Harpocrates

in Graeco-Egyptian mythology, was the name of an Egyptian deity, which originated from the words, Har-pachrut, i.e., "Har the child." This Har the Greeks usually called Horus, and distinguished him as Horus Harpocrates from another Horus. Both were sons of Osiris and Isis. What the ancients say about Harpocrates is quite incomplete, and therefore dark as to its significance. That he was not the god of silence, as once believed, is now fully accepted. In Rome he was worshipped as such, but probably only because he had his finger in his mouth, which is but the figurative representation of sucking, and designates him as an infant. Beans and cherries were offered to him, and on special festive days he was fed, by men, with milk, his image being carried around in procession. Among animals, scorpions, snakes, crocodiles, lions, and reindeer were sacred to him. SEE HORUS.