Seth the Cult Leader?
Figure 1: Anubis from Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity de Samuel Sharpe (1863)
Of course, the word cult has a lot of implications in the world of today, and really in the past hundred years or so, even though we have HEARD about the really crazy ones like the Manson family, Heaven’s Gate, and the People’s Temple at Jonestown since the 1960s. And, to be honest, a lot of that knowledge is likely because of the growing worldwide media after the war. But cults from this millennium are not my focus. If true crime is what you want, I’m sure there’s a podcast to fit your interests more on the suggested tab. But, hey, hang around for a bit, or listen there and then come back, ancient cults are still extremely interesting.
But, I digress, ancient cults were different, a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object, generally a smaller group than the majorly accepted religion. However, even this isn’t a fully working definition for the regularity and acceptance of “cults”. Really, an ancient cult was the veneration of A PARTICULAR deity, as opposed to the rest of the pantheon at the same time. This was also worldwide; we are told that we have cults in Mesoamerica, of Quetzalcoatl, the cult of the Dionysian Mysteries (this one went against the upper-class societal norms), and the cults of Isis, Amun, Osiris, and Horus as divine cults along with funerary cults for ansectors (in case it seems like cults can’t be gods that you know are “good”, even though ALL of the diety examples I gave are friends to humanity, plus more). It’s more like “cult” was a word twisted to be a scary term for non-Christian worship because the Latin root colere meant "to till," "to cultivate," and "to worship". It evolved into the noun cultus, signifying "care," "worship," or "devotion". The term entered English in the 17th century via the French word culte, initially referring to a system of worship. Over time, its meaning broadened to include devotion to a person or thing, and by the early 20th century, it developed the negative connotations it often carries today, referring to unorthodox or extremist groups. (Harper n.d.).
Seth was a trickster and could be bad, but he could be a hero… that is, until the New Kingdom. In the rundown of the episode named Seth of episode 2 in season 3, Dr Daniel Jackson goes over his research into Seth from the Goa’uld’s history.
On the pyramid “family tree” that they show at the very beginning, Seth is one of the four gods that are right underneath Ra, and then another, I think there are eight in that row, aka S'tec, Seti, Set, Setesh. The Ancient Egyptian god of chaos, the embodiment of hostility and outright evil. Out of thousands of Goa'uld, there are twelve system lords, who are met later in the show. The Tok'ra lost track of Seth when the Earth's stargate was buried in ancient Egypt. Which you find out later in the show was around 3000 BCE. They reveal that he never left Earth, and on the moderate cliffhanger (hill hanger?) they go to the intro. Sam's dad, Selmak, representative of the Tok’ra, says that Seth had a price on his head because he went against Ra; system lords wanted and still want him dead, as did the Tok’ra, since he’s still a goa’uld. So, he wants to keep hiding so he wouldn’t be caught, but he still has that embedded yearning for power and worshippers.
It actually takes until the seven-minute and thirteen-second mark for them to start telling the history of Seth on earth, by tracking cults. Daniel says there have been cults throughout history. In one form or another, honouring Seth since one thousand BCE, he was represented by an animal that was either fictitious or extinct, and most likely, the former, rather than the latter, since anthropologists haven't been able to find any fossils. Which, in itself, is a strange thing for Daniel to say, because anthropologists don't dig up fossils; that's palaeontologists, which he should differentiate as an archaeologist, a subset of anthropology [fight me in the comments].
Then Teal’c chimes in with one of my favourite bits in the entire freaking show, ‘the helmets of the satesh guard have been the source of many jokes among the jaffa’, and one of them translated is, "a serpent guard, a Horus guard, and a Setesh guard meet on a neutral planet. It is a tense moment. The serpent guard's eyes glow, the Horus guard's beak glistens, the setesh guard's nose drips." And Teal'c bursts out laughing ❤️, but no one gets it. And he feels embarrassed, and it's so sad because it's so endearing.
Daniel adds, "After Seth was supposedly killed in ancient Egypt, along with all of his minions, a similar God showed up called Typhon. Similar backstories and domains, and another fictitious animal representation.” The original Typhon was generally described as a gigantic, winged, serpentine monster in Greek mythology, described as having a human torso, a massive, star-brushing head with fiery eyes, and a lower body composed of coiling snakes. He possessed hundreds of dragon-like, venomous heads on his fingers and could mimic the sounds of any animal. His immense size and monstrous features symbolised the destructive force of violent storms and volcanic activity, but of course, sources varied. (Ogden 2013a: 72; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1.187 (I: 16–17); Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2.30, 36 (I: 46–47), 2.141 (I: 54–55); Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1.173 (I: 16–17), 2.32 (I: 46–47); Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1.154–162 (I: 14–15)).
In the show, one of Typhon's last ‘myths’ said that he killed 300 followers, then disappeared from Greece, and any connection to Seth seemed to disappear from recorded history altogether. Until Daniel found the cult of Satesh that arose in England in the early 1800s near the location of Stonehenge, the cult had an enigmatic leader named Seth. They were constantly under attack by the Christians then, and Daniel says, “This is the important part… the worshippers, all of them were found dead, having slit their own throats”. The website, though, actually says “1722 in Wilkshire, England”, that's not the eighteen hundreds, that is the eighteenth century. But Seth's body was never found. [I wish I had access to the website that the show is showing, but it doesn't have any bar for the address, and most assuredly doesn’t actually exist.]
Daniel then followed a WHIM to search the CIA website for cults in the 1990s. The ATF (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) was investigating a cult leader named Seth in the show, because they had become so heavily armed and fortified with about 50 followers who were apparently ready to die for him. On the ATF webpage, he found a file on the Children of Seth, which is a cult just north of Seattle led by a guy, supposedly born in 1962, but they don't really know, named Seth Fargough played by Robert Duncan (why didn’t the character change his name, probably would have still been tracked down by the team, but he’s definitely not in hiding, guess he never thought other goa’uld would have come back by then).
Figure 2. Seth played by Robert Duncan
Luckily, there were deprogrammed members of the cult who the government interviewed, and they described Seth as having magical powers with the ability to heal. Sources said that it came from his hand, and the ATF said that such reports were attributed to the hallucinogenic drugs to enforce control within the cult, but the website adds, “harder to attribute is that several independent reports that said the cult leader can make his eyes glow and that expert medical professionals had no explanation for this phenomenon”.
What I do like is that the show really wrote out the entire thing that they're reading, even more than they're not even talking about. It's nice when the background prop and set work is actually done.
The cult members were controlled through the drug Nish'ta that made them subservient to the Goa'uld’s will. Women who were part of the cult became part of a harem that tended to Lord Setesh, while some males would become guards and warriors who were stationed outside. Some males would be located inside Setesh's temple and were eunuchs. The cult had access to both human weapons as well as some advanced Goa'uld equipment that Setesh would provide.
Figure 3. Seth sending out the Nish’ta to brainwash the SG-1 team.
The Cult came to an end when Setesh was killed by Captain Samantha Carter, a member of SG-1 (SG1: "Seth"). So yes, by the end of the episode, Set gets killed and is never seen again… talk about a one-off villain.
What we don’t know in the show until a much later season is the confirmation that Seth is the brother of Osiris. Seth banished Osiris and his queen, Isis, many thousands of years ago on Earth. He placed the two Goa'uld symbiotes into small stasis jars and, according to Egyptian mythology, cast them into the Nile River. Isis eventually perished because the jar cracked, but in the episode “The Curse” Osiris escaped imprisonment, took the new host archaeologist Dr Sarah Gardner and fled Earth. To later return to the show and will be discussed on a later podcast episode. (GateWorld 2025).
"Seth is life, Seth is happiness, Seth is almighty."
―Disciples of Setesh
Behind the Scenes
The Cult of Setesh has several parallels with the real life Branch Davidian cult involved in the infamous Waco Siege of 1993. For example, the leader, David Koresh believed in an imminent coming of the Apocalypse and illegally stockpiled machine guns, ammunition, and explosives in anticipation of such a battle. (SGCommand, C. T. n.d.)
Getting back to the mythology, Daniel and, by extension, the entire show missed all of the nuance from before Seth, or the actual mythological deity, was ‘evil’. So I won’t make that mistake, let’s start at as much of a beginning as possible.
Figure 4. Seth of Nubt, Relief on the Funerary Temple of Sahure. 5th Dynasty Egypt – Egyptian Museum of Berlin.
Introduction and Early Iconography
Multiple debates concern the true nature of Set, Son of Nut. Since he is described as the god of confusion and disorder (te Velde, “Seth”), one may be tempted to compare him to Hermes of Greece, to Loki or Odin of Norse mythology, or even Coyote from Indigenous groups in North America, all notorious for being mischievous tricksters. However, Seth’s character is more complicated than this. Although both Loki and Hermes share some characteristics with Seth, this mysterious Egyptian god is incredibly muddled with interpretations and misrepresentations; the confusion is only exacerbated by the relative lack of depth of available texts. One thing remains certain: the god Set is not a simple character. His stories and worship, or lack thereof, evolve to reflect his constantly shifting image. Many aspects of his nature remain shrouded in mystery, which further complicates his character. (Byun 2023)
Figure 5. Mace-head of King Scorpion
Figure 6. A Relief of Seth Animal from Temple of Edfu
Scholars continue to debate the exact zoomorphic form that Seth embodies, a characteristic that is typically well-defined in many other Egyptian deities: Horus as the falcon, Anubis as the jackal, and Thoth as the ibis. Set, however, appears in both semi-anthropomorphic and animal representations featuring a curved head, tall square-topped ears, and erect, arrow-like tails. Despite this modicum of consistency, his form remains a mystery to modern researchers. For instance, Newberry, while acknowledging that the depictions on monuments resemble greyhounds, insists they are actually “semi-feral and feral swine” (217), backing his argument with numerous ancient murals depicting pigs. (Byun 2023)
Unfortunately, no one claim has been convincing enough. Due to this lack of consensus, the animal is now simply referred to as the ‘Seth-animal’ (Figure 2). Several debates about this mysterious creature involve various Egyptologists and their arguments for aardvarks, oryxes, donkeys, okapi, and even camels (“Seth, God of Confusion” 13). Such a lack of understanding of Seth’s iconography further heightens his role as the “god of confusion” to a modern audience. (Byun 2023)
The origin and meaning of Set’s name is also confounding; it can be written and pronounced many different ways, such as: sts, sth, swth, sth, and swti. In Egyptian texts, the Seth animal itself was used as a determinative usually for words associated with the disruptions of truth and order (the Egyptian concept of ma’at), such as physical aggression, loud noises, disease, and unusual meteorological events.4 Seth as the patron god of the 11th nome of Upper Egypt, is found in multiple hieroglyphs or equivalent cursive scripts. These specific determinative glyphs referred to the E20 seated, E21 prone Seth animal and C7 seated Set deity, which are on the sign list published in Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar, 1957 third edition, reprinted 1994 (Figures -). There are instances where a hieroglyph is not listed, such as the striding Seth animal or the Ptolemaic prone ass (Cruz-Uribe 2009).
In the Pyramid Texts (c.2356-2152 BCE), Set is established as a member of the Ennead, the group of nine gods consisting of the creator god and the first three generations of his offspring, which feature in the creation account associated with the site of Iwnw (Greek Heliopolis), the main center of the Egyptian solar cult. The creator god Atum arose upon a primaeval mound out of the waters of chaos. Atum created the first gendered pair of deities, Shu and Tefnut, who went on to produce the gods Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) . The latter pair of deities had four or five divine children of their own: Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys and Horus the Elder (called Heru’Ur by the ancient Egyptians), who is distinct from Horus the Younger, the son of Osiris and Isis (depending on the version). It is this mythic lineage which gives Set one of his most common epithets, Son of Nut.5
Set was the Egyptian god of war, chaos, and storms. He was always considered a brother-husband to Nephthys, despite having multiple wives and consorts. One of his other consorts, a main one, was the goddess Tawaret, a hippo-headed deity who presided over fertility and childbirth (Mark 2016). Which you’d think in Greece would connect him pretty seamlessly to Aries, god of war, and his affair with the goddess of love, Aphrodite, but I guess not.
His name is usually translated as "instigator of confusion" and "destroyer" and was associated with disorder, foreign lands and people, and the color red (Mark 2016). In some versions, he was depicted as bursting out of the womb of his mother, Nut. He was said to have been an unfaithful husband to his consort and sister, Nephthys, with multiple wives and mistresses, even though that wasn’t abnormal at the time, and murdering Osiris, whom he tricked into entering a chest, which he then closed and hurled into the river to be carried out to the Mediterranean Sea. However, after either Osiris’s murder or his imprisonment and death, again, depending on the version, Horus the Younger was conceived miraculously by Isis (unless he wasn’t *wink*), the wife and sister of Osiris.
(If they ever existed in the same myth, Horus the Younger may have been named after his uncle, just like Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger. It seemed to be an either-or situation as I dove into the Heru’Ur episode [link].) For the son-uncle narrative, much like Hamlet and The Lion King, Horus struggled to dispose of Set from his father’s throne. As in the prodigal son returns trope, this struggle forms the theme of the Ramesside text The Contending of Horus and Seth. This borders on satire and the later, much more sombre version recorded by Plutarch, does have Seth as the embodiment of the Greek demon Typhon (which I’ll go over more later). (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2025).
In Egypt, instead of a dragon-like monster, Set was represented as a different sort of composite figure, with a canine body, slanting eyes, square-tipped ears, a tufted (or forked in some representations) tail, and a long, curved, pointed snout. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2025) Sometimes he is more specifically depicted as a red-haired beast with a forked tail and cloven hooves or a shaggy red dog-like beast known as a sha (or, to modern-day scholars, as the Set Animal) which some scholars claim was modeled on the Saluki breed while others maintain was a purely mythological creature imagined specifically to represent Set whose other symbols were the griffin, hippopotamus, crocodile, and tortoise (though he was primarily associated with the serpent). But he was also represented by various animals, including the aardvark, antelope, ass, camel, fennec, greyhound, jackal, jerboa, long-snouted mouse, okapi, oryx, and pig have been suggested as the basis for his form. Because even the ancient Egyptians rendered his figure inconsistently, it is probably a mythical composite (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2025).
Originally, Set was a sky god, lord of the desert, master of storms, disorder, and warfare, and notably acted as a trickster archetype. His epithets include "Lord of the Desert" and "Ruler of the South", as he was originally a god of Upper Egypt. Because the Nile runs south to north, Set rules the mountains and the lands beyond Egypt's borders (Mark 2016). The worship of Set originally centred at Nubt (Ombos in Greek), near present-day Ṭūkh, on the western bank of the Nile River. Nubt, with its vast cemetery at nearby Naqādah, was the principal predynastic center for Set’s worship in Upper Egypt (Schorsch & Wypyski 184). This is the probable reason for Set’s title Nbwty or ‘the one of Nubt’ (Castillos 4).
Though Naqada was located in the 5th nome of Upper Egypt, Seth was also venerated in the 10th, 11th, and 19th nomes, as well as the royal city of Pi-Ramesses in the delta; the prolific worship of the god proved his significance across all of Egypt (Wilkinson 199). As the patron god of Upper Egypt, he was thought to have been born at the entrance to the Wadi Hammamat and to function as the counterpart to Horus of Lower Egypt (Byun 2023). The city of Nubt lost its preeminent position with the unification of Egypt about 3050 BCE, which was carried out under kings whose capital was Abydos and whose royal god was Horus.
In the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (c. 3150 - c. 2613 BCE) Set was an important - and benevolent - god of Upper Egypt whose name was invoked for love spells and inscribed on amulets which served as love charms. He was also the deity who saved the sun god Re from the serpent Apep/Apophis, an evil creature who tried to stop the sun god's journey through the night sky toward dawn (listen to the Apep episode to hear more about him). Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson comments on this myth and Set's role as hero, writing:
It was said that each night Apophis hypnotized Ra and the entourage who sail with him except for the god Seth who resisted the serpent's deadly stare and repulsed him with the thrust of a great spear. (221)
Set assured that the sun would rise the next morning and could also seen as a benefactor who helped the people in life and provided for them after death.
The image of Set first appears on the mace head of King Scorpion, one of the most prominent kings of predynastic Egypt (Figure 1). The relic was retrieved from the main deposit of Hierakonpolis, a southern Egyptian site that is a notably significant and prolific source of archaeological evidence. This particular ceremonial weapon dates to the first Naqada period (4th millennium BCE), confirming that Set was one of the oldest Egyptian gods. Some Egyptologists have even suggested that Set was “the primary god in the Naqada I culture” (Rikala 220). However, according to Wainwright, the most definitive evidence of Set’s presence in the region appears in the form of a figure that dates to Naqada II culture (13). Wainwright believes that the image on the mace head of King Scorpion was actually that of Min, a male fertility god similar to but separate from Set (14).
The Worship of Seth
Similar to the complex and contradictory character of Seth in mythology, his worship in Ancient Egypt evolved through multiple phases. Consider the 2nd Dynasty, occurring approximately 1700 years before the composition of The Contendings and only a few centuries following the spread of the Naqada culture. One of its later pharaohs, Peribsen, broke with a longstanding tradition by adopting a Seth-name serekh instead of the customary Horus-name serekh, being Seth-Peribsen (Figure 5). This choice, favoring the desert god as his patron, was potentially revolutionary. Earlier Egyptologists proposed that Seth-Peribsen’s Seth serekh indicated the existence of two rival kingdoms in predynastic Egypt—one ruled by Horus and the other by Seth—and that Peribsen’s rise marked a temporary victory for the Seth faction (Castillos 85). Dunn contributes to this discussion by noting that Seth-Peribsen’s successor, Khasekhem, altered his Horus name to Khasekhemwy, meaning “The Two Powerful Ones Appear,” after he “quashed a rebellion, thus reuniting Upper and Lower Egypt.” (Byun 2023)
Figure 7. The Seth-Serekh of Peribsen
Figure 8. The Seth-Horus Serekh of Khasekhemwy
Figure 9. Example of ‘Golden Horus’ from the Cartouche of Thutmosis III; the hanging bead under the falcon reads ‘gold’
The serekh for Khasekhemwy, once again diverging from tradition, uses both Horus and Seth iconography (Figure 5), embedding the notion of newfound harmony. Seth’s reign as the patron god was short, as Djoser, the first king of the 3rd Dynasty, promptly returned to the traditional Horus name. This earlier “rivalry of Horus and [Seth] must have been the cause of the later introduction of [Seth] into the myth of Osiris and Horus as their enemy and rival (Černý 32). Though this conjecture of competing kingdoms has fallen out of favor by scholars over time, the unconventional serekhs remain powerful evidence that Seth was a venerable god that pharaohs chose to adopt and worship along with — or even over — Horus. (Byun 2023)
In fact, Seth’s presence in the royal serekh was not fully eliminated. An example of the ‘Golden Horus name’ (Leprohon Figure 6), in which the traditional Horus falcon appears together with the hieroglyph ‘gold,’ spelling out ‘the golden falcon’ that was first donned by King Khaba of the 3rd Dynasty. The Golden Horus name is a more subtle invocation of the god (Leprohon) as Seth was expressed as ‘gold’ from his association with the cult center Nubt, the City of Gold. Considering “Ancient Egyptians’ dualistic view of the world, the presence of Horus in the early titulary of the king may have been balanced with that of Seth under the guise of the Golden Horus name” (15-6). A direct expression of Set may have been avoided, given his status as a god of chaos and his history of fratricide; nevertheless, his power and presence over the royal authority persisted. (Byun 2023)
The fluid nature of his cult mirrored both the Egyptians' evolving perceptions of him and the changing political landscape of Egypt. Long after the 3rd dynasty, King Apophis was a member of the Hyksos Dynasty — the first non-Egyptian family of kings to rule Egypt. As a foreigner himself, it makes sense that he would worship a god of foreigners. During this era of the Hyksos rulers, their dominance spanned roughly 50 years beyond the 2nd Intermediate Period (circa 1630–1521 BCE). Set was revered at their capital, Avaris, located in the northeastern Nile Delta, where he was equated with the Canaanite god Baal, a god of storms and aggression (Allon 20). In the papyrus record of a story called The Quarrel of Apophis and Seqenenre, it is noted that King Apophis of the 15th Dynasty “adopted for himself Seth as lord, and he refused to serve any god that was in the entire land except Seth” (Goldwasser 129). Eventually, the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt by the Thebans of the 17th Dynasty, but their cultural and religious influence, namely Set worship, persisted. (Byun 2023)
Figure 10. Seth, frontal view (Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek/Ole Haupt). Fig. 1. Seth, New Kingdom, 19-20th Dynasty (ca. 1295- 1070 Bc). Solid-cast unalloyed copper, arsenical copper, bronze, with silver and bronze inlay, traces of gold cladding. H. as restored 67.7 cm. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copen- hagen (Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek/Ole Haupt).
By the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 BCE)/(c. 1570-c. 1069 BCE), he came to be best known as the first murderer, who killed his older brother Osiris to reign over the world and then tried to murder Osiris' son Horus (Mark 2016). However, by the late New Kingdom, after the whole mess with Akhenaten, Tut, and the Game of Thrones style of vying for power, Seth reappeared as the patron deity of the Ramesside Kings of the 19th and the 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom (Wilkinson 197). Some Ramesside Kings adopted names that invoked him, such as Seti I and Seti II — whose names literally meant “man of Seth” — and the first Pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty, Setnakhte, whose name meant ‘victorious is Seth’.
Set was still esteemed as a major god who could sow discord among Egypt’s enemies. The Ramesside pharaohs (1292–c. 1075 BCE), who originated in the northeastern delta, ranked him among the great gods of Egypt reaffirming the image of Set as the protector of Re in the prow of his bark, slaying Re’s enemy, Apep. Set also joined Amon, Re, and Ptah as the fourth of the principal gods of the cosmos. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2025). Additionally, Ramesses III was honored with a granite statue that depicts both Horus and Seth crowning him king (Figure 7), which hints at Seth’s political significance. The names and the statue clearly point to the kings’ devout worship of both of these gods. (Byun 2023)
Figure 11. Statue of Ramesses III, Crowned by Horus and Seth
The most notable example of Seth worship occurred during the reign of Ramesses II (19th Dynasty): the construction of the Year 400 Stela (Figure 8). This granite stela, first discovered in the ruins of a temple in the city of Tanis by Auguste Mariette, marks the arrival of the Hyksos in Egypt, thus commemorating Set’s 400 years of rule over Egypt (Gardiner 165). The stela portrays Ramesses II making an offering of two vases of wine to Seth, whom the inscription describes as ‘Son of Nut.’ The fact that Ramesses II gave orders to set up the stela in the city of Avaris, the former political capital of the Hyksos (Wallis Budge 160), shows that the religious practices of the Hyksos were carried on by the later native-born kings. (Byun 2023)
Figure 12. Drawing of Year 400 Stela
After the New Kingdom, Egypt lost its empire and later its independence. As the cult of Osiris grew in prominence, Set was gradually ousted from the Egyptian pantheon. In the 1st millennium BCE his name and image were scratched off of many monuments. He was now identified as a god of the eastern invaders, including the Persians. No longer able to reconcile Set with Horus the Younger, which was basically the only one Greeks loved. Apophis (at this point), and Set were associated with evil in the form of the Greek Giant father of monsters, Typhon, who challenged the might of Zeus and was hurled into Tartarus. Elaborate rituals of the repeated defeat of Set as an enemy largely replaced the earlier ritual destructions of Apophis. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2025).
Set worship disappeared after the 20th Dynasty; no new temples were built in his honor, and no new royal names invoked him. It has been speculated that the Egypt of the Third Intermediate Period experienced an increased rate of aggression and conflicts with the Asiatic, including the Assyrians and the Persians, and had developed a more negative perception of foreigners. The reputation of the ‘Divine Foreigner’ was tarnished in the process, becoming increasingly associated with foreign oppressors in a process of ‘demonization’ (“Seth, God of Confusion” 138-40). Up until this point, Set was an ambiguous figure, but by the 26th dynasty, this was no longer the case. According to Turner,
“the Assyrian invasion of Egypt had scarred the inhabitants greatly, especially due to the sacking of Thebes …. He [Seth] now appears as a foreign ruler who has been defeated and driven out, but unlike his association with the Hyksos there is now no attempt at reconciliation” (120).
Set had become a symbol to be removed, castigated, abhorred. As a result, his images and statues were destroyed, and sometimes even repurposed to honor other gods, such as Khnum or Amun — a process described in detail in the work of Schorsch and Wypyski (Figure 9; Turner 123-5). (Byun 2023)
The actual reasons why Set's attributes and image changed from a hero-god, or at worst a trickster, to the enemy of order and justice are unknown. But, by the Osiris myth becoming popular during the New Kingdom, Set's transformation was complete; however, he was still invoked by common people and pharaohs for assistance (Mark 2016).
Although his main wife was his sister Nepthys, he was also associated with foreign goddesses such as the warrior-goddess Anat from Ugarit in Syria, and Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, from Phoenicia. It is thought that he represented the dry and barren desert lands and distant territories outside of Egypt as contrasted with Osiris and Horus, who symbolized the fertility of the Nile River Valley. (Mark 2016).
Figure 13. Mummified Ancient Egyptian God Seth, Egyptian Seth statue. God Seth statuette for sale, made from solid Limestone. (seems sketchy)
Figure 14. Set, an ancient Egyptian deity. Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings.
WAS-SCEPTRE - Adze
Adzes were a multifunctional tool; in Egyptian mythology, it was part of the long staff carried by multiple gods, including Set, Anubis, Osiris, Horus, and Ptah. This tool, called a was (w3s)-sceptre, it was ritualistic in nature and thought to have the meaning of power and control. The hieroglyph of was, when included in ancient Egyptian texts had the meaning of power or rule, which is why this figure was included in the nome of Thebes, the capital city of Upper Egypt (Waset) and the epithet “dji ankh djed was” was included after the pharaoh’s name in a text (Allen, 2014: 343). In the funerary context, the inclusion of the symbol in text and in the pictures on coffins and in tombs would have been carved or painted for the well-being of the deceased, and would have been included within the wrappings as an amulet. These were seen in the burial of Horemheb – KV 57 as part of the Theban mapping project. The same symbol is also depicted in ‘Adze-on-block’ hieroglyphic texts and has been thought to mean “chosen of”, which also has a relation to the pharaoh (Betrỏ, 1995, Collier & Manley, 1998). With either option, the context is clearly saying that this person or place is to be respected, as they have been bestowed a great power.
The was scepter, also known as a tcham scepter or uas scepter, is an ancient Egyptian symbol of power and divine authority, depicted as a long staff topped with the head of a stylized animal (often the Set animal) and a forked bottom, could be coincidence, but coincides with the later version of the Set animal’s tail. The staff itself was believed to link the mortal world to the divine. Originating as early as the First Dynasty, it became a key tool in asserting control over chaos (isfet), maintaining universal order (ma’at), and ensuring safe passage to the afterlife. Held by gods, pharaohs, and priests, it represented dominion over chaos, divine power, and royal legitimacy, appearing in art, funerary contexts, and hieroglyphs throughout the Pharaonic era.
Figure 18. The carved finger-like adze tool for the opening of the mouth ceremony (Roth 1993).
This power takes its active form in the mouth-opening ritual and the process is not only depicted on the walls of tombs, but the miniature versions were buried with the deceased as amulets inside the mummy’s wrapping from the Old Kingdom into the Roman Period (Assmann, 2005; Roth, 1992; Roth, 1993). They were often made of dark material, including glass and gilt, and generally had the shape of two fingers [figures above UC2413-UC2415 & UC 2412] to invoke the ritualistic meaning within the opening of the mouth by Horus, which was described on the wall:
“sem-priest, lector-priest, imy-is priest standing around him
Words spoken: my father, my father, my father, my father
Words spoken: Oh N! your mouth is ... (?): I have balanced your mouth and bones for you
N! I have opened your mouth for you
N! I open your mouth for you with the nua-blade
I have opened your mouth for you with the nua-blade,
the meskhetyu-blade of iron, that opens the mouths of the gods
Horus is the opener of the mouth of N, Horus; Horus has opened the mouth of N
Horus has opened the mouth of N with that with which he opened the mouth of his father, with which he opened the mouth of Osiris
with the iron that came from Seth, the meskhetyu-blade of iron
with which the mouths of the gods are opened - may you open the mouth of N with it
so that he may walk and speak with his body before the great Nine Gods in the great mansion of the official that is in Iunu
and so that he may take up your White Crown there before Horus lord of the nobility”
(Translation done by the University College London, 2003).
As guidance for the journey into the afterlife, the painting discusses the beginnings and the reason for the ritual itself. Horus had to open his father Osiris’ mouth before completing the mummification so he could continue to speak prayers in the afterlife (Assmann & Lorton, 2005). This ritual continued to pass on knowledge, even in death, especially because of the necessity of answering the negative questions that the gods ask at the heart weighing ceremony. If the dead are unable to speak the truth and answer the questions to the Gods’ expectations, Amut would devour them and their soul would cease to exist (Egyptian Book of the Dead referenced in Assmann & Lorton, 2005). Part of Egyptian mythology is that the writings, paintings, and prayers made on the sarcophagi and tombs become real in the afterlife. Both the written and spoken wishes were, therefore, represented by the adze tool for the deceased to continue their prayers and live in eternity in a world of their own making, which would not be possible without the gift of knowledge and their ability to speak.
Figure 19. Enki/Ea detail of the Adda seal, British Museum, c. 2300 BC
Ea/Enki, the god of wisdom and fresh waters, had given the duty of building the ark to a man named Ziusudra, and later Utnapishtim meaning ‘he who saw life’, for when the great flood waters came in the story of Descent of Inanna, and was the patron of craftsmen, artisans and exorcists as well as the God of Wisdom (Mark, 2011). He is also a main character in stories about the world’s creation and his and his son’s roles in taming the chaos within it. Marduk, the king and Enki’s son, killed Quingu, the bodyguard of Tiamat, who was also Enki’s mother, and Tiamat created the world from the swirling waters it was before (Mark, 2011). In Sumerian, the word for adze is nañar, translating directly to na: stone and ñị̉r: knife, meaning: wood chisel, adze, carpenter, or craftsman (Holloran, 2006:58). The tool that Enki gave the pious man was an adze, as that would have been the general tool to craft the ark that Zjusudra needed to survive the flooding. It has been suggested that this handing over of the adze could be symbolic of Enki’s giving of knowledge to allow the human race to survive, along with the control and responsibility over the animals that had to be collected two-by-two by Zjusudra (Mark, 2011).
The stories adzes appear in are made to reflect the various cultures in the societies in which they’re made, often being used as tools of crafting and knowledge. In Egypt, notably Set in this context, carried a staff with the adze on the top to signify the mouth opening ritual and the ability to speak in the afterlife, which was generally Anubis’ job as the god of mummification. Another ancient society, Sumer, has the God Enki, whom we already discussed as being connected to Set, being associated with the adze tool and with the knowledge that was presented with it. The story that is most transliterated through the centuries was of Enki, giving the tool and the knowledge of how to use it to the human Zjusudra to build an ark to save all the world's species from the chaos of the disastrous floodwaters.
The Transformation of Set
From the New Kingdom onward, Set was regarded as the villain according to the Osiris myth (with different variations), but, as noted, was not always so. In the Early Dynastic Period, Peribsen, the sixth king of the Second Dynasty (c. 2890 - c. 2670 BCE), chose Set, rather than Horus, as his patron god. Osiris was seen as the first king, but following his death and resurrection, could no longer lord over the earth. Horus, as this version’s rightful heir, held that title, and so Egyptian kings from the Early Dynastic Period onward identified themselves with Horus and claimed the protection of Isis as representatives of her son on earth. When the pharaoh died, he was identified with Osiris in the realm of the dead. (Mark 2016)
It is quite interesting, then, that Peribsen should have chosen to align himself with Set rather than Horus. Although the story of Set's murder of Osiris does not gain full momentum until later in history, Osiris' name and an early version of the story appear in the Fifth Dynasty (2498-2345 BCE), and it is thought this story is even older. Peribsen is the only king of the Early Dynastic Period to separate himself from Horus and align with Set (Mark 2016). Since Set was originally recognized as a hero-god, it is logical that a king might have selected him as a patron. However, by the era of Peribsen, the connection between the monarch and Horus had become established instead of Set. Raneb, the second king of the Second Dynasty, was the first to link the Egyptian monarchy directly to the gods by associating his name with the sun god Re, who was traditionally linked to Horus. Nonetheless, Re was also connected to Set, since early myths describe Set protecting Re from Apep during his nightly journey. Peribsen of Upper Egypt may have chosen Set as his protector deliberately, to distinguish himself from Horus, who was then associated with Lower Egypt (Mark 2016).
All evidence of Peribsen's reign comes from Upper Egypt, and he is not mentioned in the inscriptions of Lower Egypt from the period. The Second Dynasty is among the more obscure, owing to a significant lack of records from the time and confusion among those which do exist. Seth-Peribsen is the only king to so clearly identify himself with Set until the 19th Dynasty under the king named Seti I (reigned 1290-1279 BCE), whose father was Ramesses I (reigned 1292-1290 and 1295-1294 BCE) who began the Ramiside period and the 19th dynasty, and his great-grandson Seti II. His son Ramesses II (aka Ramesses the Great) made Set a national god and honored him with a temple in the capital, the Sepermeru, where his wife Nephthys was also worshipped. (Mark 2016)
Seth in His Myths
Seth was originally a god of the desert — the “Red Land” — and, as the god of the Red Land, he opposed and threatened the civilized and sedentary lives of the floodplains, or the “Black Land,” thus earning him the title: god of violence, chaos, and confusion (Wilkinson 197). In later Egypt, however, he evolved to become a symbol of foreign power, expressed in the form of “crimes, in sickness and disease, as well as civil unrest and foreign invasion” (Wilkinson 198). In a world where the preservation of ma’at (order) was considered to be one of the most significant roles of the king and where foreigners were thought to be physical manifestations and harbingers of isfet (chaos), Set would have been a source of fear and a force of destabilization. As such, he was a foil to Horus, the god of unity and a traditional patron god of pharaohs. The other gods of his family, or the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, treated him as such. (Will Byun).
Mythical Origins & the Murder of Osiris
Set embodied the necessary and creative elements of violence and disorder within the ordered world. The first five gods of Egypt were born of the union of the brother and sister gods Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) after the creation of the world by Atum. Osiris was the first-born, then Isis, Set, Nephthys and Heru’ur (known as Horus the Elder). As firstborn, Osiris was elevated as ruler of the world, which, to the Egyptians, meant the land of Egypt. Osiris found the newly-created people to be barbarous and uncivilised and so gave them culture, taught them agriculture, provided them with laws, and instructed them in the proper ways to worship the gods. Osiris took his sister Isis as his wife, and she bestowed on humans her gifts of compassion and equality for all. The world was a paradise where everyone, man and woman, was equal under the reign of the royal couple, food was abundant, and no one suffered any want. (Mark 2016)
Later versions of the mythology changed Anubis' parents to be Nephthys and Osiris from the earlier myths, which depicted him as a son of Ra and Bastet. This paints Set in a different light once again because perhaps in earlier versions, Set had affairs with other goddesses (not going to argue that that’s ok), but Nephthys never had an affair. But in the later versions, the point is made that Set had grown jealous of Osiris' power and resented his success. His resentment grew more bitter after his wife Nephthys, who was afraid of his wrath and likely attracted by Osiris's beauty, disguised herself as Isis and seduced the great king, becoming pregnant with the god Anubis. (Mark 2016). [I haven’t seen anyone talk about the messed-up nature of this couple that was added to the myth. Nephthys essentially raped her brother, disguised as his wife. There’s no getting around that; it’s just like what Zeus did, and we all know he’s gross. If she wasn’t disguised, this also makes Osiris look like a total douche for having an affair against Isis (the mistress of magic and the most powerful god in the pantheon - she knows Re’s true name, that’s another story). Then, leaving her to face Set alone, I don’t know any myths of Osiris defending her.
Set decided to remove his brother and had a magnificent casket created, the most beautiful chest ever made, tailored to Osiris' exact measurements. He threw a grand party, to which Osiris was invited, and after the banquet told the guests he had a special surprise. He revealed the chest and said that whoever could fit most perfectly inside could take it home. One by one the guests climbed into the casket but could not fit until Osiris' turn came. He lay down in the casket and found, of course, that it fit him perfectly. Set then slammed the lid on and threw the casket into the Nile River. (Mark 2016)
In some versions of the story, Osiris is murdered by Set and 72 accomplices while in others Set alone is responsible. A further variation is that sometimes Set is said to have murdered Osiris in the casket and then disposed of it while in other versions Osiris suffocates once he is thrown into the river or after the casket is encased by the tree at Byblos. (Mark 2016)
The casket with Osiris' body inside floated down the Nile and out to sea, finally coming to the shores of Byblos in Phoenicia, where it lodged in a tamarisk tree. The tree grew quickly around it, encasing it, and Osiris was lost to the people of Egypt. In time, the king and queen of Byblos came to the shore and noticed the beauty of the tree and its sweet scent and had it cut down and brought to their court as a central pillar. Back in Egypt, Set took the throne, and the harmonious balance which had been maintained by Osiris and Isis was lost. Set was a chaotic and unpredictable monarch who brought storms and drought and the people turned on each other in their efforts to survive. (Mark 2016) But, again, this is only if we ignore the myths of Set and Horus the Elder in competition and keeping the world in balance.
Isis & Osiris' Rebirth
Following this version, Isis went in search of her missing husband and finally came to Byblos where she endeared herself to the king and queen and became nursemaid to their young sons. As usual when Isis walked among human beings, she was disguised as an elder woman and no one at court knew they were dealing with a goddess. Isis became fond of the younger son, Dictys, and tried to make him immortal by burning away his mortal qualities in a magical fire. One night, when the queen interrupted Isis at this work, she was horrified and screamed, startling Isis who threw off her disguise and revealed her true identity. The king and queen were terrified and promised her anything she wanted if she would only spare them. Isis asked for the tamarisk pillar, which they quickly gave her (Mark 2016).
She freed Osiris from the tree and brought him back to Egypt, where she hid his body in the swampy marshes of the Nile Delta while she went off to gather herbs to revive him. Worried that Set might discover the body, she asked her sister Nephthys to keep watch. Set, in the meantime, heard that Osiris had returned to Egypt and went searching for him. He found Nephthys and tricked her into revealing where the body was hidden. Set then hacked the body into pieces and flung the parts all across the land and into the river. When Isis returned with her herbs, a tearful Nepthys told her what had happened, and together they went looking for the body parts to reassemble them (Mark 2016).
Once Isis had put Osiris back together, she found he was incomplete. His penis had been eaten by the oxyrhyncus fish and could not be retrieved. Isis was still able to return her husband to life but, since Osiris was incomplete, he could no longer rule over the living and would have to descend to the underworld. Isis transformed herself into a kite (a falcon) and flew around his body, drawing his seed into her body and becoming pregnant with the god Horus (sometimes referred to as Horus the Younger). Osiris then went to the underworld, where he became Lord of the Dead and the judge of souls (Mark 2016). This was necessary in the balance of the world, but was still uncool.
Death is a natural and inevitable part of ordered existence; the death of Osiris in itself may not have been presented as a wholly negative event. In the Book of the Dead (c.1550 BCE-50 BCE), Atum even says: “How perfect is that which I have done for Osiris in contradistinction from all gods. I have given him the realm of the dead”.7 Therefore, Seth’s actions were not considered reprehensible, as the only explicit mention in Pharaonic texts of punishment leveled against Seth for the death of Osiris is Seth having to “carry Osiris”.8 When Seth killed his brother, he was serving as the powerful and necessary catalyst which set Osiris’s rebirth into the afterlife in motion, a mythic event which allowed humanity to hope for their own rebirth after death. In this light, Seth and Osiris may be seen as a cosmic duality representing two points in the continuum of the process of rebirth. 9
The Contendings of Set & Horus the Younger
An Egyptian manuscript from the 20th Dynasty (1190-1077 BCE) tells the much older story of the battle for control of the world between Horus, as son of Osiris, and his uncle Set. Known as The Contendings of Horus and Set, is the account of the legal battle before the gods over who is the rightful king of Egypt. Horus and Set both present their cases and then must prove themselves in a series of contests and battles, which are all won by Horus, who, in the end, is proclaimed king (Mark 2016).
Figure 22. Set defeated by Horus as depicted in the Ptolemaic Period Temple of Horus at Edfu.
The Contendings of Horus and Set is one version of events following Horus's birth and Osiris's descent to the underworld, but other myths tell different parts of the story. For example, Isis hid her son in the Nile Delta swamps to protect him from Set, who sought to kill him. The well-known tale of Isis and the Seven Scorpions takes place during this period and shows Isis begging for food at night in nearby towns to sustain herself and Horus. Various legends explore Horus's childhood and Isis's care before he challenged Set for the throne upon reaching maturity. In some versions, Horus defeats S et and drives him away, while others end with Set's death. The Contendings of Horus and Set portrays their battles as divine contests overseen by the Ennead, Egypt’s nine gods. Most gods decided Horus was the rightful ruler, but Re remained unconvinced, doubting Horus's youth and sheltered life compared to Set's proven, if erratic, kingship. Despite Horus winning every contest, Re still didn’t approval, prolonging the trial for over 80 years and allowing Egypt to suffer under Set's chaotic rule (Mark 2016).
Isis, recognizing the need to act for the people's welfare, transformed into a young woman and sat outside Set's palace, where he would inevitably pass. She wept, staining her cheeks with tears, until Set noticed and questioned her. She explained how her husband's brother, a wicked man, had murdered him, seized his land and flocks, and driven her and her son from their inheritance, even threatening her son's life. Deeply moved and enraged by her plight, Set vowed to destroy the wrongdoer and restore the land to her family. Isis then revealed her true identity and the presence of the gods who had been listening. Convinced by the truth, Re finally agreed that Horus should rule, and Set was banished from the Nile Valley to the desert wastelands. (Mark 2016) That was easy. Good thing Set cared about people.
Horus ascended to the throne as king of the world, with Isis by his side as queen-mother, ruling with the same wisdom his father had shown. Peace and order returned to the land, and the people's equality was reestablished. The Nile once again flooded its banks, a blessing from Osiris, bringing fertility to the soil and bountiful harvests. Horus emulated his father's legacy in every way, upholding the principles of kingship and land stewardship that would become the guiding standards and values for Egypt's mortal rulers (Mark 2016).
In an alternate version of The Contendings of Horus and Set, the gods fail to reach an agreement and turn to the goddess Neith for guidance. Known for her wisdom, Neith was frequently called upon to mediate divine disputes. She proposed that Horus be granted rulership over Egypt, while Set would receive free reign over the desert and foreign lands. Understanding that no territory could match the grandeur of Egypt, Neith also recommended that the Ennead assign the foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte as companions to Set, offering a form of consolation. This version of the myth may predate the story in which Isis resolves the conflict, as Neith was an ancient goddess prominent during the Predynastic Period, whose qualities were later incorporated into Isis’s character (Mark 2016).
Figure 23. Hrwyfy. Horus and Seth united as “he with two faces”
Set is not forever branded a deceitful usurper, for Seth is not only the murderer of Osiris, but also the vanquisher of Apep and protector of the Sun god Re (Figure 3). The Egyptians believed that the sun was Re traveling on his solar boat across the sky, a journey that was perilous. Apep the Chaos Serpent, was one of the most dangerous foes who threatened to swallow the barque whole. Set fought against him standing at the prow of the solar boat. “[O]nly Seth is mighty enough to strike down Apep” because his realm, the desert, “is the first, or the final outpost defending the borders of Re’s cosmic order” (Rikala: 223). In addition, “the battle between Seth and Apep manifests Seth’s role as the lord of thunderstorms” further expanding his roles. Ironically, Set, the god of chaos, served as the main protector against the destruction of order when confronted by the mythic beast; each myth adding complexity to his character (Byun 2023).
Figure 24. Seth on the Solar Boat of Re, Fending Off the Attack of Apep
Set was undoubtedly one of the most powerful gods in Egyptian mythology. Wilkinson notes that, as a god of strength, Set wielded a scepter reportedly weighing more than 4,500 pounds (198). The Coffin Texts, dating from before the New Kingdom, already portray Set’s battle against Apep (te Velde, “Seth, God of Confusion” 99), establishing a foundation for his later role in The Contendings. This narrative, especially its conclusion featuring Set’s ‘adoption’ by Re, can be reasonably traced back to these early depictions. Consequently, Set is often adorned with titles such as ‘The Chosen One of Re’ or ‘The Son of Re’ (Rikala 233).
Set embodies a complex duality: he is both the slayer of a god and the protector of another; the instigator of chaos and the defender of order; the son of Nut and simultaneously the son of Re. His myths capture this ambiguity, reflecting the difficulty of confining his character to a single, consistent role free from contradiction (Byun 2023).
Random Thoughts
This may not be connected and this can be my own conspiracy theory. Sumeria was older than ancient Egypt. I’m thinking that the original Set could be a transplanted version of Ea/Enki. Here’s my evidence: both gods are considered tricksters (which, to be fair, isn’t THAT hard), but they both have feuds with their brothers:
The Origin of Enki was as a major Sumerian deity whose worship can be traced back to the city of Eridu over 6,500 years ago, making it one of the oldest documented religious practices in human history. He was later known as Ea in Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) mythology. According to the Babylonian creation myth, the Enûma Eliš, Enki (Ea) was born to the earliest primordial gods, Apsu and Tiamat (though sometimes he’s their grandson), making him one of the oldest beings in that cosmological framework. The myths of Enki are among the most ancient found in cuneiform inscriptions throughout Mesopotamia, appearing from the third millennium until the Hellenistic period.
Seth is the son of Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky), so is one of the primordial gods, with his siblings. He was born violently, tearing himself from his mother's womb, which set the stage for his association with chaos and disruption (though it could be a story added later). His core characteristics and domains were as the god of chaos, violence, storms, deserts, and foreigners. Set stood as a contrast/a foil to his brother Osiris, the god of order, agriculture, and the fertile Nile floodplain (the "Black Land"). Seth embodied the disruptive "Red Land," or desert.
Key Mythological Conflicts:
Brother vs. Brother: A core part of Set's mythology is his unrelenting jealousy of Osiris. This jealousy ultimately leads him to murder Osiris and seize his throne.
The Battle with Horus: After Osiris's death, the gods held a trial to determine his successor, leading to epic battles between Seth and Osiris's son, Horus. In some accounts, these battles continued for years, causing chaos in the world.
Evolution and Legacy
A Complex Figure: Though often depicted as a villain, Set also played a crucial role in defending the sun god Ra from the chaos serpent Apophis, demonstrating a complex and sometimes positive aspect to his nature.
Foreign Association: He was associated with foreign powers and instability, a perception reinforced by the Hyksos, a Near Eastern people who chose Seth as their chief god during their rule in Egypt.
There’s a god of chaos in both religions (no surprise), in Egypt it’s Apep and in Mesopotamia it’s Abzu/Apsu who is the personification of chaos and the deep, which are both domains of Apep. The difference there is that Apsu was more about the stillness and potential of chaos, while Apep went full-on action destruction. Plus, Apep wasn’t the father of the gods like Apsu was. Another difference was their appearances. Apep was the giant serpent, but Apsu is thought to have multiple forms, but isn’t really described in text. He could be a giant snake-like being, but more likely was formless, being the primordial freshwaters themselves with Tiamat being the saltwater, or either of them could be the lion/gryphon/dragon beast that the sun god is fighting in the Bas Relief. It’s not clear. But they’re not what this is about. The chaos are, however, both defeated by their culturally respective counterparts as Apep is killed every night by a defender of Re, Set (in earlier versions, before people put themselves into the pyramid texts), and Ea/Enki killed Apsu. With foreknowledge of his grandfather's plan, Enki used his wisdom and magical abilities. He cast a powerful sleep spell that caused Apsu to fall into a deep, unconscious state. While Apsu was immobilised, Enki killed him. He then established his home on top of Apsu's watery corpse in the deep waters below the earth. Enki's victory solidified his status as a key deity of God of wisdom, intelligence, creation, and water and the lord of the Apsu, or underground freshwater realm, where knowledge comes from. Definitely a one-time thing with that story.
Figure 25. From the Palace of Sennacherib and bronzes from the ruins of Nimroud ; from drawings made on the spot, during a second expedition to Assyria" (AH Layard). The image depicts Ninurta (on the right) battling Anzû. Drawing by L. Gruner - 'Monuments of Nineveh, Second Series' plate 5, London, J. Murray, 1853
Yes, Set trapped Osiris in a box, but some stories don’t have him chop up the box, while other (probably later) versions do. Also, what can be odd is when Set is depicted as Heru’ur’s brother instead of or in addition to Osiris, who is the older version as well and left out the Osiris death myth altogether. In this way, Set would never have killed his brother, and it would just be a competitive sibling rivalry. Much like Ea and his brother Enlil as who are two of the most important gods in the Sumerian pantheon. Enlil is the lord of the air, associated with force and authority, and is often portrayed as harsh and destructive. Enki is the lord of the Earth and water, known for being a wise and creative trickster god. Their differing natures put them at odds. Enki is known for his great wisdom and for favoring humanity, while Enlil can be more hostile toward humankind, as seen in his sending a flood to wipe out the Earth in some accounts.
Sounds similar, we do know that the people traded and exchanged their cultures with each other, so why not influence their gods too? After all, Set did become known as a god of foreigners.
The Role of Set
By the time of Ramesses II, the Osiris myth was well known and Set had been transformed from a god of love, a protector, and a hero into the villain who stood for everything the Egyptians feared and hated: disorder, chaos, waste, drought, famine, destruction, hunger, and foreign invasion/influence. He must still have had some resonant associations with his former role as a protector god for Ramesses II to have elevated him to such a degree, but the cult of Osiris and Isis was so widespread by this time that it is difficult to understand how (Mark 2016).
Figure 26. Set and Horus adore Ramesses II in the small temple at Abu Simbel.
Worship of Set and Horus had developed from the time of Peribsen so that, by Ramesses II's time, Horus was associated with Lower Egypt (the north) and Set with Upper Egypt (the south) and inscriptions of the crowning of the king would show both Set and Horus officiating at the regnal ceremony. In time, however, Set became so closely identified as the villainous murderer and usurper that he was replaced in these inscriptions by Thoth, god of writing and wisdom (Mark 2016).
The enduring popularity of Set is probably due to the Egyptian's appreciation of balance and harmony. The concept of ma'at (harmony) was integral to Egyptian values and featured even in their understanding of the afterlife where the heart of the deceased was weighed in the balance against the white feather of ma'at. Osiris, as the god of fertility and life, required a counter in the form of Set as god of destruction and chaos, but not death. Even in this role, Set was sometimes considered beneficial as he voluntarily held back his desert forces of dry winds and drought from the fertile lands of Egypt. Prayers to Set for protection from, essentially, himself replaced the earlier amulets relating to love (Mark 2016).
Set, like many elements of the Osiris myth, influenced early Christian mythology, shaping the figure of the devil (with the serpent Apophis also playing a role). His ties to darkness, wickedness, the color red, and his portrayal as a red-haired beast contributed to the image of Satan. Both figures ended paradise and were banished from the divine realm for defying orders. Set’s links to deceit, war, destruction, and the serpent helped form the Christian idea of the ultimate deceiver opposing God. (Mark 2016)
In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus is tempted by Satan in the desert (or, in Matthew, in "the wilderness"), and the earlier figure of Set was strongly associated with deserts and the unknown lands beyond Egypt's borders (see Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1: 12-13, and Luke 4:1-13). Set kept his role from the Osiris myth but in a new way: as the trickster and enemy of humans, blamed for their pain in a world that was first made as a paradise (Mark 2016).
And as pop culture continues, it’s almost a bit surprising that Set hasn’t received the rebrand of an antihero or the Loki transformation (I mean, he killed Agent Coulson and countless New Yorkers). Maybe his story is due for a reboot or the director’s cut of the mythology that has been partially lost to society at large. After Stargate and the Gods of Egypt movie, he really deserves another look.
ADDITIONAL READING
Barbour Publishing. The KJV Study Bible. Barbour Bibles, 2011.
Bunson, M. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Gramercy, 1991.
David, R. Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt Revised. Oxford University Press, 2007.
David, R. Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Penguin Books, 2003.
Gibson, C. The Hidden Life of Ancient Egypt. Saraband, 2009.
Nardo, D. Living in Ancient Egypt. Thomson/Gale, 2004.
Shaw, I. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 2004.
Van De Mieroop, M. A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Wilkinson, R. H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2017.
CITATIONS
Allon, Niv. “SETH IS BAAL — EVIDENCE FROM THE EGYPTIAN SCRIPT.” Ägypten Und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 17, 2007, pp. 15–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23788156. Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.
Castillos, Juan José. “In Search of the True Nature of the God Seth” Göttinger Miszellen: Beiträge zur ägyptologischen Diskussion 250 (2016): 81-92.
Černý Jaroslav. Ancient Egyptian Religion. Greenwood Press, 1979.
Cruz-Uribe, Eugene. “Stḫ Ꜥꜣ Pḥty ‘Seth, God of Power and Might.’” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 45, 2009, pp. 201–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25735454. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Dunn, Jimmy. “Khasekhem/Khasekhemwy of Egypt’s 2nd Dynasty.” Tour Egypt, http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khasekhem.htm.
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2025, September 24). Seth. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Seth-Egyptian-god.
Gardiner, Alan Henderson. Egypt of the Pharaohs An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1961.
Goldwasser, Orly. “King Apophis of Avaris and the emergence of monotheism.” Timelines. Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak 2 (2006): 129-133.
Griffiths, J. Gwyn. “Osiris.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Edited by Donald B. Redford, Oxford Reference, 2005, https://www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195102345.001.0001/acref-9780195102345-e-0536. Accessed 4 Nov. 2022.
GateWorld. Website Updated 2025. “Seth”. The Stargate Omnipedia. https://www.gateworld.net/wiki/Seth.
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of cult. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved September 30, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/cult
Leprohon, R. J. (2013). The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (Writings from the Ancient World) (Illustrated). Society of Biblical Literature.
Locke, Norman. “A Myth of Ancient Egypt.” American Imago, vol. 18, no. 2, 1961, pp. 105–28. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26301747. Accessed 4 Nov. 2022.
Mark, Joshua J. 07 March 2016. "Set (Egyptian God)." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified . https://www.worldhistory.org/Set_(Egyptian_God)/.
Meltzer, Edmund S. “Horus.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Edited by Donald B. Redford, Oxford Reference, 2005, https://www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195102345.001.0001/acref-9780195102345-e-0323?rskey=cBRpNI&result=321
Newberry, P. E. “The Pig and the Cult-Animal of Set.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 14, no. 3/4, Nov. 1928, pp. 211–225., https://doi.org/10.2307/3854298.
Oden Jr, R. A. (1979). “The Contendings of Horus and Seth” (Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 1): A Structural Interpretation. History of Religions, 18(4), 352-369.
Parkinson, Richard B. “‘Homosexual’ desire and Middle Kingdom literature.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 81.1 (1995): 57-76.
Rikala, Mia. “Once More with Feeling: Seth the divine trickster.” Studia Orientalia Electronica 101 (2007): 219-240.
Schorsch, Deborah, and Mark T. Wypyski. “Seth, ‘Figure of Mystery.’” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 45, 2009, pp. 177–200. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25735453. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.
Te Velde, H. Seth, God of Confusion: A Study of His Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion. E. J. Brill, 1967.
Te Velde, H. “The Egyptian God Seth as a Trickster.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, vol. 7, 1968, pp. 37–40., https://doi.org/10.2307/40000633.
Te Velde, H. “Seth.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Edited by Donald B. Redford, Oxford Reference, 2005, https://www-oxfordreference-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195102345.001.0001/acref-9780195102345-e-0655?rskey=W3Oj2V&result=3. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.
SGCommand, C. T. (n.d.). Cult of Setesh. SGCommand. https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Cult_of_Setesh
Turner, P. (2012). Seth - A Misrepresented God in the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon? (Order No. U606565). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1512387666). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/seth-misrepresented-god-ancient-egyptian-pantheon/docview/1512387666/se-2
Wainwright, Gerald Avery. “The Origin of Storm-Gods in Egypt.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 49.1 (1963): 13-20.
Wallis Budge, Ernest A. A History of Egypt: From the End of the Neolithic Period to the Death of Cleopatra VII. B.C. 30. Anthropological Publ., 1968.
Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2017.
Cruz-Uribe, E. (2009). Stḫ ꜥꜣ pḥty “Seth, God of Power and Might.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 45, 201–226. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25735454
Byun, Will. (2023, May 29). Seth, a dynamic and enigmatic God. Discentes Penn's Classical Studies Publication https://web.sas.upenn.edu/discentes/2023/04/23/seth-a-dynamic-and-enigmatic-god/
