Horus as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as "The Contendings of Horus and Seth". In this tale, it was said that Set, the patron of Upper Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually the gods sided with Horus. As Horus was the ultimate victor he became known as "ḥr.w wr" "Horus the Great", but more usually translated "Horus the Elder". In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, and Horus's eye was gouged out. Horus represented the eclipsing binary Algol in the Calendar of
The Contendings of Horus and Seth The Contendings of Horus and Seth "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" is a mythological story from the Twentieth dynasty of Ancient Egypt found in the first sixteen pages of the "Papyrus Chester Beatty I" and deals with the battles between Horus and Seth to determine who will succeed Osiris as king. The Papyrus Chester Beatty I dates to the twentieth dynasty during the reign of Ramesses V and likely came from a scribe's collection that was recorded for personal entertainment (Chester Beatty Pap I, Oxford). The papyrus contains the story of "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" as well