SET (MYTHOLOGY)

In Egyptian mythology, 'Set' (also spelled 'Sutekh', 'Setesh', 'Seteh', 'Seth') is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, one of the two main biomes that constitutes Egypt, the other being the small fertile area on either side of the Nile. Due to developments in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshiped, by the Greek period, the ''t'' in ''Set'' was pronounced so indistinguishably from ''th'' that the Greeks spelled it as 'Seth'.

Contents

Origins of name

Desert god

The Set animal

Conflict between Horus and Set

Savior of Ra

God of evil

Trivia

Name

Divine symbols

Colors

Temples

See also

Notes

References

External links

Origins of name

The exact translation of ''Set'' is unknown for certain, but is usually considered to be either ''(one who) dazzles'' or ''pillar of stability'', one connected to the desert, and
the other more to the institution of monarchy. It is reconstructed to have been originally pronounced
★ based on the occurrence of his name in Egyptian hieroglyphics (''swt''), and his later mention in the Coptic documents with the name ''Sēt''.

Desert god

Set was the god of the desert and was associated with sandstorms, and caravans. Set was viewed as immensely powerful, and was regarded consequently as the chief god. One of the more common epithets was that he was ''great of strength'', and in one of the Pyramid Texts it states that the king's strength is that of Set. As chief god, he was patron of Lower Egypt, where he was worshiped, most notably at Ombos. The alternate form of his name, spelled ''Setesh'' (''stš''), and later ''Sutekh'' (''swtḫ''), designates this supremacy, the extra ''sh'' and ''kh'' signifying ''majesty''.
Set formed part of the Ennead of Heliopolis, as a son of the earth (Geb) and sky (Nut), husband to the fertile land around the Nile (Nebt-het/Nephthys), and brother to death (Ausare/Osiris), and life (Aset/Isis).
The word for desert, in Egyptian, was ''Tesherit'', which is very similar to the word for red, ''Tesher'' (in fact, it has the appearance of a feminine form of the word for red). Consequently, Set became associated with things that were red, including people with red hair, which is not an attribute that Egyptians generally had, and so he became considered to also be a god of ''foreigners''.
Set's attributes as desert god led to him also being associated with gazelles, and donkeys, both creatures living on the desert edge. Since sandstorms were said to be under his control as lord of the desert, and were the main form of storm in the dry climate of Egypt, during the Ramesside Period, Set was identified as various Canaanite storm deities, including Baal.

The Set animal

In art, Set was mostly depicted as a mysterious and unknown creature, referred to by Egyptologists as the ''Set animal'' or ''Typhonic beast'', with a curved snout, square ears, forked tail, and canine body, or sometimes as a human with only the head of the ''Set animal''. It has no complete resemblance to any known creature, although it does resemble a composite of an aardvark and a jackal, both of which are desert creatures, and the main species of aardvark present in ancient Egypt additionally had a reddish appearance (due to thin fur, which shows the skin beneath it). In some descriptions he has the head of a greyhound. The earliest known representation of Set comes from a tomb dating to the Naqada I phase of the Predynastic Period (''circa'' 4000 BC–3500 BC), and the ''Set-animal'' is even found on a mace-head of the Scorpion King, a Protodynastic ruler.
A new theory has it that the head of the ''Set animal'' is a representation of ''Mormyrus kannamae'' (Nile Mormyrid), which resides in the waters near Kom Ombo, one of the sites of a temple of Set, with the two square fins being what are normally interpreted as ears. However, it may be that part or all of the ''Set animal'' was based on the Salawa, a similarly mysterious canine creature, with forked tail and square ears, one member of which was claimed to have been found and killed in 1996 by the local population of a region of Upper Egypt.

Conflict between Horus and Set

The myth of Set's conflict with Horus, Osiris and Isis appears in many Egyptian sources, including the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Shabaka Stone, inscriptions on the walls of the Horus temple at Edfu, and various papyrus sources. The Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 1 contains the legend known as The Contention of Horus and Set. Classical authors also recorded the story, notably Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride.
These myths generally portray Osiris as a wise king and bringer of civilization, happily married to his sister Isis. Set was his envious younger brother, and he killed and dismembered Osiris. Isis reassembled Osiris' corpse and another god (in some myths Thoth and in others Anubis) embalmed him. As the archetypal mummy, Osiris reigned over the Afterworld as judge of the dead.
Osiris' son Horus was conceived by Isis with Osiris' corpse, or in some versions, only with pieces of his corpse. Horus naturally became the enemy of Set, and many myths describe their conflicts. In some of these myths Set is portrayed as Horus' older brother rather than uncle. In one of their fights Set gouged out Horus's left eye, which represented the moon; perhaps this myth served to explain why the moon is less bright than the sun.
The myth incorporated moral lessons for relationships between fathers and sons, older and younger brothers, and husbands and wives.
Perhaps the myth also records historical events. According to the Shabaka Stone, Geb divided Egypt into two halves, giving Upper Egypt (the desert south) to Set and Lower Egypt (the region of the delta in the north) to Horus, in order to end their feud. However, according to the stone, in a later judgment Geb gave all Egypt to Horus. Interpreting this myth as a historical record would lead one to believe that Lower Egypt (Horus' land) conquered Upper Egypt (Set's land); but in fact Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt. So the myth cannot be simply interpreted. Several theories exist to explain the discrepancy. For instance, since both Horus and Set were worshiped in Upper Egypt prior to unification, perhaps the myth reflects a struggle within Upper Egypt prior to unification, in which a Horus-worshipping group subjected a Set-worshiping group. What is known is that during the Second Dynasty, there was a period in which the Kings name or Serekh - which had been surmounted by a Horus falcon in the First Dynasty - was for a time surmounted by a Set animal, suggesting some kind of religious struggle. It was ended at the end of the Dynasty by Khasekhemui who surmounted his Serekh with both a falcon of Horus and a Set animal, indicating some kind of compromise had been reached.
Regardless, once the two lands were united, Seth and Horus were often shown together crowning the new pharaohs, as a symbol of their power over both Lower and Upper Egypt. Queens of the 1st Dynasty bore the title "She Who Sees Horus and Set." The Pyramid Texts present the pharoah as a fusion of the two deities. Evidently, pharoahs believed that they balanced and reconciled competing cosmic principles. Eventually the dual-god Horus-Set appeared, combining features of both deities (as was common in Egyptian theology, the most familiar example being Amun-Re).
Later Egyptians interpreted the myth of the conflict between Set and Osiris/Horus as an analogy for the struggle between the desert (represented by Set) and the fertilizing floods of the Nile (Osiris/Horus).

Savior of Ra

As the Ogdoad system became more assimilated with the Ennead one, as a result of creeping increase of the identification of Atum as Ra, itself a result of the joining of Upper and Lower Egypt, Set's position in this became considered. With Horus as Ra's heir on Earth, Set, previously the chief god, for Lower Egypt, required an appropriate role as well, and so was identified as Ra's main hero, who fought Apep each night, during Ra's journey (as sun god) across the underworld.
He was thus often depicted standing on the prow of Ra's night barque spearing Apep in the form of a serpent, turtle, or other dangerous water animals. Surprisingly, in some Late Period representations, such as in the Persian Period temple at Hibis in the Khargah Oasis, Set was represented in this role with a falcon's head, taking on the guise of Horus, despite the fact that Set was usually considered in quite a different position with regard to heroism.
This assimilation also led to Anubis being displaced, in areas where he was worshipped, as ruler of the underworld, with his situation being explained by his being the son of Osiris. As Isis represented life, Anubis' mother was identified instead as Nephthys. This led to an explanation in which Nephthys, frustrated by Set's lack of sexual interest in her, disguised herself as the more attractive Isis, but failed to gain Set's attention because he was infertile. Osiris mistook Nephthys for Isis and they had conceived Anubis resulting in Anubis' birth. In some later texts, after Set lost the connection to the desert, and thus infertility, Anubis was identified as Set's son, as Set is Nephthys' husband.
In the mythology, Set has a great many wives, including some foreign Goddesses, and several children. Some of the most notable wives (beyond Nephthys/Nebet Het) are Neith (with whom he is said to have fathered Sobek), Amtcheret (by whom he is said to have fathered Upuat - though Upuat is also said to be a son of Aser/Osiris in some places), Tuaweret, Hetepsabet (one of the Hours, a feminine was-beast headed goddess who is variously described as wife or daughter of Set), and the two Canaanite deities Anat and Astarte, both of whom are equally skilled in love and war - two things which Set himself was famous for.

God of evil

Naturally, when, during the Second Intermediate Period the mysterious foreign Hyksos gained the rulership of Egypt, and ruled the Nile Delta, from Avaris, they chose Set, originally Lower Egypt's chief god, as their patron, and so Set became worshipped as the chief god once again. However, following this invasion, Egyptian attitudes towards foreigners could be best described as xenophobic, and eventually the Hyksos were deposed. During this period, Set (previously a hero), as the Hyksos' patron, came to embody all that the Egyptians disliked about the foreign rulers, and so he gradually absorbed the identities of all the previous evil gods, particularly Apep.
When the Legend of Osiris and Isis grew up, Set was consequently identified as the killer of Osiris in it, having hacked Osiris' body into pieces, dispersing them, so that he could not be resurrected. Interpreting the ears as fins, the head of the ''Set-animal'' resembles the Oxyrhynchus fish, and so it was said that as a final precaution, an Oxyrhynchus fish ate Osiris' penis.
Now that he had become the embodiment of evil, Set was consequently sometimes depicted as one of the creatures that the Egyptians most feared, crocodiles, and hippopotamus, and by the time of the New Kingdom, he was often associated with the villainous gods of other rising empires. One such case was Baal, an identification in which Set was described as being the consort of ‘Ashtart or ‘Anat, wife of Baal. Set was also identified by the Egyptians with the Hittite deity Teshub, who was a vicious storm god, as was Set.
The Greeks later linked Set with Typhon because both were evil forces, storm deities and sons of the Earth that attacked the main gods.
Some scholars hold that after Egypt's conquest by the Persian ruler Cambyses II, Set also became associated with foreign oppressors, including the Achaemenid Persians, Ptolemaic dynasty, and Romans. Indeed, it was during the time that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated. Nevertheless, throughout this period, in some distant locations he was still regarded as the heroic chief deity; for example, there was a temple dedicated to Set in the village of Mut al-Kharab, in the Dakhlah Oasis.

Trivia

Name

★ Setekh: "the one of the wrappings"

★ Sutekh: "the one from the South"

★ the ending "tekh" has the word meaning "to drink too much". This has caused numerous assumptions and (historic) gibes.

Divine symbols

★ No particular attribute in addition to the traditional ''was'' sceptre.

★ Ankh

Colors

Red, the color of the desert and of destruction

Temples

★ Seth was worshipped at the temple of Kom Ombo at Ombos (formerly Nubt), and Oxyrhynchus in upper Egypt, and also in part of the Faiyum area.

★ The Seth oracle was consulted in the oases of Kharga and Dakhla in the south west of the country.

See also

★ Legend of Osiris and Isis

★ Temple of Set

★ Setianism

★ Libyan god of the desert, Ash

Notes

References

★ Allen, James P. 2004. "Theology, Theodicy, Philosophy: Egypt." In Sarah Iles Johnston, ed. ''Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01517-7.

★ Bickel, Susanne. 2004. "Myths and Sacred Narratives: Egypt." In Sarah Iles Johnston, ed. ''Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01517-7.

★ Cohn, Norman. 1995. ''Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith.'' New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09088-9 (1999 paperback reprint).

★ Kaper, Olaf Ernst. 1997. ''Temples and Gods in Roman Dakhlah: Studies in the Indigenous Cults of an Egyptian Oasis''. Doctoral dissertation; Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Faculteit der Letteren.

★ Kaper, Olaf Ernst. 1997. "The Statue of Penbast: On the Cult of Seth in the Dakhlah Oasis". In ''Egyptological Memoirs, Essays on ancient Egypt in Honour of Herman Te Velde'', edited by Jacobus van Dijk. Egyptological Memoirs 1. Groningen: Styx Publications. 231–241, ISBN 90-5693-014-1.

★ Lesko, Leonard H. 1987. "Seth." In The Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade, 2nd edition (2005) edited by Lindsay Jones. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson-Gale. ISBN 0-02-865733-0.

★ Osing, Jürgen. 1985. "Seth in Dachla und Charga." ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo'' 41:229–233.

★ Quirke, Stephen G. J. 1992. ''Ancient Egyptian Religion''. New York: Dover Publications, inc., ISBN 0-486-27427-6 (1993 reprint).

★ Stoyanov, Yuri. 2000. ''The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy''. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08253-3 (paperback).

★ te Velde, Herman. 1977. ''Seth, God of Confusion: A Study of His Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion''. 2nd ed. Probleme der Ägyptologie 6. Leiden: E. J. Brill, ISBN 90-04-05402-2.

★ HACHETTE, GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT 9, SETH, ISSN 1741-2293 (includes a scientific SETH figurina)www.newgrounds.com

External links

★ Le temple d'Hibis, oasis de Khargha: ''Hibis Temple representations of Sutekh as Horus''

★ Temple of Set