Ancient Egyptian mythology: Set and his confrontation with the gods. God Set in Ancient Egypt: what place does he occupy in Egyptian mythology? Who is Seth God of What

Among the lords of Earth and Sky who terrified the Egyptians was the god Set, who was represented as a man with the head of a donkey or a dragon. At the same time, even the mention of him caused awe, and his significance was so great that he was put on a par with Horus, the patron saint of the pharaohs. In many images found in the territory, both of these deities are depicted on either side of the ruler of the country.

Egyptian god Set

According to Egyptian mythology, Seth was the son of the gods of earth and sky, Geb and Nut. True, he became famous not for his good deeds, but for the fact that he killed his brother Osiris and ate the sacred cat, after which he acquired a bad reputation as a murderer and became associated with the forces of evil. At the same time, the ancient Egyptian god Set retained his status as the patron of the powerful, as evidenced by the images of the god standing next to the pharaoh.

What natural element did the god Seth personify?

He was worshiped in different parts of the country, but everywhere he evoked mystical horror. Like any other deity associated with one of the natural elements, he carried a negative element within himself. Set, the god of the desert, was the patron and ruler of sandstorms and drought, plunging farmers into fear. But other Egyptians were also afraid of him, since the onset of chaos, hostility towards all living things, war and other misfortunes were associated with him.

Wife of the god Set

Legends say that the god of chaos had several wives, one of which was Nephthys. Seth and Nephthys were brother and sister. However, there are no clear indications of their marital relationship. As for the goddess herself, her image is usually associated with funeral customs, the performance of funeral rites and the reading of funeral prayers. Ancient historians believed that the goddess Nephthys in ancient Egypt reigned over the immaterial and unreal. At the same time, she was often considered the patroness of the feminine principle and the goddess of creation, who “lives in everything.”

What did the god Seth patronize?

The peoples of Egypt were afraid of Set and, wanting to appease him, they erected palaces and temples in his honor, fearing his wrath. Cruelty, rage and death - this was the main thing that the god Seth personified, and although the inhabitants of the country tried in every possible way to appease him, he did not patronize them, but foreigners, inhabitants of distant countries. However, it would be wrong to portray Seth as the embodiment of evil. He patronized valor and courage, instilling courage in the hearts of warriors.

What does the god Set look like?

God Set, who belonged to the cohort of supreme gods, was depicted as a creature that combined a human body and the head of an animal. In various images he looked differently: either with the head of a crocodile or a hippopotamus, but most often he was depicted with the head of a jackal or a donkey, which for the inhabitants of Eastern Egypt was considered a symbol of power. Its distinctive feature is its long ears. The appearance of the god Set is complemented by a scepter - a symbol of power. Moreover, for most ancients, the animals in which Seth was depicted symbolized connections with demonic otherworldly forces.

How was the god Set worshiped?

Despite such a formidable and unpleasant character, history has preserved information about how the god Set was worshiped. He enjoyed special favor among the pharaohs. Written artifacts indicate that the rulers of Egypt were named after him, and temples were built in his honor. True, their number is small, but they were distinguished by the richness of their decoration and the majesty of their architecture. The inhabitants of Eastern Egypt had warm feelings for the deity and even considered him their patron, creating cult centers in his honor.

Symbol of the god Set

Despite his power and belonging to the highest gods, the symbols and cult of the god Set are little known. Perhaps precisely because he took under his protection not the Egyptians, but foreigners and representatives of the supreme power of the state. For some time, he even constituted a kind of competition to the supreme god Horus, as evidenced by the found images of pharaohs sitting on a throne, on both sides of which stand these two deities. God Set does not have his own symbols and attributes. In all images, he holds in his hands a rod - a symbol of power and a cross.

The presence of cult centers in certain areas of Egypt indicates that the evil god Set, nevertheless, was revered by the local residents. Interestingly, in some areas of the country it was represented as a sacred fish, so the use of fish dishes was prohibited here. In addition, the image of this warlike god was close to those who took part in battles and hoped for his protection. The distinctive feature of the warrior god was: blood, pressure and hot desert soil.

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Items with the image of an animal symbolizing Seth, appeared in the Predynastic period, during the era of Naqada I (3800-3600 BC). Homeland Seth there was Ombos, and the necropolis was in Naqada. In those times Set was the deity of metals and the patron saint of Upper Egypt, and negative traits had not yet appeared in his perception. The planet Mercury was considered a celestial image Seth- "Seth in the evening twilight, God in the morning twilight." Color Seth- red-red, subject side of the world - south.

First literary mentions Seth associated with two famous myths: Heliopolis, where Set acts as an ally of Ra, and in the myth of Osiris, where he becomes the killer of his own brother. In the Early Dynastic period and at the beginning of the Old Kingdom, the concept of the Heliopolis myth prevailed (since Heliopolis was the main center of political power) and Set acted as the patron god of the power of the pharaohs (together with Horus - a combination of names Seth and Hora means "king"). This was first mentioned in the titles of the pharaohs of the 2nd dynasty. The "Pyramid Texts" depict Seth also a warrior god, assistant to Ra in his battles with Apep. There are texts that say that Apep once managed to hypnotize all the gods with his gaze. Even Ra couldn't resist. And only one Seth It turned out to be strong enough to withstand Apep's gaze and pierce him with his harpoon.

With the political rise of Thebes and the spread of the cult of Osiris in it, towards the end of the Old Kingdom Set became associated with war, disasters and evil forces. Setu begin to attribute violations of all kinds of taboos. His lustful nature begins to lead to inappropriate heterosexual and homosexual encounters: in one myth, he is punished for copulating with the "goddess of seed" who personified the creator's sperm; in another myth it is described as Set in the guise of a crocodile, Sebek swallowed the phallus of the god Osiris when he was thrown by the same Seth to the Nile...

In general, supporters fought for power Seth and Mountain. The victory went to Horus, and his name became an integral part of the monarch's title. Set begins to become demonized, and even when Horus and Set are depicted together, then Horus certainly stands in front Seth.

The first period during which the revival of the cult took place Seth, refers to Hyksos rule. In the 17th century BC. Egypt was conquered and for a whole century was under the yoke of foreigners - the Hyksos. The invaders announced Seth the supreme deity and was intensely revered. Set was identified with their god Baal, the city of Avaris became the place of his cult as the main god. During the period of Hyksos rule, the cult Seth blossomed again: he was worshiped as, albeit alien, albeit cruel, but a powerful god, a sovereign god, the only king. And this god became even more hated by the Egyptians soon after the expulsion of the invaders and the liberation of the country. Thus, after the expulsion of the Hyksos, the cult Seth gradually fades away. He becomes an alien god, which contributes to the spread of negative ideas about Sethe. From the 8th century BC. he became equal to Apep and was in most cases referred to exclusively as an evil deity.

However, one must understand that in addition to the function of the destroyer god, Set was also a warrior god, the personification of forces. His main weapon is a mace or scepter. This appearance was quite remarkable for the rulers of the New Kingdom, who were striving for extensive conquests. Therefore, during the reign of the Ramessids, there was a second surge of special veneration Seth. During the era of the pharaohs of the 19th dynasty (XIV-XIII centuries BC) Set was considered the patron of royal power, and some pharaohs, upon ascending the throne, took a name in his honor (Seti I, Seti II). A cult of special scope Seth reached under Ramesses II. Setu the epithet “mighty” was given; some cities had oracles and sanctuaries Seth. In the treaty of Ramesses II with the Hittites

Story Seth, the image of which was consistently associated with evil, is in many ways mysterious. Let's start with its zoomorphic appearance - the head resembles either a donkey's or a camel's with high-standing rectangular long ears, but does not quite correspond to both images. In the most ancient images Set depicted as a four-legged animal, similar to a dog or a jackal, with a high-raised tail, high-standing ears, and a strongly elongated and beak-shaped mouth. The rectangular ears standing high and sticking out and the beak-shaped mouth were preserved in subsequent iconographic images of Set, however, it is quite difficult to identify the zoomorphic image of Set with the image of a donkey based on these features. Such maximum stylization may indicate a very ancient origin, when memories of a real animal prototype were erased from memory for some reason, and the deity, continuing to “live” and perform the functions attributed to him, had to be identified with some known animal way.

Until 2000 BC e. the Egyptians called this animal "sha" and believed that it could still be found in the desert. In any case, after 1600 BC. e. the Egyptians more often compared him to a red, i.e., wild donkey. Seth's pedigree represents him with his brothers - Horus the Elder and Osiris, and two sisters - Isis and Nephthys, children of the divine couple of Heaven (Nut) and Earth (Hebe). Set was hailed as the patron god of the ancient city of Ombos in Upper Egypt (modern Nagadah), and for this reason he was often called the "Lord of the South." The name and symbol of Set from Ombos became Nubti (He who is from Ombos), a word with the root “nub” - “gold”, and the city itself was called the “Golden City”. The veneration of this god "appears to date back even further than that of any member of the Osirian triad," and Set initially opposed Horus rather than Osiris.

Horus, in the form of a warlike falcon, became the king of not only Lower, but also Upper Egypt, and in the title of the first Egyptian dynasty - the Tinitian - the name of Set sometimes stands next to the name of Horus. The monuments of the first dynasty reflected the equal status of both kings in those days: the image of two falcons meant the king as the embodiment of Horus-Set. Thus, King Miebis from the 1st dynasty often put two falcons in front of his name instead of one, that is, Horus and Set. This suggests that, despite the presence of Horus the falcon in Upper Egypt, Set was still considered powerful, hiding under the guise of a second falcon. One of the local hypostases of Set, Nemti, retained the idea of ​​him as a falcon god. Two falcons - two kings.

However, the situation changes dramatically from the 2nd dynasty. Some kind of “swinging” of royal titles begins to be observed, either towards Set or towards Horus. Thus, Pharaoh Peribsen never called himself Horus, but was called Seth Peribsen. The inscription on his seal read: “Nubti of Ombos [that is, Set] gave the Two Lands to his son, the king of the South and North, Peribsen.” Peribsen's two successors return to Horus, and at the end of the Second Dynasty, King Khasekhemui places a falcon and a greyhound before his name, that is, Horus and Set. These phenomena indicate that supreme power over the Both Lands passed either to the representative of Upper Egypt or returned to the protege of Lower Egypt. Gradually, the name Seth disappears from the titles altogether, being replaced by the name Nub (ti). However, the memory of the king of Upper Egypt - Seth, the royal ancestor, “resurrected in the dynasty of the pharaohs” continued to live. Thus, the Egyptian queen in ancient times was called “She who sees Horus and Seth,” and on the walls of the temples of that era Seth Nubti was depicted, leading captive foreigners to the king and taking part in his coronation. The symbol of the V nome of Upper Egypt - the Two Falcons - recalls the heroic era of the Two Brothers, and in Ombos, located south of Edfu, Horus the Falcon and Seth in the form of a crocodile were worshiped simultaneously.

The cult of Set flourished not only in Upper Egyptian Ombos (Nagad), but also in Middle Egypt in the area of ​​Su near Heracleopolis, and in the northeastern part of the Delta, starting from the Second Dynasty, and in the oases of Dakhla and Kharga. It was believed that the land of the oases of the Libyan desert absorbed the blood of Set, shed in the fight against Horus. That is why the Oracle of Set flourished in the oasis of Dakhla until the era of the XXV dynasty. Initially, Set was generally considered as the god of the eastern branch of the Nile delta, later he was recognized as the god of the eastern the borders of Egypt and, finally, the god of foreigners and the eastern desert. Extending his power over the eastern regions of Egypt, Set subsequently became the patron of foreign conquerors who invaded Egypt from Asia. Since by this time the image of Set was steadily associated with confrontation, with evil and damage caused by both rebellion and the violence of natural phenomena, in particular thunderstorms, foreign invaders easily identified Set with their god of thunder and fertility Baal, and the Hyksos capital Avaris became the place his cult.

Although thunderstorms are now a rare occurrence in Egypt, Horus, armed with his beam-spear, is constantly on guard to repel the forces of Set. It was believed that the thunder was the cries of pain of Seth suffering from the wounds inflicted on him. In contrast to Horus the spearman, Seth's weapon was a bow, and the soldiers recognized this “son of Nut, great in strength,” as their patron. One of the units of the army of Ramesses III bore the name Set. In Tanis (formerly Avaris, renamed Tanis during the XXII Libyan Dynasty), the main gods were Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set, who are called the gods of Ramesses II in the texts. On a stone stele discovered there, it is inscribed that the father of Ramses II, who was a vizier before becoming Pharaoh Seti I, arrived in Tanis in the four hundredth year of the god Set to pay honor to this god. No additional data has yet been established about the era of Set, but the text provides evidence that such a chronology existed, that Tanis was the center of the cult of Set, and that there was some connection between this god and the pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II. Seth and his accomplices even sent the chest with the body of Osiris to float along the Tanis mouth of the Nile. When the Nine awarded the rank of Osiris to his son Horus, Ra-Horakhta, not wanting to offend this powerful god, said: “Let Seth, the son of Nut, be given to me, may he sit with me, may he be my son, may he rumble in the sky and let them fear him!”

The very birth of this god was associated with a violation of order - he was born from the side of his mother Nut, and since his birth fell on the third of five epagomenal days, this day was considered especially unlucky. Pharaoh did practically no business that day. It was believed that Seth's presence everywhere and always brought confusion and disorder. Seth was also to blame for the shaking of the earth, the sultry wind carrying desert dust and drying up the vegetation, and the unexpected fall of stones from the sky with a terrible roar, and his very name was written with the hieroglyph “stone.” The most succinct description of this god of destruction is given in the Greek papyrus, in which Set is addressed as “the shaker of the hills, the thunderer, the creator of the hurricane, the shaker of the rocks, the destroyer who troubles the sea itself.”

In the most ancient texts, it was not Ra, but Seth, standing in the boat of the sun, who slayed the serpent Apophis. In the monuments of the 17th Dynasty, the warrior Set still fights against the serpent along with other gods. The Vatican Magic Papyrus contains the following lines: “Arise, O Set, beloved of Ra! Take your place in Ra's boat! He received your heart as justification: You overthrew (the enemies of) your father Ra Every day.” About Seth slaying the serpent Apophis with a spear, it is said that “he has red eyes and red hair.” However, over time, the snake began to be seen as the same embodiment of Set as crocodiles and hippos, and Seth himself was called “a snake that is cut into pieces, a disgusting snake.” Everything that was associated with the color red received a negative connotation and became synonymous with everything dangerous. Lurker reports that among the Egyptians, red “symbolized life and victory. On the occasion of holidays, the inhabitants of the Nile country painted their bodies with red crayons and wore jewelry made of red carnelian.” However, in Egyptian texts the color red was attributed to all demons. The expression “make red” was equivalent to the concept of “kill.” Plutarch writes: “The inhabitants of Copts, due to the fact that donkeys have a reddish color, are in the habit of sacrificing them by throwing them into the abyss.” Red was the color of the desert, the hot wind of which dried out and “killed” vegetation - Seth was always the antipode of Osiris, who embodied the idea of ​​​​fertility, the prosperity of plant life, which Seth destroyed. Therefore, even people with reddish skin or red hair were sacrificed at the tomb of Osiris.

Used materials:

1. A. Moret. Nile and Egyptian civilization;
2. Max Muller. Egyptian mythology;
3. M.E. Mathieu. Ancient Egyptian mythology;
4. M. Lurker. Egyptian symbolism;
5. Plutarch. About Isis and Osiris.

God Set in Ancient Egypt did not initially have a negative connotation. For the ancient Egyptians it was rage, chaos, sandstorms, war. He was depicted with the head of a donkey or aardvark: long ears, red mane and eyes. Red was considered the color of death by the Egyptians because the desert sand had the same hue (even though there were other shades). However, there is no consensus on which animal is an accurate depiction of Set. His sacred animals were the pig, giraffe, antelope, but the donkey was considered the main one.

In the Ancient period, Seth was the personification of the power of the rulers of Egypt. This fact is reflected in ancient documents and the names that the pharaohs of the 2nd dynasty bore. During the seizure of part of the Egyptian lands by the Hyksos, he was equated with their main deity, and the capital of the state of Avaris became the place of worship for him.

The ancient Egyptians admired and extolled Seth's masculinity, agility, and belligerence. Therefore, his name had the epithet “mighty.” As a result, the pharaohs were given the name "Network". In order to secure the patronage of this deity, they worshiped him, built temples within the boundaries of the palaces of the pharaohs, and wore various jewelry with his image on them.

The first drawings associated with Set were found during the reign of Naqada I. Objects bearing his images were discovered in the Naqada region. Ombos was considered the birthplace of Set, and his necropolis was located in Naqada. At that time, he was especially revered in Upper Egypt, and there were still no unpleasant traits in his personality. Set was considered the patron saint of the southern Egyptian lands.

In the period preceding the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, there was a struggle between the admirers of Set and Horus. The supporters of Horus won, so from then on, if these two gods were depicted together, Horus was ahead of Set. He was worshiped in the following areas of Egypt:

• Ombose;
• Kom Ombose;
• Hypsele;
• oases of Dakhla and Kharga;
• in the northeastern Nile Delta.

Seth is the youngest son of the goddess Nut, who was considered the queen of the sky, and the god Geb, the ruler of the earth. He had a brother Osiris and sisters Isis and Nephthys, the latter becoming his wife. The day when it appeared was the third day before the New Year in Ancient Egypt and was considered unfavorable among the Egyptians. On this day they did not start new things and tried not to start anything at all.

Initially, Seth was considered the protector of the god Ra and helped him in the fight against Apep. He was the only one of the gods who could defeat Apep in the darkness. In addition to Nephthys, Seth's wife was also the goddess Taurt (patron of childbirth). The beginning of the manifestation of the evil principle in this deity was the thirst for power. In the mythology of the ancient Egyptians, this is seen in the cycle of tales about Osiris and Horus.

Osiris gained power over Ancient Egypt because he was the elder brother. But his younger brother became jealous, he wanted to gain even more power, he considered himself more worthy than Osiris. Therefore, Seth decided to kill his brother, and after this, Osiris’s wife Isis had to hide with the son of Horus from the evil deity. But the time came when Horus grew up, became a strong and brave young man and challenged Set to battle.

During the duel, the god of rage, chaos and sandstorms deprives the young man of his eyes. But Horus manages to castrate Seth, which deprives the latter of his masculinity. Subsequently, the lands over which he dominated were deserted and devoid of life as a sign of what Horus had done to Set. They fought for a long time, and the gods were tired of watching their fight.

Then they proposed to organize a competition that would determine who was worthy to rule Egypt. As a result, Gore was declared the winner. The further fate of Seth has several interpretations, which was chosen based on the desire to extol those facts that were close to personal ideals. There are two more versions of why Horus won the victory in ancient Egyptian legends.

Set began to be considered an evil deity during the New Kingdom, when the Hyksos conquered the North. They revered him, a cult reigned in their lands, temples were built. After this event, Seth began to be associated with foreigners, which strengthened his negative traits. After the unification of the Egyptian lands, the pharaohs neglected the worship of Set, but later it was resumed, and some began to be given the names of this deity.

The god Set in Ancient Egypt has a controversial meaning for the Egyptians. On the one hand, he is the personification of chaos, war, sandstorms, but, on the other hand, he is the embodiment of strength, militancy and masculinity. His elevation to the rank of an evil deity is associated with historical events, such as the expulsion of foreigners from the northern lands of Egypt. The legends of Set are an indication that ancient Egyptian mythology is multifaceted, like the beliefs of other ancient civilizations.

Set has been worshiped since prehistoric times, as evidenced by the fact that his images, statues and amulets have been found dating back to all periods of ancient Egyptian history. Moreover, these finds relate not only to Nagada, where, according to tradition, he was born, but to all other regions of Egypt.

One of the earliest known images of the god is on the mace of Scorpio (c. 3100 BC), the legendary first ruler of Egypt from pre-dynastic times.

During the Second Dynasty (c. 2890 – 2686 BC), Set was closely associated with Asch, the ancient god of the Upper Egyptian city of Ombos, whom he replaced as that city's chief deity.

Also during the Second Dynasty, the figure of Set appears on the serekh (rectangular tablet-stele with the name of the pharaoh) of Peribsen and on the serekh of Khasekhemwu, where the image of Horus the falcon was also located, thereby indicating a certain equality at this time with the great falcon god.

That is, in certain periods of the third millennium BC. Seth somewhat supplanted Horus as the guardian and patron of the pharaohs, forming a kind of tandem with him.

Both characters symbolized the gods of royalty and the deities of the North (Horus) and the South (Set).

They were often later depicted together with the pharaoh, symbolizing the unification of the two lands - Upper and Lower Egypt - on royal thrones, temple reliefs, etc., crowning and blessing the king to rule.

"Golden periods" of Seth worship

Set's popularity varied during different periods of Egyptian history. In addition to the several periods mentioned above in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. Two more periods can be distinguished when the influence of his cult of Set was especially significant.

The first occurs in the 2nd Intermediate Period during the reigns of the pharaohs of the XV-XVI dynasties (c. 1674 - 1567 BC), who came from the Hyksos, who conquered Lower Egypt. The Hyksos in the Delta probably identified him with their own god Baal.

The second surge of special veneration and attention to Seth was observed during the reign of the Ramessides (XIX and XX dynasties, c. 1293 - 1070 BC), when many Egyptian pharaohs bore the name of the god as their main and additional ones. Seti I (c. 1291 - 1278) is one of the most famous and famous rulers of Ancient Egypt.

The struggle between Set and Horus for the Egyptian throne

After the death of Osiris, who according to some myths was killed by Seth, for a long time - for 80 years - he fought with Horus (Horus, Horus), the son of Osiris, for the royal throne of Egypt.

Many myths of Ancient Egypt convey the intensity of the struggle between these two opponents, giving bloody details of the battle. In particular, Horus tried to kill Set with a spear, when the latter, in the guise of a hippopotamus, tore out Horus's left eye. Horus ultimately defeated the enemy by castrating Set (removing the man's testicles).

The Egyptian gods, concerned about the long-term feud between Set and Horus, gathered at a special tribunal to evaluate each claim to the royal title. The Council of Gods declared Horus the winner and made him ruler of Lower and Upper Egypt.

Set had to give the eye of Horus and, according to one mythological tradition, he was killed; according to another, he joined the retinue of the god Ra and became the voice of thunder; according to the third, he was modeled after Horus.

Seth is the personification of the hostile world and evil

In the beginning, Set was not a deity with such negative characteristics and an evil character. He acquired them over time, probably as a result of a series of political and social events that were reflected in myths, gradually significantly changing the original image of God and his perception.

Throughout Egyptian history, Set's reputation gradually became worse and worse until he became Set, the hideous god of evil.

The world outside the Nile Valley, deserts, foreign states - that is, what was hostile, dangerous for the Egyptians, a manifestation of chaos and disorganization was associated with Seth as their personification. In the world of Seth, the divine law of order - maat - does not apply.

The connection of the god with other states led to the fact that in Egyptian mythology he was sometimes connected by marital ties with the foreign cruel Semitic goddesses Astarte and Anat (among the Egyptian goddesses proper, Nephthys was considered his wife, sometimes the hippopotamus goddess Tauret, and “Pyramid Texts”, TP 1521 , even the warlike goddess Neith is mentioned as such).

Breaker of all taboos

New Kingdom texts credit Set with committing a series of blasphemous crimes, such as cutting down sacred trees and hunting sacred fish, birds and animals.

He was also notorious as a notorious violator of sexual taboos. His lustful nature leads to inappropriate heterosexual and homosexual encounters.

In one myth, he is punished for copulating with the "semen goddess" who personified the creator's sperm. Another myth describes Set's attempt to sexually dominate his rival, Horus, leading to the unnatural birth of the moon god Thoth.

There is a mythological story according to which it was Set, in the guise of the crocodile Sobek, who swallowed the phallus of the god Osiris when he was thrown by the same Set into the Nile.

At Edfu, the clergy of Horus celebrated the day of Set's castration in response to Set's dismemberment of Osiris's body and the plucking out of Horus's eye.

During the Greco-Roman period, Set was severely criticized in most temples. The Greeks identified Set with the monster Typhon, who rebelled against the gods and was to be destroyed by Zeus.

Set as War God

However, Seth was not the embodiment of “pure evil” for the Egyptians. He was the lord of metals. Subsequently, when the Egyptians learned to produce iron, the hardest metal at that time, it was called the “bones of Set.”

Seth was the personification of strength, especially in the military sense. Set himself was considered a great warrior. Set's main weapon is a giant mace or scepter. He was also excellent with a spear.

This appearance could not but be attractive to the warlike Egyptian pharaohs, who turned for support to many gods with pronounced “military” features: Montu, Mihosu, Neith, etc.

The great conqueror Pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty Thutmose III (c. 1504 - 1450 BC) - “Napoleon of antiquity” - called himself “the favorite of Set.” There is an image on a relief from the temple at Karnak, in which Set helps Thutmose III to hit his enemies with arrows from a bow.

It is said about the famous pharaoh of the 19th dynasty Ramesses II (c. 1279 - 1212 BC) that during the battle of Kadesh he fought the enemies “like Set.”

Protector and guardian of the god Ra

Like any Egyptian god, even the most bloodthirsty, Set has many positive aspects in Egyptian mythology.

He was the one who, for example, every night struck with his spear the evil snake Apophis (Apophis), the sworn enemy of the sun god, when Apophis tried to attack the boat of the god Ra during the night voyage through the underworld.

And the very concept of “evil” for the Egyptians was necessary in order to ensure the existence of “good”. The struggle between evil and good, light and night, cold and heat, etc. is necessary for the existence of the entire universe from the point of view of the Egyptian worldview. Of course, this essentially correct philosophical idea could be expressed in those distant times only in mythological form. Therefore, Set is an important figure in ancient myths.

Overall, it appears that for the vast majority of Egyptians, Set remained an ambivalent deity at best for most of Egyptian history. In the Egyptian calendar, Set's birthday was considered a particularly unlucky day in all respects.

Cult centers of the god Set

Despite the odious nature of Set, the veneration of God is celebrated in all periods of Egyptian history, and not only when he was especially singled out from among other gods. Set had cult centers in various areas and especially in Upper Egypt, where he was often regarded as the divine patron of that part of the country, symbolically balancing the patronage of Horus over Lower Egypt.

The god's earliest cult center was perhaps at ancient Nubta, Greek Ombos, located about 30 km north of Luxor, at the entrance to Wadi Hammamat, the route through the eastern desert. It was believed that Seth was born in this area.

Seth was also especially respected in the 5th, 10th, 11th and 19th nomes (regions) of Upper Egypt (see Map of Ancient Egypt). However, Set was also popular in Lower Egypt, especially in the 14th nome, which is located in the northeast of Egypt.

A cult center of the god also existed in the royal city of Pi-Ramses in the Delta.

Iconography of Set

The Egyptian god Set is usually depicted with the body of a man and the head of a mythical animal resembling a donkey or anteater with unusual rectangular ears.

There are also images of the god when he has the body of a predatory beast or mammal with the head of the aforementioned mythical animal, with a long branched tail.

Finally, Seth sometimes appears in the form of animals about which people had mixed feelings, such as a hippopotamus, a crocodile or a pig. Also depicted as a dog, donkey, antelope, etc.

Mythology tells us that he had red eyes and hair, a color traditionally associated with the hot sands of the desert. Interestingly, animals with red fur, even men with red hair, were considered followers of Set.

Amulets and Set

Amulets depicting the god were not widespread, but nevertheless exist. They were apparently used to resist the influence of other unfriendly gods or to protect themselves from the negative influence of Set himself.

His head in images and amulets is sometimes crowned with the White Crown of Upper Egypt or the Double Crown of all Egypt.