Eye of Horus and to ward off evil. Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel. Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner or peregrine falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Djehuti (Thoth). It was believed by the Greeks and
Horus regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife. Horus served many functions, most notably being a god of kingship and the sky. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as "ḥr.w" "Falcon"; the pronunciation has been reconstructed as . Additional meanings are thought to have been "the distant one" or "one who is above, over". As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic varieties variously as or and was adopted into ancient Greek as "Hōros" (pronounced at the time as ). It also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric name forms such as Siese "son of Isis"