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Set is the ancient Egyptian god of strength, war, storms, chaos, confusion, foreign lands (and foreigners), and deserts in Egyptian mythology.
The Name Set
In the ancient Egyptian language the name of Set occurs in a number of forms. One of the earliest, found in the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts, was Setesh (stš). This form of the name later developed into Sutekh (swtḫ), which was widely used during the New Kingdom and afterwards; a form similar to this is recorded in Akkadian texts. A shorter form, however, is also attested, namely Sety (sty) and Set (st), and it is the transcription of this latter that is popular with many Egyptologists. In ancient Greek texts, such as Greek transcriptions of Egyptian royal names, his name was recorded as Seth (Σέθως). The Greek author Plutarch wrote in De Isidæ et Osiridæ that "Seth" (i.e., "Set") was the name the Egyptians called Typhon, a Greek titan associated with hot, dry winds, and a storm deity much like Set.
Iconography
Set was typically represented as having a human body, but the head of some unidentified (and probably mythical) animal with a long, curved snout and long, squared ears. He could also be represented in a full animal form, typcially with an errect forked tail and a canine body. Although the so-called "Seth-animal" is a completely mythical beast, in the past, some believed the animal represented was an aardvark, a type of wild pig, or a donkey. In addition, Set was on occasion represented as abhorred animals, such as a pig, hippopotamus, or donkey, but in these cases the representation is clearly that of the known animal. A new development that is gaining more popularity involves the Mormyrus kannamae or Nile Mormyrid that resides in the waters near Kom Ombos, one of the sites of a Temple of Set that suggests very strongly that the head of Set could actually be this fish.
The earliest known representation of Set comes from a tomb dating to the Naqqada I phase of the Predynastic Period (circa 4000–3500 BCE), and the "Seth-animal" is found on a macehead of the Protodynastic ruler, king Scorpion.
During the Ramesside Period (i.e., Dynasties 19 and 20), Set was depicted as various Canaanite storm deities, including Baal and Resheph.
Mythology
In the earliest Egyptian religious texts, the Pyramid Texts, Set is part of the Ennead of Heliopolis, where he is described as being the son of the sky goddess Nut, the brother of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys. Nephthys was the consort of Set, and in one Egyptian text (te Velde 1967:29–30), she is said to be the mother of Set's son, Anubis (whom she abandons), though most other texts agree with Plutarch's statement that Anubis was the son of Osiris, as is recounted in the Legend of Osiris and Isis, which began to develop around 2400 BC, and became the greatest tale in Egyptian mythology, surviving even into the Roman period.
In particular, since Set was the god of the desert, he was seen as infertile, and so unable to have children. It was this principle that lead to him being seen as gay, both, in the Early Dynastic Period, having a male lover in the (originally) Libyan god Ash, and also in his interfemoral intercourse with Horus in attempting to prove his dominance.
Unlike Plutarch's, native Egyptian texts never explicitly detail the murder of Osiris by Set, but the conflict between Set and the son of Osiris, Horus, is described in great detail. This is particularly so in a 20th Dynasty composition written in Late Egyptian known as the Contendings of Horus and Set [[http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/texts/horus_and_seth.htm text]], recorded in papyrus Chester Beatty I.
Beginning with the Coffin Texts, Set assumed a role as protector of the solar god Ra as he journeyed through the Netherworld during the night. The Egyptians recognised that Set's dangerous strength as a thunder god and agressive warrior could be focused in a positive manner, for it was Set's duty to fight and kill Apep, the evil serpent of darkness who attacked Ra each night. He is often depicted standing on the prow of Ra's night barque spearing Apep in the form of a serpent, turtle, or other dangerous water animal. 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. (Such an attitude may be seen earlier when the name of king Seti I [literally, "He of Set"] had the hieroglyph for the god Ptah substituted for that of Set, particularly at Karnak.)
Set was regarded as a deity of foreign peoples and lands. Some scholars hold that after Egypt's conquest by the Persian ruler Cambyses II, Set became associated with foreigners and particularly foreign oppressors, including the Achaemenid Persians, Ptolemaic Greeks, and Romans. During the late New Kingdom, he was identified by the Egyptians with the Hittite deity Teshub. It is during the Græco-Roman Period that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated. In later years, well into the New Kingdom, Set was often described as being the consort of ˁAshtart or ˁAnat. However, this association goes back much further; during the Second Intermediate Period the Asiatic rulers of the Nile delta, the Hyksos worshipped Set at Avaris.
Cult Places
Within the Nile valley, Seth was venerated at Naqqada (Ombos) since the Predynastic Period. There was a temple dedicated to Set in the Hyksos city of Avaris, and later in the nearby Ramesside city of Per-Ramesses (Qantir). From at least the Third Intermediate Period and through the Roman Period, there was a temple dedicated to Set in the village of Mut al-Kharab in the Dakhlah Oasis, where he was the chief deity long after his cult was banished from the Nile valley.
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