Winged sun disk
The sun disk with outstretched wings, carved above temple doorways: the form Horus of Behutet took, in Egyptian myth, to fight the enemies of Ra.
Meaning
Petrie gives its meaning as Ra as protector, and notes that it was seldom placed on the mummy but usual over figures and the entrances to temples. Flanked by cobras it meant Ra as ruler.
The legend at Edfu
The legend is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of the temple of Edfu. In Budge’s account, Horus of Behutet took the form of a great winged disk and flew up into the sky to pursue the rebels against Ra, joined by the goddesses Uatchet and Nekhebet in the form of serpents. Ra then ordered an image of the winged disk placed in each of his sanctuaries, and the winged disks above the doorways of Egypt’s standing temples, Budge wrote, show the command was carried out.
See also
Eye of Horus, Scarab, Djed pillar, Was sceptre, Shen ring, Cartouche.
Sources
- Amulets, illustrated by the Egyptian collection in University College, London, W. M. Flinders Petrie, 1914, Constable and Company, London (Internet Archive), Nos. 83, 84
- Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, E. A. Wallis Budge, 1912, Project Gutenberg, Chapter IV
Last reviewed September 25, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research