Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Mythology Explained, in today’s video we’re going
to be discussing Set, the Egyptian god of war. Here’s what’s in store: a god impregnated
by eating lettuce leaves; a god who travels through the underworld and fights a giant
hell-serpent every night; a god who murders his brother and chops the body into pieces;
and a god who surprise attacks his nephew in the desert, gouging out his eyes and leaving
him for dead.
Let’s get into it.
Set was one of the Ennead, a Greek word that refers to the first nine gods to come into
existence in one of the main versions of the creation myth. In this version, Atum was the
first deity to rise from the primordial mound. He was self-created, and after his genesis,
he rose a second time, as Atum Re, making him both the chief creator and the embodiment
of the sun. He independently sired two gods, shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). These two,
in turn, begot Geb (earth) and Nut (sky), whose union produced the final four gods of
this group, Osiris, the lord of the underworld, set, we’ll get to him in just a moment,
Isis, the goddess of healing and magic, and Nepthys, who was associated with many things,
mourning, child bearing, and protection among them.
set was the younger brother of Osiris, and he took Nephtys, his sister, as his consort,
just as Osiris took Isis to be his. set was the god of many phenomena and abstractions
associated with strength and destruction. Among these were violence, chaos, eclipses,
earthquakes, the untamed desert, and storms of all natures. He and Osiris combined into
a sort of dichotomy whereby Osiris was lord over the ancient Egyptian empire - civilized
lands - and set was the lord over lands either populated by foreign countries or covered
by rugged wilderness - uncivilized lands.
In keeping with the divine aesthetic in ancient Egypt, set was depicted with the head of an
animal. However, his appearance is unique in that, unlike the other gods with hybrid
appearances, the animal whose likeness set’s head was modeled after was never definitively
identified. It looked to be dog-like in appearance, yet it possessed a vague similarity to an
ant-eater; and today, it is hypothesized that the animal that inspired the appearance of
set’s head is likely a mythical amalgamation of many animals.
Though never the most popular god, he was revered for his physical strength in earlier
years. “The beloved of set” was a title taken by many pharaohs, equating their strength
to that of the mighty god. This is exemplified by the depiction of set teaching Pharaoh Thutmose
III how to shoot a bow.
Later, around the eighth century BC, set ceased to be a deity honored by worship. He came
to be the incarnation of evil and, as such, became a dark god, feared and reviled.
I would guess that a primary contributing factor for the decline of set’s image in
the eye of the public was the role he played in the succession myth, which was, unequivocally,
the part of the villain. Because Osiris was the older brother, he was made king, and to
say that being subordinate to his older brother never sat well with set would be an extreme
understatement. set coveted the throne, and his mind was consumed by machinations spawned
from jealousy and rage. Eventually, brooding turned into action, and dark thoughts escalated
to dark actions. set struck down his brother, chopped the body into pieces, and hid them
across egypt. With Osiris gone, the other gods accepted set’s rule, crystallizing
the success of the usurpation. However, this victory was not to last.
Many events ensue that I’m going to gloss over because set isn’t directly involved
in them, but here they are expressed as succinctly as possible: Osiris is resurrected for just
enough time to impregnates isis with a son, Horus; Horus is born in secret; Isis brings
Horus before the divine council to claim the throne, his birthright.
What follows after horus is presented before the divine council is 80 years of competition
between set and Horus in which they each vy for the throne. Let’s take a quick look
at a compilation of set’s highlighted moments during this drawn out contest:
First, set was tricked by Isis, exposing himself to be a hypocrite while Isis is disguised
as a young, beautiful woman. Next, set and Horus transformed into Hippos and thrashed
each other in the nile. Next, set came upon an unaware Horus in the desert and gouged
out the young god’s eyes, leaving him blind and alone. Next, Set became impregnated by
Horus after eating lettuce leaves covered in Horus’ semen; and finally, set and Horus
engaged in a contest to race stone ships down the nile. This account is severely truncated,
but it gives a good overview.
In the end, Horus wins and is declared the rightful king. set is defeated, but he is
offered a consolation prize. Re, the sun god, asked set to join him on his celestial boat.
And so, set became the ship's defender, and as it traveled through the underworld at night,
set battled against the hell-serpent Apophis, protecting Re.
That’s it for today’s video. If you enjoy the content please LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE
to the channel. Until next time, remember:
To pronounce the name of the dead is to make them live again