Death As a high-flying raptor, the hawk shares much of the symbolism of the eagle. It is associated with light, royalty, power, the sun, watchfulness, and the heavens.
Many solar gods have the hawk as an attribute or messenger.
Gods portrayed in the form of hawks or as being hawk-headed are almost always sun gods. Like the eagle, the true hawk was thought capable of staring directly into the sun. Egyptians believed that the ba of a mummy walked the earth, visiting the body from time to time, until eventually being reunited with the resurrected body. The Egyptian sphinx is sometimes hawk-headed. Almos, the founder of Hungary, was believed to have been sired by a hawk named Turel while his mother, Emese, was dreaming.