-Flood world, knowledge he would
Rē Ꜥ in the solar barge, crossing the sky eternally.1 Much
naturally pass to his descendants. All this became paganized by
could be written regarding Horus; however, my two articles
the Egyptians. Ham’s great post-Flood lifespan, involvement
in re-establishing of post-Flood civilization, and knowledge will be limited to a discussion of Horus’s possible connection
of the pre-Flood world, likely meant he had divine status to Ham, Noah’s third son.
conferred upon him by the Egyptians.
Motif 1. Eleventh from Adam: Ham cf. Horus
Twelve key motifs of Ham’s life The Genesis 5:1–32 chronogenealogies place Ham (with
Twelve key motifs of Ham’s life extracted from Genesis his brothers) 11th from Adam.2 Can a similar chronological
5–11 (listed in table 1) will be compared to Horus. If Ham relationship be discerned in Egyptian mythology, regarding
was deified as Horus, then the latter will likely reflect these Horus?
motifs in some discernable, though paganized way. Article Egypt had a group of nine gods, called the Ennead, listed
1 will explore motifs 1–4, Article 2 motifs 5–12. in OK PTs. Their sign was 9 flags, or vertical dashes, in
Both articles will set out to explore these connections, Egyptian: psḏ.t (Wb 1, 558.12). They are listed in Pepis II
concentrating on the oldest Egyptian textual evidence in PT-600§1655:
each case. Before this, a brief discussion of who Horus was “O Great Nine that is in Heliopolis—Atum, Shu,
is in order. Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys—Atum’s
children!”
“The Greater Ennead” psḏ.t-ꜤꜢ.t (Wb 1, 559.5) included
Introducing Horus—the falcon-solar deity Thoth, and Horus. When Osiris is accounted for, who appears
Horus is one of Egypt’s oldest and most important deities, as (father/brother) bystander, Horus’s position appears 11th
attested to from at least the beginning of the Dynastic Period, from Atum, Unas PT-219§167 ̶ 177:
where the familiar form of the Horus falcon appears on the “Atum ... Shu ... Tefnut ... Geb ... Nut ... [Osiris] ...
Narmer Palette (figure 1). Isis ... Seth ... Nephthys ... Thoth ... Horus.”
Horus appears in Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts (OK PTs), In my previous article,3 I made the case that Atum
along with his sons, father, and mother (see part 2). Horus is the Egyptians’ paganized memory of Adam. Here in
is depicted as a falcon (figure 2) or falcon-headed man, PT-219§167 ̶ 177, Horus is placed 11th within the Greater

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Table 1. Twelve key motifs of Ham’s life

# Ham: biblical motif Ham: Description Genesis ref.

Ham’s genealogy places him 11th from Adam, who all lived to great
1 11th from Adam 5:1–32
ages

Name/character connected with concepts of (physical) ‘violence’,

2 Name etymology 6:11; 8:22; 11:3
(earthy) ‘blackness’, (sun’s) ‘heat’

3 Family of eight Four males and their wives 6:18; 7:7, 13

4 3 brothers, total Ham (youngest), Shem, Japheth (eldest) 5:32; 6:10; 7:13 etc.

5 Father Noah Noah (name means ‘comfort/rest’ from cursed earth) 5:29–32; 6:8–10 etc.

6 Ark (300x50x30 cubits; 3 decks) Noah (and family) entered Ark (Tëbat)/rested 17th of month 6:15–16; 7:11; 8:16–18

7 Flood Flood global, sent in judgment 6:17

Ham’s sin [implied brotherly enmity], perversion [castration,

8 Noah’s curse and blessings 9:22, 24–27
emasculation, (rabbinic speculation)], debased political position

9 Ham’s four sons Cush, Mizraim, Phut, Canaan 10:1

10 Journeyed from East to Shinar After Babel YHWH scattered humankind, (including Ham and sons) 11:2, 8–9

11 “Land of Ham” Ham, eponymously names Egypt Psalms 105:23 etc.

12 Lived to great age Ham likely lived to similar age as brother Shem 11:11

Ennead—taking into account Osiris as bystander—from the considered consecutive offspring of Atum.4 However, what of
Egyptian Atum. This may represent a paganized memory of the Greater Ennead’s ages? Is there a comparison here with
the genealogies of Genesis 5:1–32 where Ham (and broth- the lifespans of the Genesis 5:1–32 patriarchs?
ers) stand 11th in-line from Adam. Although the Ennead was The 19th Dynasty Turin Canon papyrus (figure 3), though
considered a unified group (typically of nine), evidence highly damaged, provides information regarding Egypt’s ear-
suggests (e.g. PT-600§1655), that they were simultaneously liest history, which designates Egypt’s Predynastic rulers as
šms.w-ḥr.w “Followers of Horus” (Wb 4, 486.16–19). Horus
appears along with Seth and Thoth within columns 1 and 2
(fragments 11, 150) amongst the ‘gods and demi-gods’ with
extraordinary reign lengths.5 Interestingly, the first names
in the list contain likely references to creation, as well as
Horus, Seth, and Thoth5 (known from the Greater Ennead).
Egyptologist K. Ryholt explains:
“The mythological kings consists [sic.] of gods,
demigods, and spirits. … The first name [n ib […]]
could be brought into relation with the primaeval ocean,
the time before land existed and water was everywhere.
The name ‘clod of the shore’ [pns.t n spt] can hardly
be other than a reference to the creation of life out of
lifeless matter, earth. The two latter names [‘possessor
of noble women’ (ẖr­ḥm.wt-šps.w[t]) and ‘protector of
Figure 1. Siltstone Narmer Palette (recto), CG14716 Narmer and Horus [noble?] women’ (ḫw-ḥm.wt-[šps.wt?])] could, perhaps,
vanquishing foes
relate to the creation of women. Further below, in the

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Image: Codex / CC BY-SA 3.0

Figure 2. Horus statue in black granite, Temple of Horus, Edfu Figure 3. 19th Dynasty Turin King List, in hieratic script

now lost part of column 2, there was a further transition Eusebius (relying on the extended LXX chronology)
from demigods to spirits, which continues in the first makes the unlikely claim the Egyptian chronology should be
nine lines of column 3. The spirits have generally been reckoned as months. Waddell in a footnote states:
interpreted as prehistoric kings, but it remains unclear “(Fn. 1) The Pre-dynastic Period begins with a group
how much historical importance should be attached to of gods, consisting of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in
the information the king-list has to offer.”6 the form in which it was worshipped at Memphis … .
This sounds like a paganized reference to creation, In the Turin Papyrus the Gods are given in the same
Adam (from the earth), and Eve, up to later stages in the order: (Ptah), Rê, (Shu), Geb, Osiris, Sêth (200 years),
chronogenealogy, listed in Genesis 5:1–32. The nine lost lines Horus (300 years), Thoth (3126 years), MaꜤ at, Har … .”6
may have included the number of mythical rulers described. “(Fn. 5) ‘Demigods’ should be in apposition to ‘Spir-
That this papyrus seems to parallel Genesis from creation its of the Dead’… . These are perhaps the Shemsu Hor,
to the Flood was not lost on Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea the Followers or Worshippers of Horus, of the Turin
(ad 260/265–339/340), Roman historian, and exegete, who Papyrus … .”7
claimed access to material by Manetho (via the pseudepi- Although Eusebius overstates the case, we perhaps have
graphical Book of Sothis). In W.G. Waddell’s 1964 translation in the remains of the Turin Canon and the Greater Ennead
of the Armenian version of Eusebius, he purportedly states: the Egyptian version of the Genesis’ chronogenealogies from
“From the Egyptian History of Manetho, who com- Adam to Noah’s family, preserved, though in pagan form,
posed his account in three books. These deal with the from the original memory of Ham, deified here as Horus.
Gods, the Demigods, the Spirits of the Dead, and the
mortal kings who ruled Egypt … [Eusebius lists these
gods with Greek names, genealogically] … reckoned to Motif 2. Horus cf. Ham—name etymology:
have comprised in all 24,900 lunar years, which make violence, blackness, heat
2206 solar years. Now, if you care to compare these
figures with Hebrew chronology, you will find that they
Etymology of Ham’s name
are in perfect harmony. Egypt is called Mestraim by the
Hebrews; and Mestraim lived not long after the Flood. As discussed in previous articles,8 Ham’s name can be
For after the Flood, Cham (or Ham), son of Noah, begat understood via phonetic connections to similar-sounding words
Aegyptus or Mestraim, who was the first to set out to within the Hebrew text, biblical scholars call this ‘paronoma-
establish himself in Egypt, at the time when the tribes sia’, (play-on-words, puns). At Genesis 6:11 the reason for the
began to disperse this way and that. Now the whole Flood is given—the earth is full of ḥāmas “violence, wrong”
time from Adam to the Flood was, according to the (HALOT-2980). A phonetic correspondence with ‘Ham’ is
Hebrews, 2242 years … .” 6 apparent in v. 11 (note orange-highlighted text):

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Table 2. ‘Ham’ phonetically equivalent words, meanings, and earliest occurrences (phonetic roots highlighted orange)

Lexical ref. Hebrew Translit. (H

H spelling) Translation Earliest biblical ref.

Genesis 5:32; 6:10; 7:13

HALOT-2941 ‫ָחם‬ Häm “son of Noah”
etc.

“violence, wrong, cry for

HALOT-2980 ‫ָח ַמס‬ Hämas Genesis 6:11, 13; 49:5
help”

Genesis 11:3; 14:10;

HALOT-2990 ‫ֵח ָמר‬ Hëmäºr “bitumen, asphalt”
Exodus 2:3

“mortar, clay, ground Genesis 11:3; Exodus

HALOT-2993 ‫ח ֶֹמר‬ Höºmer
material” 1:14

Proverbs 26:1; Isaiah

HALOT-7526 ‫ֶּפ ָחם‬ PeHäm “to blacken”, “charcoal”
44:12

“darkened, dark brown,

BDB-2905 ‫חּום‬ Hûm Genesis 30:32, 33, 35, 40
black”

“to scorch, or burn”,

HALOT-2988 ‫חמר‬ Hmr Job 16:16
“reddish brown”

Genesis 8:22; 18:1; Job

HALOT-2940/2 ‫חֹם‬ Höm “hot, warmth, heat”
6:17

Psalms 105:23, 27;

(no ref.) ‫ץ־חם‬
ֽ ָ ‫ֶ ֽא ֶר‬ e|rec-Häm “Land of Ham (Egypt)”
106:22

Translit. (k spelling)

HALOT-4299 ‫כמר‬ kimr “darkening” Job 3:5

HALOT-4295 ‫כמר‬ km “Hot, burning, excited” Genesis 43:30

‫ֶת־ח֥ם ְואֶת־ ָיֽפֶת׃‬ָ ‫ֶת־ׁשם א‬ ֖ ֵ ‫ְֹלׁשה ָב ִנ֑ים א‬ ֣ ָ ‫ ַוּיֹ֥ולֶד ֖נ ֹ ַח ׁש‬6:10 Two more phonetic connections to ‘Ham’ can be discerned
‫ֱֹלהים וַּתִ ּמָלֵ ֥א ה ָ ָ֖א ֶרץ חָמָ ֽס׃‬
֑ ִ ‫ וַּתִ ּשׁ ֵָח֥ת ה ָ ָ֖א ֶרץ ִלפ ְֵנ֣י הָ ֽא‬6:11 after the Flood:
“And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham (ḥām), and 1. YHWH makes a covenant with Noah and his family,
Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and promising dependable seasons (Genesis 8:22) cold and
the earth was filled with violence (ḥāmās)” (Genesis “heat” (ḥōm).
6:10–11). ‫ ֖ע ֹד ּכָל־י ֵ ְ֣מי ה ָ ָ֑א ֶרץ ֶ֡ז ַרע ְ֠ו ָקצִיר ו ְ֙ק ֹר ו ָ֜ח ֹם ו ַ ְ֧קי ִץ ו ָ֛ח ֹ ֶרף ְויֹ֥ום ו ַ ָ֖ליְלָה‬8:22
‫ֹל֥ א יִׁשְּבֹֽתּו׃‬
Theologian Moshe Garsiel states of the pun that it:
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold
“… does not serve here merely as sound play but
and heat (ḥōm), summer and winter, day and night,
implies a connection between Ham and ‘lawlessness’. shall not cease.”
Later on (9:22–27), this son indeed displays the inferi-
ority of his nature compared to his brothers.”9 2. Ham’s grandson Nimrod (Genesis 10:8 ̶ 10) at the con-
The word ḥāmās occurs three times in Genesis (6:11, struction of the tower of Babel provoked the next judgment
13; 49:5). The meaning of this word becomes apparent at of humankind. Cassuto noticed a play-on-words in Gen-
Genesis 49:5, within Jacob’s curse and blessings of his esis 11:3,10 specifically in its construction materials:
sons. The verse in question states: “Simeon and Levi are …‫וה ֵח ָ֔מר ָה ָי ֥ה ל ֶ ָ֖הם ל ַֽח ֹמֶר׃‬
֣ ַ 11:3
brothers—their swords are weapons of ḥāmās.” The context ...wühaºHëmäºr häyâ lähem laHöºmer.
demands ‘violence’, not merely moral wrongdoing. It is this “… and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar”
specific aspect of ḥāmās that lead to the Flood judgment. (Genesis 11:3, YLT).

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The Babel rebellion was actualized through building, significance of the root kk will be discussed in motif-3. This
including with Hëmäºr for Höºmer, bitumen for mortar—spe- is found in OK PT:
cifically—black/dark coloured earthen materials. This word,
Hëmäºr, occurs three more times in the Old Testament. Next Teti PT-292§433a.
is Genesis 14:10, where the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah ntk tkk.n tk.j jkn-hj
fell into ‘tar pits’, and lastly in Exodus 2:3, where in Egypt, “You’re one the attacker attacked, jkn-hj-Snake!”
the infant Moses’ basket was waterproofed with ‘tar’. Next, The one attacking is explained and the epithet applied to
Höºmer occurs in Exodus 1:14, when Israel laboured with Horus in a Middle Kingdom Coffin Text (MK CT): CT-885.
‘mortar’ for the Egyptians.
These similar ‘vocables’ (Hämas, Höm, Hëmäºr, Höºmer) jntk tkk ntk ḥr.w nn.w sp-2 ḏ.t r p.t
phonetically connect to Ham. A theoretical semantic range “You are the attacker, you, Horus! Sink down wea-
for Ham’s name can be established when comparing similar- rily, Cobra, from heaven!”
sounding Hebrew words in the early chapters of Genesis.11
Table 2 lists these earliest occurrences of phonetically con- The Egyptian Book of the Dead (BOD) glorifies the vio-
necting Hebrew words and their meaning, thereby offering lence of Horus, for example chapter 19 (22nd Dynasty) states:
vocabulary and semantic range by which the name ‘Ham’ “Osiris N. has repeated praise 4 times, for all his
can be understood. enemies are fallen, overthrown and slain. Horus the
From the evidence presented in table 2, Hebrew words son of Isis and the son of Osiris has repeated millions
found in Genesis (and the ancient book of Job) encapsulate of jubilees, for all his enemies are fallen, overthrown
three key concepts connecting phonetically to Ham’s name: and slain. They have been carried off to the place of
1) (physical) ‘violence’; 2) (earthen) ‘blackness/darkness’; execution, the slaughtering-block of the easterners.
and 3) (sun’s) ‘heat’, whereby etymologically, Ham’s name They have been decapitated, they have been strangled,
is understood. Are these three concepts integral to Horus? their arm(s) have been cut off, their heart(s) have been
The following evidence (A–C) suggests this is so. removed. They have been given (to the Great) Anni-
hilator in the valley; they shall never escape … .”15
Phonetic considerations for Ham’s name in relation to Egyptologists A.M. Blackman and H.W. Fairman rec-
Hebrew and Egyptian ognize Horus as the god of war, who may have had a kernel
of historical reality as a founder of Egypt:
Hebrew ḥām, is pronounced with an initial voiceless pha-
“Junker has expressed the opinion, not without
ryngeal fricative <ḥ>, middle aleph <a> vowel, and terminal,
reason, that the god of Edfu, Horus of Behdet, was
nasal bilabial <m>.11 Furthermore, <ḥ> is grouped with the
in his original form a warrior-god as well as a divine
guttural fricatives: <ḫ>, <ẖ>.12 Phonetically similar ‘voiceless
king, the stories of whose exploits rest ultimately on
stops’ /k/ and /kh/ (excluding ḳ) coexisted in Egyptian, and
an historical basis. That basis, if we accept the theory
survived into Coptic—for instance KYME and <YMi represent
propounded by Sethe in his Urgeschichte [prehistory],
two forms of km.t (‘Egypt’) (see section B).13
is to be found in the wars waged in pre-dynastic times
Through evidence of Semitic loan words into Egyptian14
by the Horus-kings of Heliopolis, whose frontier town
Hebrew ḥeth (x))) is consistently transcribed into Egyptian as
was Edfu, against the Seth-kings of Ombos and south-
/ḥ/. Hebrew kaph K is transcribed into Egyptian as /k/ or /g/,
ern Egypt.”16
never /ḥ/. Words containing the biliteral symbol km 𓆎 (as in
km.t) provide no examples of Semitic exchange. Therefore,
B) Ham cf. Horus: (Earthy) blackness/darkness
from established phonetic evidence it cannot be proven that
Hebrew Ḥam and Egyptian km are related names, despite An important word for ‘black’ in Egyptian is km (Wb 5,
their superficial phonetic similarities. However, two examples 124.10–12), and Egypt’s name km.t means “the black land”
of Hebrew words, meaning ‘black’ (Job 3:5, hapax legome- which refers to the black fertile Nile-flood soils (see part 2).
non) and ‘hot’ (Genesis 43:30, three occurrences) are spelled From the discussion above, Egyptian ‘km’ and Hebrew ‘Ḥam’
with Hebrew <k>, offering a possible phonetic relationship, share semantic concepts of ‘earthy blackness/darkness’. Here
which requires further research. we have an immediately apparent link with the black earthi-
ness inherent in Ham and Egypt’s names.
A) Violent Horus—the attacker-spirit (kk)
The following textual evidence associates Horus with Horus the ‘very black’
struggle, violence, and war. For instance, the divine epi- Egyptologist T.G. Allen stated that “Horus is black and
thet tkk, means “attacker, to attack” (Wb 5, 336.2–11). The great (or ‘very black’) in his name of km-wr.”17 For instance:

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“The eye of Horus was further identified with the

sun … Pyr. 698, either an instance of identification of
Re and Horus or a further case of the eye assuming the
place originally belonging to Horus himself.”21

For instance Pepis II PT-402§698d states:

(|ppy|)(|nfr-kꜢ-rꜤw|) pw jr.t tw n.t {ḥr.w} <raw> sḏr.t
jj.t msi.t raw-nb.
“Pepi Neferkare is that Eye of {Horus} <Re> who
is conceived and born at night, every day.”

Egyptologist S. Edwards points out that pyramid “T[eti]

has the Eye of Re and N[eith] has the Eye of Horus”22 indi-
Figure 4. Apis bull (black serpentine) bearing solar disk, 400–100 bc, cating Horus and Re were thought of as synonymous.
Cleveland Museum of Art The flame and heat of Horus’s eye is particularly spelled
out in MK CTs. For instance, CT-313:91:
PT-600§1657a–1658d. “I am Horus, son of Osiris, born of the divine Isis.
(§1657a) ḥr.w … (§1658a) km.t wr.t m rn=k n(.j) I am king in Chemmis, my face is formed as that of a
ḥw.t-km-wr … (§1658d) ḥr.w divine falcon; I created my Eye in flame … .”23
“Horus … .You are black and great/ very black Egyptologist R.L. Shonkwiler recognizes Horus’s con-
in your name ‘House of the Great Black [Bull]’… nection by birth to the heat and flame of the sun, stating: “As
Horus … .” the ‘solar child’, Horus is born in the Island of Fire after being
conceived by flame.”24
The French Egyptologist Émile Chassinat recognizes A further epithet of Horus appears in OK PTs connecting
km-wr signifies Horus from a “very early stage” 18 and that him with “fiery breath” (Wb 1, 471.16) bḫḫ.w, for instance:
the black bull of Athribis was worshipped as the incarna-
tion of Horus.19 For instance, an inscription engraved on Unas PT-313§503a–503b.
the sarcophagus of the Apis bull, which died in the year 2 ... ḥr.w sp 2 sbn (|wnjs|) [j]m m bḫḫ.w pn ẖr jkn.t nṯr
of Khabash (31st Dynasty pharaoh) is said to be: “Loved by jri=śn wꜢ.t n (|wnjś|) śwꜢ (|wnjś|) jm=ś
Apis-Osiris and Horus the black bull.”18 Chassinat states: (|wnjś|) pj ḥr.w
“The quality of ‘great black bull’ attributed in our ritual to
“... Horus (twice) ... Unas there in that glow of fire,
the local Osiris, associates him with Horus in his bovine
under ... the gods.
incarnation”20 (figure 4).
They pave a way for Unas so that Unas may pass
Horus is also described as dwelling in “darkness” (kk),
on it.
for instance:
Unas is (a) Horus.”
(18th Dyn.) pKairo G51189 (pJuja), Tb153.
Furthermore, the phonetic root of ‘fiery glow’ bḫḫ.w (ḫḫ)
ḥr.w {tw} pw ḥmsi(.w) wꜤi.yw m kk.w jw.tj mꜢꜢ=f
is shared with an OK divine name jḫḫ.w “twilight” (Wb 1,
“That is Horus, sitting alone in the darkness, who
126.5) e.g. Teti PT-421§751b, demonstrating a phonetic link
cannot be seen…”
with kk root words (see motif 3).
I will return to the significance of Horus epithets con-
taining the root kk (in motif 3). Motif 2 summary
Like biblical Ham, Horus is synonymous with concepts
C) Sun’s heat: Horus cf. Ham of: A) (physical) “violence” (tkk); B) (earthy) “blackness”
Genesis 8:22 “covenant of the seasons” uses ‘µœm’ to (km)/“darkness” (kk)/“twilight” jḫḫ.w; and C) (sun’s) “heat”
describe heat from the sun (thereby expanding the semantic (bḫḫ.w). The significance of the root kk is discussed in
range of Ham’s name to include concepts of the sun’s ‘heat’). motif 3.
Horus is fundamentally connected to the sun and heat, being
worshipped from the earliest times as the solar deity RēꜤ-
Motif 3. Family of eight—Horus cf. Ham
Ḥarakhti, (raw-ḥr.w-Ꜣ ḫ.tj)—a triple-epithet combining RēꜤ
the ‘sun-god’, with ‘Horus’, who is ‘dwelling in the horizon’. Genesis (6:18, etc.) informs us that Ham belonged to a
Egyptologist T.G. Allen states: family of eight—comprising four males and their wives.

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Ancient Egypt had a group of eight gods—comprising of four

males and their wives (the Ogdoad) whose names (see later)
appear in OK PTs. In previous articles,25 I concluded this
group represented the paganized memory of Noah’s family.
The question to be asked is, if Horus is the deified Ham, is
he also connected to a family of eight? Evidence presented
below suggests he was. Specifically, the Ogdoad, whose
names include the couple Kek and Keket (kk and kk.t).11
Like the semantic meaning of Ham, as discussed above,
Horus is also connected by similar concepts: “attacker” (tkk),
“darkness/twilight” (kk, jḫḫ.w) and phonetically similar
bḫḫ.w “heat”. Ogdoad kk can be understood semantically
from words containing the phonetic root kk, (compare ḫḫ).
Thus, a shared semantic range exists between biblical Ham,
Horus, and Ogdoad couple kk(.t).
Figure 5. Vignette from Hunefer BOD, chapter 17, EA9901-8,
Additional textual and pictorial evidence connecting c.1292–1190 bc, 19th Dynasty (from Budge26)
Horus to the Ogdoad comes from the BOD (figures 5–7).
Egyptologist E.A.W. Budge explains the context of Hune-
fer’s vignette from BOD chapter 17 (figure 5):
“The sunrise. Beneath the vaulted heaven stands a
hawk [Horus], having upon his head a disk encircled
by a serpent, emblematic of the sun-god … . Ra-Har-
machis (sic). On one side are three and on the other
four apes, typifying the spirits of the dawn, who are
changed into apes as soon as the sun has risen. The
accompanying legends read: ‘Adoration to Ra when
he riseth in the horizon. Adore thee the apes, Oh Ra-
Harmachis’.”26
Further evidence comes from BOD (figure 6) which
places Horus amongst the Ogdoad.
Egyptologist E.A.W. Budge gives the context of this Figure 6. EA10470, Papyrus of Ani. Nu holds the solar bark containing
vignette: Horus (back, left) and six other anthropomorphic deities, possibly
“… The mummy of Anhai (sic) lying on the top of representing (in total) the Ogdoad. (from Budge26).
the double staircase, which is in the city of Khemennu
[Ogdoad city] … . Above are eight white disks [repre- The cartouches written above the Ogdoad read (from
senting Khemennu/Ogdoad] on an azure ground … . right to left): Nu, Nunet, Amun, Amunet, Hehet, Heh, Keket,
The god Nu raising the boat which contains the beetle Kek. The Ogdoad is also symbolized with a single baboon
and Solar disk, and seven gods … .”27 determinative,29 seen from evidence from the Great Hymn to
One question to be asked here is the shape of the solar Amun at Hibis temple. Egyptologist David Klozt explains:
bark—it is not like that of Noah’s Ark—if indeed it represents “The baboons at Hibis address the newborn sun in
it. The divine boat has a flat keel, distinctively high, curved epithets similar to those used in the Book of the Day,
prow, stern, and fixed rear oars. This specific shape will be which is also present in the Solar Chapel of Medinet
discussed in part 2 (motif 10), and its dimensions (motif 6). Habu. At the same time, the horizontal texts above the
baboons are actually excerpts from the Great Amun
The eight gods and Horus hymn, an indication that these eight baboons are simul-
The ‘spirits of the dawn’ were typically eight baboons taneously understood as the Ogdoad. The Ogdoad are
heralding the first sunrise—representing the Ogdoad. This associated with Amun elsewhere only in the Small
is demonstrated beyond doubt from tomb wall inscription Temple of Medinet Habu, and their striking presence
at the 26th Dynasty tomb of Ba-n-nentiu, Bahria Oasis. The at Hibis suggests some relation between the theology
image below (figure 7, lower register) shows the Ogdoad of Medinet Habu and Hibis … .”
in simian form, worshipping Horus as the sun (in the top [footnote 68] “the column 0 of the Great Amun
register), sailing the solar barge across the sky, attended by hymn … write ‘the Ogdoad’ with a baboon [󳣺 deter-
various deities. minative].”30

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Also Pepis I-667a§1948b:

“[Horus will] be cleansed of what [his] brother
[Seth] did to him, [Seth will be cleansed of what his
brother Horus] [did] to him … Horus will be purified
when he [embraces] his father] Osiris.”

Another god, called Thoth is constantly associated with

Horus and Seth in PTs, indeed, there is a clear overlap between
Seth and Thoth as noted by Čermák,33 who also recognizes
Figure 7. Ogdoad as baboons (lower register) assist Shu supporting
family relationships are often contradictory. Seth is brother to
the sky (from Fakhry28)
Horus, and yet simultaneously brother of Osiris in PT. How-
The worshipping baboon determinative, in the BOD Hune- ever, Seth and Thoth are described as brothers together in:
fer vignette (figure 5) is accompanied by the hieroglyph htt,
Neith PT-218§163d.
“Screamer” (Wb 2, 504.4-6) indicating the Ogdoad ( ).
m=k jri.t.n stš ḥna ḏḥw.tj sn
However, only seven baboons worship Horus Ra-Harakhty.
“See what Seth and Thoth have done, your brothers”
It seems one of the Ogdoad members has become Horus. A
(referencing Pharaoh Neith).
passage from the CT supports this theory:
CT-50:223–225 Neith PT-370–375.
“The Followers have given hands to the Chaos-gods, ḫai.t (j) m bj.t (j) ḥr.w ḏḥw.tj snsn.w jr=k m sn bj.t
Horus the Protector of his father is glad … . Horus, (j) {ḥr.w} {ḏḥw.tj}
pre-eminent in Khem … to you there belongs one of
“You appeared as King of Lower Egypt and Horus
the two Chaos-gods … .”31
and Thoth have joined you as the two brothers of the
I demonstrated previously that the Eight Chaos-gods
King of Lower Egypt” (referencing Pharaoh Neith).
are to be connected with the Ogdoad.32 The Chaos-gods came
in pairs, here, one of the pair of Chaos-gods is described as The following (MK) Coffin Text makes clear the broth-
“belonging to Horus”, which could well be kk—who repre- erhood of Horus, Seth, and Thoth: CT-681.
sents primeval darkness. That being the case, kk’s ascent to
“O Thoth, son of the Harpooner, brother of Horus
the sun follows the natural course of dusk to dawn.
and Seth, who are on your throne, silence Seth.”
(Faulkner 2004: II, 246).34
Motif 3 summary
Čermák recognizes the role of Thoth in that the
As Ham came from Noah’s family of eight, Horus also mythical fight between the two brothers Horus and Seth that
comes from a group of eight gods. he “pacifies the two fighters Horus and Seth, bringing to an
end the archetype of discord in the world”35 (see motif 8).
Motif 4. Ham cf. Horus—three brothers And in the BOD, a TIP papyrus of Pennesuttawy (Egyp-
tian Museum JE95881) makes Osiris the father of Thoth:
Scripture states Noah had three sons: Ham “his youngest” “Words spoken by Thoth, lord of the words of the
(Genesis 9:24) and “Shem … brother of Japheth the elder”
god, writer of what is right for the Great Nine Gods,
(Genesis 10:21 YLT). Here Scripture employs the adjective
before his father Osiris lord of eternity [wsir nb ḥḥ].”36
‫( קָ טָן‬qä†än) HALLOT-8338 ‘small, youngest’ to describe
Ham. Can similar relationships be discerned in Horus’s fam-
ily? The following evidence suggests this is so. Motif 4 summary
Horus is described in Pepis I PT-539§1320c as:
Horus had a brother, Seth, (both sons of Osiris) with
Hr.w nẖn(.w) ḫrd whom he struggled violently for political dominion (see part
“Horus, the little child.” 2, motif 8). A closely aligned god called Thoth is described as
a brother of either Seth, or Horus in the PTs, and one example
Horus had a notable brother called Seth, with whom he
in the Coffin Texts of Horus, Seth, and Thoth being described
violently struggled (see motif 8), for instance:
as brothers. In BOD, Thoth shares the same father (Osiris) as
Merenre PT-615§1742a. Horus and Seth. When these examples are considered, then
jmi.y jr(.t)-ḥr.w ḥr ḏnḥ n.j sn=f stš Horus is comparable to Ham in having two other brothers,
“Put the eye of Horus on his brother Seth’s wing.” and himself being described as the ‘youngest’.

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18. Chassinat, E., Le Mystère D’osiris au Mois de Khoiak, Le Caire Imprimerie de

Conclusion L’institut Français D’archéologie Orientale, (translated from original French.),
p. 182, 1966.
This article has looked at four motifs from Ham’s life 19. Chassinat, ref. 17, p. 175.
and compared them to Horus, the Egyptian falcon sun-deity. 20. Chassinat, ref. 17, p. 183.
We have found positive connections in the following areas: 21. Allen, ref. 16, p. 13.
motif 1. Ham was 11th from Adam. The case can be made that 22. Edwards, S., The symbolism of the eye of Horus in the Pyramid Texts, Ph.D.
Horus is 11th from Atum when Osiris as the fatherly bystander thesis, University College of Swansea, p. 137, 1995.

is included from evidence in PTs regarding the Great Ennead. 23. Faulkner, R.O., The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, vol. I, Spells 1–354, Aris &
Phillips, Warminster, p. 234, 1973; also CT-205:145; 249:343; 316:98.
Motif 2. The etymology of Ham’s name includes concepts 24. Shonkwiler, R.L., The Behdetite: A study of Horus the Behdetite from the Old
of (physical) “violence”, (earthy) “blackness/darkness”, and Kingdom to the conquest of Alexander, Ph.D. thesis, University of Chicago, IL,
p. 413, 2014.
(sun’s) “heat”. These concepts compare favourably with
25. Cox, G., The search for Noah and the Flood in ancient Egypt: parts 1–2,
divine epithets of Horus. Motif 3. Ham came from a fam- J. Creation 33(3):94–108, 2019.
ily of 8—four males and their wives. The case is made here 26. Budge, E.A.W., Facsimiles of the papyri of Hunefer, Ankhai, Kērasher and
that Horus ascended from the Ogdoad, who are four males Netchemet, Longmans and Co., Oxford, p. 4, 1899.
and their wives. Specifically, Horus is connected to Ogdoad 27. Budge, ref. 25, p. v, plate 8.

member kk (darkness) in which case kk follows the natural 28. Fakhry, A., The Egyptian deserts—Bahria Oasis, Cairo Gov. Press, Bulâq, p. 75,
1942.
ascension of darkness to light, to transform into Horus as the 29. Fakhry, ref. 27, p. 77; example from temple of Kharga.
sun. Motif 4. Ham was the youngest of three brothers, Shem, 30. Klozt, D., Adoration of the Ram: Five hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple,
and Japheth. The case can be made that Horus is the “child” Yale Egyptological Seminar, New Haven, CT, p. 10, 2006.
who has a notable brother, Seth, and closely aligned to Thoth, 31. Faulkner, ref. 22, p. 47.
another brother-(like) god. The connections are intriguing 32. Cox, ref. 24, p. 99.

and so merit further study. Part 2 will analyze motifs 5–12. 33. Čermák, M., Thoth in the Pyramid Texts, Ph.D. thesis, Univerzita Karlova v
Praze, Filozofická fakulta, Ústav filosofie a religionistiky, pp. 22, 62, 2015.
34. Faulkner, R.O., The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, vol. II, Warminster, Aris and
Phillips, 1977.
Acknowledgements 35. Čermák, ref 32, p. 75.
I would like to thank Gary Bates and several anonymous 36. Quirk, S., Going out in Daylight—prt m hrw, Golden House Publications,
Croydon, UK, p. 515, 2013.
reviewers for their critical remarks on earlier manuscripts.

References
1. See introduction in: Pinch, G., Handbook of Egyptian Mythology, ABC-Clio,
CA, pp. 143–147, 2002.
2. creation.com/timeline.
3. Cox, G., In search of Adam, Eve and creation in Ancient Egypt, J. Creation
34(4):61–69, 2021.
4. Klotz, D., Adoration of the Ram: Five hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple,
Yale Egyptological Seminar, CT, p. 118, 2006.
5. Ryholt, K., The Turin King List, Ägypten und Levante 14:135–155, 2004; p. 139.
6. Waddell, W.G., Manetho, Harvard University Press, London, p. 3, 1964.
7. Waddell, ref. 6, p. 5.
8. Cox, G., The search for Noah and the Flood in ancient Egypt—part 3, J. Creation
34(2)67–74, 2020.
9. Garsiel, M., Biblical Names: A literary study of midrashic derivations and puns,
Graph Press, Jerusalem, p. 86, 1991.
10. Cassuto, U., A commentary on the book of Genesis II, Verda Books, IL, p. 234,
2005. Gavin M. Cox has two masters degrees, one in biblical
11. Cox, ref. 7, p. 71. studies from Exeter University, the other in Egyptology from
12. Loprieno, A., Ancient Egyptian: A linguistic introduction, Cambridge University Birmingham University, an honours degree in theology from
Press, Cambridge, p. 35, 1995.
London Bible College, and a Higher National Diploma of
13. Loprieno, ref. 11, p. 42.
minerals engineering from Camborne School of Mines. He
14. Hoch, J.E., Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third
Intermediate Period, Princeton University Press, NJ, pp. 230, 456 ̶ 520, 1994. now works full time for Creation Ministries International
15. Allen, T.G., The Egyptian Book of the Dead, University of Chicago Press, IL, (UK/Europe) as a speaker/writer since June of 2018. Prior
p. 35, 1960. to this, his work included 10 years in the seismic industry as
16. Blackman, A.M. and Fairman, H.W., The Myth of Horus at Edfu- II, J. Egyptian a geophysicist and topographic land surveyor both on land
Archaeology, 28:32–38, 1942; p. 32.
and marine in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the UK.
17. Allen, T.G., Horus in the Pyramid Texts, Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Chicago, Chicago, p. 27, 1916.

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