I know Set has positive and negative aspects, but I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Is he like Yin and Yang? Bad with some good, good with some bad. Or is he like a storm? Nourishing but potentially destructive?
AnonymousSeth’s a lot of things. He’s a wild storm that can blow back invaders or can cause destruction for inhabitants who wrong him.
He’s a great lover but he’s also an avenger. (many wives / smites a/phofis and attacks enemies of egypt)It’s more like…accepting a complex figure. I don’t think he’s evil. Obviously. I know from academics and historical primary sources that in the old ages – before middle kingdom, new kingdom and especially the graeco-egyptian era, he was highly benevolent.
He protected Egypt against invaders coming from the sea, had healing qualities, ect.
Many other egyptologists here and there agree- he’s not as evil as he’s painted out to be.
“…there is no real Devil in Egyptian theology. Set, the murdere of Osiris, was only evil in specific contexts. He represented the barren desert and the storm, forces of disorder, but he could sometimes be personable and agreeable, holding the ladder for the dead king to mount to heaven and helping Re repel the threatening Serpent. ”
Red Land Black LandSo I guess for your answer, he’s not just evil and good. He’s a complex character, but then again these gods are anthromorpic – meaning they are like humans in some ways. This case being his complex personality.
But what I can tell you is this, despite killing Osiris, in most myths before greek intervention or periods where he fell out of favor (with invaders associating theirselves with Set, pissing the native egyptians off) he was beloved. He protects Ma’at, rides with Re as he is the only one strong enough to smite a/phofis daily.
We have art of men who desired to be close to him, he was their patron and they felt honored to be named after him. (Stele of Aapathey)
Kings honored him (early ones and then the seti family). He was – and still is a friend to the dead.
I know this is probably not the answer you wanted, but it’s not black and white. It’s a little more complicated than that. The way I see it is that, for example, the killing of Osiris was both bad and good – it was murder, but Osiris was known to torture Seth and struggled to deal with Re’s power in the form of the crown. When he’s killed, it’s mentioned he’s purified. (BOTD texts)
Seth, in some cases with Thoth, is mentioned weeping for Osiris. Also, as some scholars note (I believe I posted something with this, you might have to dig through my archive) that seth started the cycle for kings. Life, death, succession, repeat.
This design is available on Redbubble!!!
You can buy the full print, or buy each panel individually.
Full Design: [HERE]
Overthrowing the King: [HERE]
Bring Him Back to Me: [HERE]
Redeeming the Father: [HERE]
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Art Jam Challenge: Moments in Myth and Legend
Several months ago I took part in an internal Art Jam. The theme was Mythology, the aim to create a piece depicting a moment from ancient myth. Naturally I chose Ancient Egypt, since their mythology has always been one of my favorites, and I had a blast re-imagining a touching moment from the story of Osiris and Isis.
Then I bit off more than I could chew and drew three whole pieces instead of just the one.
The winners have yet to be announced, but as I’m about to delve dead-first into Christmas pictures and gifts, I figured I may as well upload this now to compensate the inevitable hiatus.
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The Chaos God Set, jealous of his brother Osiris (for sleeping with his wife and conceiving Anubis), murders him in cold blood. According to legend, Set first traps Osiris in a box and hides him along the Nile, but when Osiris’s wife and sister, Isis, discovers it Set hacks him into fourteen pieces and scatters them across Egypt. I combined this moment into one showdown, while behind them the snake-God and God of Evil, Apep, crushes the sun in its coils. Thus the sun sets on his reign.
Isis travels all across the land and with Anubis’s help manages to collect all the pieces of his body. Anubis, Nepthys’ son and God of the Dead, mummifies Osiris’s remains while Isis mourns his death. During this time Isis transforms into a sacred bird and conceives with the corpse, represented here by the presence of her ethereal wings. Anubis reincarnates Osiris as the first mummy, and he becomes Lord of the Underworld. The pyramid and Borealis/nebulae represent an inverted vision of Egypt, which the ancients believed the Duat (Underworld) to look like.
As a result of their corpsey union, Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, is born. He exacts his parents’ revenge on Set, engaging him in a furious battle for the right to rule Egypt. When finally Horus overthrows Chaos, he claims the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, becoming the next Pharaoh. Balance is restored to the world as the beetle-God Khepri rolls the sun across the sky, a symbol of rebirth. Every evening the world of Chaos swallowed the sun, where it traveled through the dangers of the Duat, before being reborn each morning.
Thus balance is restored where once Chaos reigned.
–Sak
Characters and Artwork © Shamine Athena King
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Deviantart || Games Tumblr || Twitter || Facebook || Patreon || RedbubbleI can finally share this with the world! This is what I sunk almost my entire September into.
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3LtMs6kF3U)
Ra: Path of the Sun God,
I highly recommend watching this as it is a good visual explanation of Egyptian Mythology that shows the creation myth of Nun, goes into the contendings, and the Barque of Ra’s journey through the underworld. If you have the money consider renting it or buying the dvd from the official website here. The video quality is not the greatest but its the best one on youtube.
So this is basically Set.
(and this took far, far too long for how lazy it turned out; also wish the loop could be more seamless, but ah well)full song [x]
XDDD
Ra or Re was the ancient Egyptian solar deity. By the Fifth Dynasty (2494 to 2345 BC) he had become a major god in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the midday sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for ‘sun’ it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning ‘creative power’ and ‘creator’.
The major cult centre of Ra was Heliopolis (called Iunu, “Place of Pillars”, in Egyptian), where he was identified with the local sun-god Atum. Through Atum, or as Atum-Ra, he was also seen as the first being and the originator of the Ennead, consisting of Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys.
