[SOUND: FALCON'S CRY]

This fierce, streamlined falcon resembles a bird you might see in Egypt today, soaring to incredible heights over the desert. The Egyptian god Horus often appeared in the form of a falcon, or with a falcon’s head. Horus, the sky god, was the protector of the Egyptian king, or pharaoh.This falcon wears a tall double crown worn by Egyptian gods and pharaohs. It’s a combination of the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, two parts of the country to the south and to the north. Gods and pharaohs wore different kinds of crowns, with different meanings. Most of them had a tiny snake over the forehead, like the one you see here. This protective cobra was sometimes called a uraeus.

Did you notice the tiny man protected between the falcon’s legs? He, too, wears a uraeus on the front of his headdress. This is Pharaoh Nectanebo the Second. He ruled from 360 to 343 BC, shortly before Alexander the Great conquered Egypt. The ancient Egyptians believed that their pharaoh ruled as the living image of Horus. This statue portrays this close relationship between the pharaoh and his divine protector.