View source for Set (deity)

{{short description|Egyptian god of the desert, storms, violence, and foreigners}}
{{about|the Egyptian deity|the third son of Adam and Eve|Seth||Set (disambiguation)|and|Seth (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Set
| image = Set.svg
| enemy = [[Horus]]
| hiero = <hiero>s t:S E20 </hiero> or <hiero>sw-W-t:X-E20-A40</hiero> or <hiero>s-t:S</hiero> or <hiero>z:t:X</hiero>
| cult_center = [[Naqada|Ombos]], [[Avaris]], [[Sepermeru]]
| symbol = [[Was-sceptre]], [[Set animal]]
| parents = [[Geb]], [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]]
| siblings = [[Osiris]], [[Isis]], [[Nephthys]], [[Horus the Elder]]
| consort = [[Nephthys]], [[Neith]], [[Anat]], and [[Astarte]]
| offspring = [[Anubis]] (disputed),<ref>Doxey, Denise (2001). ''Anubis''. In: In D. Redford, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol. I.Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.98.</ref> [[Sobek]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.museumofmythology.com/Egypt/sobek.htm | title=Sobek from Ancient Egypt }}</ref> (in some accounts), and Maga<ref name=Ritner-1984>{{cite journal |last=Ritner |first=Robert K. |year=1984 |title=A uterine amulet in the Oriental Institute collection |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=209–221|doi=10.1086/373080 |pmid=16468192 |s2cid=42701708 }}</ref>
| greek_equivalent = [[Typhon]]
| other_names = Lord of [[Ancient Libya | Libya]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wainwright |first=Gerald Averay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aho9AAAAIAAJ&dq=amun+libya&pg=PA91 |title=The Sky-religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and Effects |date=1938 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}}</ref>
}}
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}

'''Set''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|t}}; [[Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation|Egyptological]]: '''''Sutekh''' - swtẖ ~ stẖ''{{efn|Also transliterated '''Seth''', '''Setesh''', '''Sutekh''', '''Seteh''', '''Setekh''', or '''Suty'''. Sutekh appears, in fact, as a god of Hittites in the treaty declarations between the Hittite kings and [[Ramses II|Ramses&nbsp;II]] after the battle of Qadesh. Probably '''Seteh''' is the lection (reading) of a god honoured by the Hittites, the "Kheta", afterward assimilated to the local Afro-Asiatic Set.<ref name=Sayce-nd-Hittites/><ref name=Budge-nd-HstEgy/>}} or: '''Seth''' {{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|θ}}) is a [[deity|god]] of [[desert]]s, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in [[ancient Egyptian religion]].<ref name="oxford">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Herman Te Velde |title=Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|chapter=Seth |year=2001|volume=3}}</ref>{{rp|269}} In [[Ancient Greek]], the god's name is given as {{lang|grc-latn|Sēth}} ({{lang|grc-Grek|Σήθ|italic=no}}). Set had a positive role where he accompanied [[Ra]] on his [[solar barque|barque]] to repel [[Apep]] (Apophis), the serpent of Chaos.<ref name="oxford"/>{{rp|269}} Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant.<ref name="oxford"/>{{rp|269}} He was lord of the Red Land (desert), where he was the balance to [[Horus]]' role as lord of the Black Land (fertile land).<ref name="oxford"/>{{rp|269}}

In the [[Osiris myth]], the most important [[Egyptian mythology|Egyptian myth]], Set is portrayed as the [[usurper]] who murdered and mutilated his own brother, [[Osiris]]. Osiris's sister-wife, [[Isis]], reassembled his corpse and [[resurrection|resurrected]] her dead brother-husband with the help of the [[goddess]] [[Nephthys]]. The resurrection lasted long enough to conceive his son and heir, [[Horus]]. Horus sought revenge upon Set, and many of the ancient Egyptian myths describe their conflicts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Strudwick|first=Helen|title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4351-4654-9|location=New York|pages=124–125}}</ref>

== Family ==
[[File:Nephthis and Seth-E 3374-IMG 8007-gradient.jpg|thumb|275px|Set and Nephthys, 1279–1213&nbsp;BCE, stone, [[Louvre]]|left]]
Set is the son of Geb, the Earth, and [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]], the Sky; his siblings are [[Osiris]], [[Isis]], and [[Nephthys]]. He married the latter, and though it has commonly been assumed that they were the parents of Anubis,<ref>Doxey 2001,p.98.</ref><ref>E.A. Wallis Budge, "Nephthys", in "The Gods of the Egyptians or Studies in Egyptian Mythology: Volume 2", London: Methuen & Co, 1904, p.254.</ref> some Egyptologists, such as Herman te Velde, have doubted whether Set was ever regarded as Anubis's father in ancient Egyptian religion (Osiris being the father of this god instead).<ref name="oxford"/>{{rp|270}}<ref>Herman te Velde(1968). ''The Egyptian God Seth as a Trickster''. In: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 7, p.39.</ref><ref>Levai, Jessica. "Nephthys and Seth: Anatomy of a Mythical Marriage", Paper presented at The 58th Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, Wyndham Toledo Hotel, Toledo, Ohio, Apr 20, 2007.</ref> Seth also had relationships with the foreign goddesses [[Anat]] and [[Astarte]] in some accounts. From these relationships is said to be born a crocodile deity called Maga.<ref name=Rogers-2019>{{cite journal |last=Rogers |first=John |year=2019 |title=The demon-deity Maga: geographical variation and chronological transformation in ancient Egyptian demonology |journal=Current Research in Egyptology 2019 |pages=183–203 |url=https://www.academia.edu/46879153 }}</ref>

==Name origin==
The meaning of the name ''Set'' is unknown, but it is thought to have been originally pronounced *''sūtiẖ'' [ˈsuw.tixʲ] based on spellings of his name in [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]] as ''stẖ'' and ''swtẖ''.{{sfn|te&nbsp;Velde |1967 |pp=1–7}} The [[Late Egyptian language|Late Egyptian]] spelling ''stš'' reflects the palatalization of ''ẖ'' while the eventual loss of the final consonant is recorded in spellings like ''swtj.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aaew.bbaw.de/tla/servlet/S05?d=d001 |title=Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae|website=aaew2.bbaw.de|access-date=2017-09-21}}</ref> The [[Coptic language|Coptic]] form of the name, {{Coptic|ⲥⲏⲧ}} ''Sēt,'' is the basis for the English vocalization.{{sfn|te&nbsp;Velde |1967 |pp=1–7}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://corpling.uis.georgetown.edu/coptic-dictionary/entry.cgi?entry=2733&super=1095 |title=Coptic Dictionary Online |website=corpling.uis.georgetown.edu |access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref>

==Set animal==
{{main|Set animal}}
[[File:set animal.svg|left|thumb|200x200px|The set-animal.]]
In [[art of ancient Egypt|art]], Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by [[Egyptologists]] as the ''[[Set animal]]'', a beast not identified with any known animal, although it could be seen as resembling a [[Saluki]], an [[aardvark]], an [[African wild dog]], a [[African wild ass|donkey]], a [[hyena]], a [[jackal]], a [[pig]], an [[antelope]], a [[giraffe]], or a [[fennec fox]]. The animal has a downward curving [[snout]]; long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; and a slender [[Canidae|canine]] body. Sometimes, Set is depicted as a human with the distinctive head. Some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the [[giraffe]], owing to the large flat-topped "horns" which correspond to a giraffe's [[ossicone]]s. The Egyptians themselves, however, used distinct depictions for the giraffe and the [[Set animal]]. During the [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Late Period]], Set is usually depicted as a [[donkey]] or as a man with the head of a donkey,{{sfn|te&nbsp;Velde |1967 |pp=13–15}} and in the ''[[Book of the Faiyum]]'', Set is depicted with a [[flamingo]] head.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beinlich |first=Horst |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/2891/1/Beinlich_Faiyum_2013.pdf |title=The Book of the Faiyum |publisher=University of Heidelberg |year=2013 |pages=27–77, esp.38–39 |section=Figure&nbsp;7}}</ref>

[[File:Burros en un relieve egipcio en piedra caliza, Imperio Antiguo, Museo Egipcio de Berlín.jpg|thumb|Set was portrayed as an donkey or donkey-headed man. The word for donkey, ꜥꜣ, was determined with a Set animal. Set and the donkey were increasingly called Typhon in the late period.<ref name="y960">{{cite book | last=Lucarelli | first=Rita | title=The Donkey in the Graeco-Egyptian Papyri | publisher=[object Object] | date=2017 | isbn=978-88-6969-180-5 | doi=10.14277/6969-180-5/ant-11-8 | page=}}</ref>]]

The earliest representations of what might be the [[Set animal]] comes from a tomb dating to the [[Amratian culture]] ("Naqada&nbsp;I") of [[prehistoric Egypt]] (3790–3500 BCE), although this identification is uncertain. If these are ruled out, then the earliest Set animal appears on a [[ceremonial mace]]head of [[Scorpion II]], a ruler of the [[Naqada III]] phase. The head and the forked tail of the Set animal are clearly present on the mace.{{sfn|te&nbsp;Velde |1967 |pp=7–12}}

==Conflict of Horus and Set==
[[File:Horus and Set tying.svg|thumb|Horus (left) and Set binding together [[Upper Egypt|upper]] and [[lower Egypt]]]]
An important element of Set's mythology was his conflict with his brother or nephew, [[Horus]], for the throne of Egypt. The contest between them is often violent but is also described as a legal judgment before the [[Ennead]], an assembled group of Egyptian deities, to decide who should [[royal succession|inherit]] the kingship. The judge in this trial may be Geb, who, as the father of Osiris and Set, held the throne before they did, or it may be the creator gods Ra or Atum, the originators of kingship.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffiths|1960|pp=58–59}}</ref> Other deities also take important roles: Thoth frequently acts as a conciliator in the dispute<ref>{{harvnb|Griffiths|1960|p=82}}</ref> or as an assistant to the divine judge, and in "Contendings", Isis uses her cunning and magical power to aid her son.<ref>{{harvnb|Assmann|2001|pp=135, 139–140}}</ref>

The rivalry of Horus and Set is portrayed in two contrasting ways. Both perspectives appear as early as the ''[[Pyramid Texts]]'', the earliest source of the myth. In some spells from these texts, Horus is the son of Osiris and nephew of Set, and the murder of Osiris is the major impetus for the conflict. The other tradition depicts Horus and Set as brothers.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffiths|1960|pp=12–16}}</ref> This incongruity persists in many of the subsequent sources, where the two gods may be called brothers or uncle and nephew at different points in the same text.<ref name="Assmann 134">{{harvnb|Assmann|2001|pp=134–135}}</ref>

The divine struggle involves many episodes. "Contendings" describes the two gods appealing to various other deities to arbitrate the dispute and competing in different types of contests, such as racing in boats or fighting each other in the form of hippopotami, to determine a victor. In this account, Horus repeatedly defeats Set and is supported by most of the other deities.<ref>{{harvnb|Lichtheim|2006b|pp=214–223}}</ref> Yet the dispute drags on for eighty years, largely because the judge, the creator god, favors Set.<ref>{{harvnb|Hart|2005|p=73}}</ref> In late ritual texts, the conflict is characterized as a great battle involving the two deities' assembled followers.<ref>{{harvnb|Pinch|2004|p=83}}</ref> The strife in the divine realm extends beyond the two combatants. At one point Isis attempts to harpoon Set as he is locked in combat with her son, but she strikes Horus instead, who then cuts off her head in a fit of rage.<ref>{{harvnb|Lichtheim|2006b|pp=218–219}}</ref> Thoth replaces Isis's head with that of a cow; the story gives a [[origin myth|mythical origin]] for the cow-horn headdress that Isis commonly wears.{{sfn|Griffiths|2001|pp=188–190}}

In a key episode in the conflict, Set sexually abuses Horus. Set's violation is partly meant to degrade his rival, but it also involves homosexual desire, in keeping with one of Set's major characteristics, his forceful, potent, and indiscriminate sexuality.<ref>{{harvnb|te&nbsp;Velde|1967|pp=55–56, 65}}</ref> In the earliest account of this episode, in a fragmentary Middle Kingdom papyrus, the sexual encounter begins when Set asks to have sex with Horus, who agrees on the condition that Set will give Horus some of his strength.<ref>{{harvnb|Griffiths|1960|p=42}}</ref> The encounter puts Horus in danger, because in Egyptian tradition semen is a potent and dangerous substance, akin to poison. According to some texts, Set's semen enters Horus's body and makes him ill, but in "Contendings", Horus thwarts Set by catching Set's semen in his hands. Isis retaliates by putting Horus's semen on lettuce-leaves that Set eats. Set's defeat becomes apparent when this semen appears on his forehead as a golden disk. He has been impregnated with his rival's seed and as a result "gives birth" to the disk. In "Contendings", Thoth takes the disk and places it on his own head; in earlier accounts, it is Thoth who is produced by this anomalous birth.<ref>{{harvnb|te&nbsp;Velde|1967|pp=38–39, 43–44}}</ref>

Another important episode concerns mutilations that the combatants inflict upon each other: Horus injures or steals Set's testicles and Set damages or tears out one, or occasionally both, of Horus's eyes. Sometimes the eye is torn into pieces.<ref name="Pinch 82">{{harvnb|Pinch|2004|pp=82–83, 91}}</ref> Set's mutilation signifies a loss of virility and strength.<ref>{{harvnb|te&nbsp;Velde|1967|pp=42–43}}</ref> The removal of Horus's eye is even more important, for this stolen [[eye of Horus]] represents a wide variety of concepts in Egyptian religion. One of Horus's major roles is as a sky deity, and for this reason his right eye was said to be the sun and his left eye the moon. The theft or destruction of the eye of Horus is therefore equated with the darkening of the moon in the course of its cycle of phases, or during [[lunar eclipse|eclipses]]. Horus may take back his lost Eye, or other deities, including Isis, Thoth, and Hathor, may retrieve or heal it for him.<ref name="Pinch 82"/> Egyptologist Herman te&nbsp;Velde argues that the tradition about the lost testicles is a late variation on Set's loss of semen to Horus, and that the moon-like disk that emerges from Set's head after his impregnation is the Eye of Horus. If so, the episodes of mutilation and sexual abuse would form a single story, in which Set assaults Horus and loses semen to him, Horus retaliates and impregnates Set, and Set comes into possession of Horus's eye, when it appears on Set's head. Because Thoth is a moon deity in addition to his other functions, it would make sense, according to te&nbsp;Velde, for [[Thoth]] to emerge in the form of the Eye and step in to mediate between the feuding deities.<ref>{{harvnb|te&nbsp;Velde|1967|pp=43–46, 58}}</ref>

In any case, the restoration of the eye of Horus to wholeness represents the return of the moon to full brightness,{{sfn|Kaper|2001|pp=480–482}} the return of the kingship to Horus,<ref>{{harvnb|Griffiths|1960|p=29}}</ref> and many other aspects of ''[[maat|ma'at]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Pinch|2004|p=131}}</ref> Sometimes the restoration of Horus's eye is accompanied by the restoration of Set's testicles, so that both gods are made whole near the conclusion of their feud.<ref>{{harvnb|te&nbsp;Velde|1967|pp=56–57}}</ref>

==Protector of Ra==
[[File:Set speared Apep.jpg|thumb|Mesektet Barque with Ra as Set spears [[Apep]] in the underworld]]
Set was depicted standing on the prow of [[Ra]]'s [[Atet|barge]] defeating the dark [[serpent (symbolism)|serpent]] [[Apep]]. In some [[Late Period of Egypt|Late Period]] representations, such as in the [[Twenty-seventh dynasty of Egypt|Persian Period]] [[Temple of Hibis]] at [[Kharga Oasis|Khargah]], Set was represented in this role with a [[falcon]]'s head, taking on the guise of [[Horus]]. In the ''[[Amduat]]'', Set is described as having a key role in overcoming Apep.

==Set in the Second Intermediate, Ramesside and later periods==
[[File:SethAndHorusAdoringRamsses crop.jpg|thumb|Set and [[Horus]] adore [[Ramesses II]] in the small temple at [[Abu Simbel]].]]
[[File:Horus_and_Seth_crowning_Ramesses_III.JPG|thumb|right|Horus and Set (right) crowning [[Ramesses III]]]]
During the [[Second Intermediate Period of Egypt|Second Intermediate Period]] (1650–1550&nbsp;BCE), a group of Near Eastern peoples, known as the ''[[Hyksos]]'' (literally, "''rulers of foreign lands''") gained control of Lower Egypt, and ruled the [[Nile Delta]], from [[Avaris]]. They chose Set, originally Upper Egypt's chief god, the god of foreigners and the god they found most similar to their own chief god, [[Hadad]], as their patron{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}. Set then became worshiped as the chief god once again. The Hyksos King [[Apepi (pharaoh)|Apophis]] is recorded as worshiping Set [[Monolatrism|exclusively]], as described in the following passage:<ref>{{harvnb|Assmann|2008|pp=48, 151 n. 25}}, citing: {{harvnb|Goedicke|1986|pp=10–11}} and {{harvnb|Goldwasser|2006}}.</ref>
{{blockquote|text=King Apophis chose for his Lord the god Seth. He did not worship any other deity in the whole land except Seth.{{efn|Translation from {{harvnb|Assmann|2008|p=48}}. Goedicke's translation: "And then King Apophis, [[Memphite Formula|l.p.h.]], was appointing for himself Sutekh as Lord. He never worked for any other god which is in this entire country except Sutekh.{{sfn|Goedicke|1986|p=31}} Goldwasser's translation: "Then, king Apophis l.p.h. adopted for himself Seth as lord, and he refused to serve any god that was in the entire land except Seth."{{sfn|Goldwasser|2006|p=129}}}}|author="[[The Quarrel of Apophis and Seqenenre]]", ''Papyrus Sallier&nbsp;I'', 1.2–3 (British Museum No. 10185){{sfn|Gardiner|1932|p=84}}}}

[[Jan Assmann]] argues that because the ancient Egyptians could never conceive of a "lonely" god lacking personality, Set the desert god, who was worshiped on his own, represented a manifestation of evil.{{sfn|Assmann|2008|pp=47–48}}

When [[Ahmose I|Ahmose&nbsp;I]] overthrew the Hyksos and expelled them, in {{circa|1522&nbsp;BCE}}, Egyptians' attitudes towards Asiatic foreigners became [[xenophobia|xenophobic]], and royal propaganda discredited the period of Hyksos rule. The Set cult at Avaris flourished, nevertheless, and the Egyptian garrison of Ahmose stationed there became part of the priesthood of Set.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The founder of the [[Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth Dynasty]], [[Ramesses I]] came from a military family from Avaris with strong ties to the priesthood of Set. Several of the Ramesside kings were named after the god, most notably [[Seti I|Seti&nbsp;I]] (literally, ''"man of Set"'') and [[Setnakht]] (literally, ''"Set is strong"''). In addition, one of the garrisons of [[Ramesses II|Ramesses&nbsp;II]] held Set as its patron deity, and Ramesses&nbsp;II erected the so-called "[[Year 400 Stela]]" at [[Pi-Ramesses]], commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Set cult in the Nile delta.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nielsen |first1=Nicky |title=The Rise of the Ramessides: How a Military Family from the Nile Delta Founded One of Egypt's Most Celebrated Dynasties |url=https://www.arce.org/resource/rise-ramessides-how-military-family-nile-delta-founded-one-egypts-most-celebrated |website=American Research Center in Egypt |access-date=25 June 2022}}</ref>

In [[Egyptian astronomy#Ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptian astronomy]], Set was commonly associated with the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]].<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Parker |first1=R.A.
 |year=1974
 |title=Ancient Egyptian astronomy
 |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
 |series=A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
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Set also became associated with foreign gods during the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], particularly in the delta. Set was identified by the Egyptians with the [[Hittite mythology|Hittite]] deity [[Teshub]], who, like Set, was a storm god, and the [[Canaan|Canaanite]] deity [[Baal]], being worshipped together as "Seth-Baal".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Keel |first1=Othmar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjYAWXO-jdAC&dq=Seth-Baal&pg=PA114 |title=Gods, Goddesses, And Images of God |last2=Uehlinger |first2=Christoph |date=1998-01-01 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-567-08591-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Additionally, Set is depicted in part of the [[Greek Magical Papyri]], a body of texts forming a [[grimoire]] used in [[Magic in the Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman magic]] during the fourth century CE.<ref>[http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/set-rmo.html Set in Roman Magical Papyrus]</ref>

==The demonization of Set==
[[File:Relief Herihor Seth obliterated.jpg|left|thumb|140px|Set on a late New Kingdom relief from Karnak: his figure was erased during his demonization.]]

According to Herman te&nbsp;Velde, the demonization of Set took place after Egypt's conquest by several foreign nations in the [[Third Intermediate Period|Third Intermediate]] and [[Late Period of Ancient Egypt|Late Periods]]. Set, who had traditionally been the god of foreigners, thus also became associated with foreign oppressors, including the [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Kushite]] and [[Persian Empire|Persian]] empires.{{sfn|te&nbsp;Velde |1967 |pp=138–140}} It was during this time that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated.

Set's negative aspects were emphasized during this period. Set was the killer of Osiris, having hacked Osiris' body into pieces and dispersed it so that he could not be [[resurrection|resurrected]]. The Greeks would later associate Set with [[Typhon]] and [[Yahweh]], a monstrous and evil force of raging nature (being the three of them depicted as donkey-like creatures, classifying their worshippers as [[Onolatry|onolatrists]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Litwa |first=M. David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1243261365 |title=The Evil Creator: Origins of an Early Christian Idea |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-756643-5 |location=New York, NY |chapter=The Donkey Deity |oclc=1243261365 |quote=We see this tradition recounted by several writers. Around 200 BCE, a man called Mnaseas (an Alexandrian originally from what is now southern Turkey), told a story of an Idumean (southern Palestinian) who entered the Judean temple and tore off the golden head of a pack ass from the inner sanctuary. This head was evidently attached to a body, whether human or donkey. The reader would have understood that the Jews (secretly) worshiped Yahweh as a donkey in the Jerusalem temple, since gold was characteristically used for cult statues of gods. Egyptians knew only one other deity in ass-like form: Seth.}}</ref>

Set and Typhon also had in common that both were sons of deities representing the Earth ([[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and Geb) who attacked the principal deities (Osiris for Set, [[Zeus]] for Typhon).{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Nevertheless, throughout this period, in some outlying regions of Egypt, Set was still regarded as the heroic chief deity.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

[[Ancient Egypt|Ancient Egyptologist]] Dr. [[Kara Cooney]] shot an episode called "The Birth of the Devil" in the "Out of Egypt" documentary series.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Out_of_Egypt | title=Out of Egypt - DocuWiki }}</ref> In this documentary, the scientist describes the process of demonization of Set and the positioning of the it as absolute evil on the opposite side, in parallel with the transition to [[monotheism]] in different regions from Rome to India, where God began to be perceived as the representative of absolute goodness.

==Set temples==
[[File:Limestone architectural fragment. A door jamb, part of a doorway. From the temple of Seth (which was built by Thutmosis III) at Naqada, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum.jpg|thumb|Limestone architectural fragment; a door jamb, part of a doorway. From the temple of Set (which was built by Thutmosis III) at Ombos, Egypt. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum]]
Set was worshipped at the [[Egyptian temple|temples]] of [[Naqada|Ombos]] (Nubt near Naqada) and Ombos (Nubt near [[Kom Ombo]]), at [[Oxyrhynchus]] in Middle Egypt, and also in part of the [[Fayyum]] area.

More specifically, Set was worshipped in the relatively large metropolitan (yet provincial) locale of [[Sepermeru]], especially during the Ramesside Period.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sauneron |title=Priests of Ancient Egypt |page=181}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}}</ref> There, Set was honored with an important temple called the "House of Set, Lord of Sepermeru". One of the epithets of this town was "gateway to the desert", which fits well with Set's role as a deity of the frontier regions of ancient Egypt. At Sepermeru, Set's temple enclosure included a small secondary shrine called "The House of Seth, Powerful-Is-His-Mighty-Arm", and Ramesses&nbsp;II himself built (or modified) a second land-owning temple for Nephthys, called "The House of Nephthys of Ramesses-Meriamun".{{sfn|Katary|1989|p=216}}

The two temples of Set and Nephthys in Sepermeru were under separate administration, each with its own holdings and prophets.{{sfn|Katary|1989|p=220}} Moreover, another moderately sized temple of Set is noted for the nearby town of Pi-Wayna.{{sfn|Katary|1989|p=216}} The close association of Set temples with temples of Nephthys in key outskirt-towns of this ''milieu'' is also reflected in the likelihood that there existed another "House of Set" and another "House of Nephthys" in the town of Su, at the entrance to the Fayyum.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Gardiner |title=Papyrus Wilbour Commentary |volume=S28 |pages=127–128}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}}</ref>

Papyrus Bologna preserves a most irritable complaint lodged by one Pra'em-hab, Prophet of the "House of Set" in the now-lost town of Punodjem ("The Sweet Place"). In the text of Papyrus Bologna, the harried Pra'em-hab laments undue taxation for his own temple (The House of Set) and goes on to lament that he is also saddled with responsibility for: ''"The ship, and I am likewise also responsible for the House of Nephthys, along with the remaining heap of district temples"''.<ref>Papyrus Bologna 1094, 5,8–7, 1 {{full citation needed|date=January 2021}}</ref>

Nothing is known about the particular theologies of the closely connected Set and Nephthys temples in these districts — for example, the religious tone of temples of Nephthys located in such proximity to those of Set, especially given the seemingly contrary Osirian loyalties of Set's consort-goddess. When, by the [[Twentieth Dynasty]], the "demonization" of Set was ostensibly inaugurated, Set was either eradicated or increasingly pushed to the outskirts, Nephthys flourished as part of the usual Osirian pantheon throughout Egypt, even obtaining a Late Period status as tutelary goddess of her own Nome (UU Nome&nbsp;VII, "Hwt-Sekhem"/Diospolis Parva) and as the chief goddess of the Mansion of the Sistrum in that district.<ref>Sauneron, Beitrage Bf. 6, 46 {{full citation needed|date=January 2021}}</ref><ref>
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 |title=A Ptolemaic Lexicon: A lexicographical study of the texts in the Temple of Edfu
 |series=OLA 78
 |place=Leuven
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}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
 |first=P. |last=Collombert
 |year=1997
 |title=Hout-sekhem et le septième nome de Haute Égypte II: Les stèles tardives (Pl. I–VII)
 |journal=Revue d'Égyptologie
 |volume=48 |pages=15–70
 |doi=10.2143/RE.48.0.2003683
}}
</ref>

Set's cult persisted even into the latter days of ancient Egyptian religion, in outlying but important places like Kharga, Dakhlah, Deir el-Hagar, Mut, and Kellis. In these places, Set was considered ''"Lord of the Oasis / Town"'' and Nephthys was likewise venerated as "Mistress of the Oasis" at Set's side, in his temples{{sfn|Kaper|1997b|pp=234–237}} (esp. the dedication of a Nephthys-cult statue). Meanwhile, Nephthys was also venerated as "Mistress" in the Osirian temples of these districts as part of the specifically Osirian college.{{sfn|Kaper|1997b|pp=234–237}} It would appear that the ancient Egyptians in these locales had little problem with the paradoxical dualities inherent in venerating Set and Nephthys, as juxtaposed against Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys.

==In modern religion==
{{main|Kemetism|Temple of Set}}

Set, in modern religious contexts, is recognized primarily through [[Kemetism]] and the [[Temple of Set]]. Kemetism, a modern revival of [[ancient Egyptian religion]], acknowledges Set as a complex deity associated with chaos, storms, and warfare, yet also protector against the serpent [[Apep]]. The Temple of Set, founded in 1975, venerates Set as a figure of isolation and self-deification, emphasizing personal enlightenment and the exploration of the left-hand path.

==In popular culture==
{{in popular culture|date=July 2024}}
In the television series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', Set (using the name Sutekh and portrayed by [[Gabriel Woolf]]) is depicted as an alien entity bent on destroying all life. He first appears in the 1975 serial ''[[Pyramids of Mars]]'', where he schemes to escape an Egyptian pyramid he has been imprisoned in millennia ago by Horus. Sutekh returned after nearly 50 years in the [[Doctor Who series 14|2024 Series 14]] two-part finale "[[The Legend of Ruby Sunday]]" / "[[Empire of Death (Doctor Who episode)|Empire of Death]]" as the God of Death in the Pantheon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/sutekh-doctor-who-one-who-waits/ |title= Who is Sutekh? The identity of Doctor Who's One Who Waits Explained |last= Jeffrey |first=Morgan |date= 15 June 2024|website= Radio Times |access-date=June 15, 2024}}</ref>
In recent digital reinterpretations of mythological figures, Set has appeared in small-scale mythology documentation websites and community archives.<ref>Anonymous. "Set as War God in Modern Digital Culture". Mythology Observation Blog. 2025–05–07. [https://godseth.wiki/god-of-seth/ Accessed 2025–05–09]</ref>

==Notes==
{{noteslist}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name=Sayce-nd-Hittites>
{{cite book
 |first=Archibald H. |last=Sayce
 |title=The Hittites: The story of a forgotten empire
}}
</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2021|reason=year, publisher, ISBN or other ID}}

<ref name=Budge-nd-HstEgy>
{{cite book
 |first=E.A. Wallis |last=Budge
 |title=A History of Egypt from the End of the Neolithic Period to the Death of Cleopatra&nbsp;VII B.C.&nbsp;30
}}</ref>
}}

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}}


==External links==
{{Commons category|Seth}}
* {{cite web
 |title=Le temple d'Hibis, oasis de Khargha
 |trans-title=Hibis Temple [at the] Khargha oasis
 |website=alain.guilleux.free.fr
 |url=http://alain.guilleux.free.fr/khargha_hibis/khargha_temple_hibis.html
}} – representations of Sutekh as Horus

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}
{{Ancient Egypt topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Set (deity)| ]]
[[Category:Amratian culture]]
[[Category:Animal gods]]
[[Category:Chaos gods]]
[[Category:Donkey deities]]
[[Category:Earth gods]]
[[Category:Egyptian demons]]
[[Category:Egyptian gods]]
[[Category:Evil gods]]
[[Category:Liminal gods]]
[[Category:Mercurian deities]]
[[Category:Mythological fratricides]]
[[Category:New religious movement deities]]
[[Category:Planetary gods]]
[[Category:Sky and weather gods]]
[[Category:Trickster gods]]
[[Category:War gods]]