Curiosities: the Eye of Horus

The eye is the organ that develops sight, one of the five senses that is, perhaps, the most precious. Consequently, the eye has always played an essential role in the life of human beings.

But if we go backward in time, we will discover that its importance is also rooted in Egyptian mythology and that the Eye of Horus was considered to be an amulet.

Legend has it that during a battle between Seth and Horus, the former tore out his enemy’s eye. There are various versions of how the eye was returned to its owner: some say that after Seth had defeated his adversary, he gave the eye back to him, others that Isis, his mother, created a new one, healed, or that the eye returned of its own accord and was healed by the god Thoth.
The Eye of Horus became a very powerful amulet which Ancient Egyptians placed inside the bandages in which the deceased was wrapped. Its magical power was so strong that it could be sent by the god to carry out his commands.

The symbol consists of an eye with a brow above and a spiral below, which some say is the feather of a falcon, whose likeness Horus assumed, while others maintain that it is the symbol of tears.

The amulet was worn by men, gods and sacred animals, but it was also painted on ships to ward off evil and on the sides of sarcophagi to ensure that the deceased reached the afterlife.
In everyday life, the symbol was also used as a unit of measurement for grain.