Harpocrates

Harpocrates
Major cult center	Alexandria
Parents	Isis and Osiris or Serapis. or Banebdjedet and Hatmehit (at Mendes)

Harpocrates (Ancient Greek: Ἁρποκράτης, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈,^[1] romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, Coptic: ϩⲁⲣⲡⲟⲕⲣⲁⲧⲏⲥ harpokratēs) is the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also an embodiment of hope, according to Plutarch). Greeks adapted Harpocrates from the Egyptian child-god Horus, who represented the newborn sun, rising each day at dawn. The name "Harpocrates" originated as a Hellenization of the Egyptian Har-pa-khered or Heru-pa-khered, meaning "Horus the Child".

Horus the Child was portrayed as a naked boy with his finger to his mouth as if sucking on it, an Egyptian artistic convention for representing a child.^[2] Greeks and Romans misunderstood this pose as a gesture of silence and interpreted Harpocrates as the god of secrecy.^[3]