HARPOCRATES, originally an Egyptian deity, was adopted by the Greeks, and became in later times an object of worship both to Greeks and Romans. In Egypt Harpa-khruti, Horus the child, was one of the forms of Horus, the sun-god, the child of Osiris (see Egypt, vol. vii. p. 717). Hence Herodotus (ii. 144) considers him the same as the Greek Apollo. He was said by the Greeks to have been born with his finger on his lips, and is thus represented in statues. As the god of silence he became a favourite deity among the later mystic schools of philosophy. Festivals with certain mysterious rites were celebrated in his honour.