Ahhh. We come at last to the end of our family drama - and today the tale focuses upon Set, god of Egypt, and his conflict with his nephew Horus.
Set is one of the more interesting characters in mythology. Much like Loki in the Norse myths, he isn't always bad. He is not necessarily evil (though he has had that label attached to him quite often). It's more a case of Set being portrayed with the same emotions and impulses a human might have. He was jealous of his brother Osiris' power, and so he stole his throne. He feared that his nephew Horus might take it away from him, and so he sought to have him disposed of. Just about every action that he takes is due to Set trying to maintain the position he feels rightly belongs to him.
When we begin our tale today, Set's efforts have thus far been pretty unsuccessful. Sure, he's the king of Egypt. Unfortunately for Set, that's about all he has going for him. He murdered his brother Osiris...who was then brought back to life. Set captured his sister Isis, only to have the pregnant goddess escape and give birth to Horus, the rightful heir to the throne. Set tried to have Horus killed, only to have Thoth raise the kid from the dead. (Resurrections apparently run in the family.)
(I keep mentioning him, so I figured I should post a picture of Thoth.)
Our story begins when Horus is a fully grown man, at last ready to challenge his uncle's power. The tale is long and somewhat convoluted (depending on what sources you read from), but I'll do my best to give you the Cliff notes.
As I mentioned in my last post, Horus had been raised in hiding to protect him from the wrath of his uncle Set. When he at last reached adulthood the god came out of hiding and accused Set before the gods of having killed Osiris and taken his throne. As Osiris' son Horus was the rightful heir, and he demanded that his father's throne be given to him.
Most of the gods were in agreement that Horus had the stronger claim to the throne, though some debate occurred. It was pointed out that Set was the elder and had more experience; should not the youth defer to his uncle? A counter argument ran that Set had seized the throne when he had no right to it, and should never have been allowed to rule.
Set himself arrived before the council of the gods and spoke in his own defense. A furious Isis stepped forward to defend her son's claim, which made Set quite angry. The debate raged on, and it was eventually decided that the two gods should continue the trial for the right of the throne on an island where Isis and her meddling could not intervene.
The council of the gods reconvened on this island, leaving the ferryman with strict orders to not ferry across Isis or any woman who might be the goddess. Isis used her spells to disguise herself and managed to bribe the ferryman to shuttle her across the water nonetheless. When she arrived on the island she made herself look like a beautiful widow, and the goddess then approached her brother Set.
Knowing that her brother could not resist a pretty face, Isis began to cry. Set immediately asked what was wrong, and the goddess spun a tall tale about her husband, a herder of cattle, having been killed. His possessions were left to her son, who would have done well had it not been for an awful stranger who stepped in and took the cattle that rightfully belonged to her child.
Isis is a cunning one.
Set, not thinking to clearly while distracted by the goddess' beauty, immediately swore to champion her son's honor. He insisted that the stranger had no claim to the cattle, and that Set would see them returned to the woman's son.
At this point Isis busted out laughing and removed her magical disguise, revealing her true form. I would imagine Set facepalmed as he realized that he had just condemned his own actions.
It was hard for Set to recover from having judged his own crime inexcusable, but he managed to sweet talk his way through it, leaving the gods in debate over who should rule. The god is impressive at persuasion, I'll give him that!
The trial for the throne continued, and there are many variations in the stories of the tests given to Set and Horus to determine who should reign over Egypt.
In some accounts the two are pitted in a combative contest while shapeshifted into hippos.
In others, Set finds Horus wandering in the desert and rips out his eyes, leaving the young god blind and in agony. The eyes are eventually returned to the falcon-headed god through the healing powers of the goddess Hathor.
Eventually the trial culminates in a sailing contest, wherein Set challenged Horus to see who could sail the farthest in a boat carved from stone. Horus was sneaky and carved his boat from wood instead, merely plastering the outside to resemble stone. Because of this Set's boat sank almost immediately, while Horus' carried on a ways down the water before an enraged Set broke the wooden vessel apart.
In the end the council of the gods grew weary of the animosity and the constant struggle. (It helped that Osiris threatened to set the forces of the dead upon the gods should they not name Horus king, and pointed out that even the gods eventually die...Ahhh, the blackmail of angry fathers!) Horus was granted his father's rule and made king of Egypt.
Set was given control of the desert and the barren lands, as well as being made the god of thunder. While overtures were made towards peace, both gods remained somewhat hostile to one another throughout the myths.
I'm interested to report that the stories in this post may soon make it to the big screen (though, inevitably, they will be modified by Hollywood). The conflict between Set and Horus is the main focus of the upcoming film Gods of Egypt, which I'll definitely be going to see in theatres.
As an interesting side note (coming from a red head), Set is associated in mythology with the color red. The red sands of the desert, animals with red fur, and people with red hair were all considered to be tied to the god, either signifying him, being sacred to him, or being thought of as worshipping him.
I hope you guys enjoyed the big familial drama of Egyptian mythology! I love how much of the myths are tied around the conflict between Set and Horus.
I'll see you next week with a post that's great for cat lovers!
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