No. 258Egyptian Traditions

Set

𓋴𓏏𓃩

Egyptian lord of desert, storm and strength, guardian of Ra's solar barque

Set, also written Seth, Sutekh or Setekh, is the ancient Egyptian god of the desert, the thunderstorm and the foreign road. He was worshipped from Predynastic times, with his centre at Nubt (Greek Ombos), and is the brother of Osiris. Plutarch records his birth on the third of the five days outside the year. Kings honoured him as one of the Two Lords beside Horus, and the Ramesside pharaohs took his name: Seti means "of Set".

He was lord of the oases and the Red Land, and a god of strength and of foreign lands. By night he stood at the prow of Ra's barque, spear raised against the serpent Apep. Later ages cast him as a villain, yet his cult lasted in the oases into the Roman period. Kemetic polytheists honour him today as a god in his own right.

See the gallery
Set
Scarab with Figure of Winged Seth-Baal, ca. 1300–1080 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922 (CC0)

How to recognise Set

  1. The Set animal headLook for a long, down-curved snout, tall upright ears with square tips and slanting eyes; the animal has never been securely identified, so it is shown as its own composite creature.
  2. Man's body, animal headHe is most often a man with the Set animal's head, in profile or frontal in the Egyptian manner, as in the Ramesses III statue group where he stands with Horus.
  3. Was-sceptreA long straight staff with a forked foot and the Set animal's head on top, standing for power and strength.
  4. AnkhA plain loop-topped cross, the sign of life, held in his other hand.
  5. Spear at Ra's barqueIn his protective role he stands at the prow of the solar barque and spears the serpent Apep; at Hibis in Kharga Oasis he appears in this scene with a falcon's head and wings.
  6. RedRed is the colour of the desert, the Red Land set against the black fertile soil, and Egyptian tradition also gave him red hair.
  7. Other formsHe may appear as the full Set animal with a forked tail, or as a bull, wild ass, boar or hippopotamus, and in the Book of the Faiyum with a flamingo's head.

Names and titles

  • Great of StrengthAn ancient epithet; the Hibis relief calls him 'Seth, great of strength'
  • Lord of the OasisIn the Dakhla and Kharga oases he was the local protector god
  • Spearman at the ProwAt night he stands at the front of Ra's barque and spears the serpent Apep
  • Lord of the DesertSet rules the desert and the lands beyond the Nile valley
  • The Name Behind SetiPharaohs Seti I and II bore his name, which means 'he of Set'

Set in the shop

Designs of Set are being drawn: cute, vintage and a painted portrait.

Sources

  1. Britannica: Seth (Egyptian god)
  2. Britannica summary: Seth (Egyptian god)
  3. Wikipedia: Set (deity)
  4. Wikipedia: Set animal
  5. Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum: Seth
  6. Ancient Egypt Online (ancientegyptonline.co.uk): Set
  7. Ancient Egypt Online: Seth
  8. EBSCO Research Starters: Seth (deity)
  9. Netjeru: Set
  10. Wikipedia: Seti I
  11. Wikiwand: Set (deity)
  12. Joan Lansberry: Set and Apep (quoting te Velde and Frankfurter)
  13. Wikipedia: Sepermeru
  14. World Mythology (CCCOnline): Isis, Osiris and Horus (Plutarch, De Iside)
  15. E. A. Wallis Budge: Egyptian Book of the Dead
  16. Desert of Set: It's Setian, Not Satanic
  17. Wikipedia: Temple of Set
  18. Britannica Kids: Seth
  19. Academia.edu: The Sites of Seth
  20. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Divine Egypt object list
  21. Wikipedia: Was-sceptre
  22. Tales from the Two Lands: Perceptions of Seth (Ian Taylor)
  23. World History Encyclopedia: Statue of Set
  24. Herman te Velde: Seth, God of Confusion (Brill, 1967)
  25. Crystalinks: Set
  26. LikeMyth: Set, Egyptian God Explained
  27. Akhret Notes: Set

Also in Egyptian Traditions

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