Harpocrates

The Greek form of Horus (Har-pi-kruti, "Horus the Child"). The Greeks, and the Romans too, made him a god of silence (Sigalion, from σιγάω, to be silent). This however, was based on a misconception. Horus was represented with his finger on his mouth, which indicates youth, and which the Greeks believed to be a symbol of silence.

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References

Sources

  • Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Ausonius. Epigrams xxv, 27.
  • Catullus, lxxiv, 4.
  • Tertullian. Apology, 6.
  • Varro. De Lingua Latina v, 57.