SETH

God of the desert, storms and chaos

Seth is an ambivalent god of ancient Egypt, master of the desert, foreign lands, storms and violence. He is represented by the mysterious Seth animal, a quadruped with an elongated muzzle and long square ears, or in human form with the head of this animal. Brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys, he is, in the Osirian myth, the murderer of Osiris, whom he assassinates by ruse and whose body he scatters, before confronting his nephew Horus for the kingship. This conflict, in which Horus loses an eye and Seth his testicles, symbolises the opposition between order and disorder. Despite this reputation, Seth is not a pure spirit of evil: each night, he defends the solar barque of Ra against the serpent Apophis, the incarnation of chaos, whom he strikes down by his strength. His cult was important at Ombos and at Avaris, and the Ramesside pharaohs, several of whom bore his name, such as Seti, honoured him particularly. In the Late Period, his figure was progressively demonised.