The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Hosea S 209

was killed by his brother and enemy, Seth. Osiris’s wife, Isis, gave birth to Horus and hid him in papy rus marshes to keep him safe. Eventually, Horus grew up and avenged his father’s death by defeat ing his uncle. Between them, Osiris and Horus, father and son, shared the task of ruling. Osiris was king of the dead, Horus king of the living. The Egyptian king was said to be Horus incarnate. After the Per sian conquest of Egypt in 525 B . C . E . and the end of Egyptian independence, the mythology of Horus killing Seth to avenge Osiris was sometimes given a “nationalistic” twist. It held out hope that an inde pendent Egyptian kingdom would be reestablished. Horus had two chief sanctuaries, at Bekh det in Lower (northern) Egypt and Edfu in Upper (southern) Egypt. He also had several different cult names. For example, Harpokrates referred to Horus the child and his secret upbringing. Harakhte was Horus of the horizon, the god as associated with the sunrise. Hosea A book in the B IBLE , and the name of the prophet whose words it supposedly contains. The book of Hosea belongs to the collection of proph ets known as “The Twelve.” Hosea was a native of the northern kingdom of Israel. This kingdom consisted of the 10 tribes who had rejected S OLOMON ’s son Rehoboam and formed their own kingdom under Jeroboam around 922 B . C . E . Hosea began to prophesy during the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 B . C . E .). In international affairs the kingdom of Israel was larger and more important than the southern kingdom of Judah. But in terms of religion many thought that it was too lax in its WORSHIP of the tra ditional god YHWH (“the Lord”) and too tolerant of other deities. The prophet Hosea is best known for drama tizing this laxness and YHWH’s continuing con cern for Israel. On G OD ’s instructions he married a prostitute. She bore three children, although Hosea might not have been the father. Then she left him. Nevertheless, Hosea bought her back. The message was this: Although Israel has acted

Many cultures have expected men to form homosexual relationships with boys. There is less evidence of women forming homosexual relation ships with girls, but that has occurred, too. The ancient Greeks provide good examples of such relationships among both men and women. They provided the education boys and girls needed to become mature men and women. In some cultures these kinds of relationships are integral parts of INITIATION rituals. Homosexual RITUAL activity was seen as necessary for the boys to become hetero sexual men. Many Hindus reject homosexuality as unthink able. B UDDHISM celebrates the life-style of MONKS AND NUNS and tends to urge sexual restraint. Nev ertheless, a Hindu and Buddhist tradition known as T ANTRISM sometimes makes use of sexual ritu als. These rituals usually strive to unite opposites (male and female), but homosexual rituals have not been unknown. In addition, Buddhism has sometimes seen homosexual relationships as less harmful to a monk’s spiritual progress than het erosexual ones. Among indigenous peoples, shamans may practice homosexual behavior ( see SHAMANISM ). In traveling to the spirit world, they routinely cross boundaries that limit ordinary human beings. They may reflect this crossing of the boundaries in features of their ordinary life. Thus, shamans may wear clothing of the opposite sex; they may also enter into homosexual relationships. For example, the Chukchi, who live in northeastern Siberia, permitted shamans to engage in only homosexual activity.

Honen See P URE L AND B UDDHISM .

Horus A G OD in ancient Egypt, depicted either as a falcon or with a human body and a falcon’s head. His eyes were the sun and the moon. Some myths made Horus the son of the god Re and the goddess H ATHOR . But he was especially known as the son of the god Osiris and the god dess I SIS . According to a well-known myth, Osiris