Harpocrates

Harpocrates
Ptolemaic bronze Harpocrates, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon
Major cult center	Alexandria
Parents	Isis and Osiris or Serapis

Harpocrates (Ancient Greek: Ἁρποκράτης, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈,^[1] romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, Coptic: ϩⲁⲣⲡⲟⲕⲣⲁⲧⲏⲥ harpokrates) was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also an embodiment of hope, according to Plutarch). Harpocrates was adapted by the Greeks from the Egyptian child god Horus, who represented the newborn Sun, rising each day at dawn. Harpocrates's name was a Hellenization of the Egyptian Har-pa-khered or Heru-pa-khered, meaning "Horus the Child". Horus is represented as a naked boy with his finger to his mouth, a realisation^{[clarification needed]} of the hieroglyph for "child" (𓀔). Misunderstanding^{[clarification needed]} this gesture, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates the god of silence and secrecy.^[2]