God Seth | Egyptian God of War | God of the Desert in Egypt Mythology

• 16 / 5 / 2023

Seth in Mythology

Seth is known for the rivalry he had against his brother Osiris. As the myth goes, Seth became jealous of the rule of Osiris over Egypt and planned to dethrone him. He deceived Osiris and trapped him in a chest, throwing him into the Nile. Afterward, he mutilated the body of Osiris into small bits and scattered it all over Egypt. This is what led to the continuous enmity between Seth and Horus, the son of Osiris.

The myth of the battle between Seth and Horus is perhaps the most essential myth of Egyptian mythology. The deities had several savage competitions among themselves to enjoy the privilege of ruling Egypt. Finally, Horus emerged as the victor by showing order triumphing over chaos, but not fully, because he continued to rule over the deserts and receive shrines heard by the desert warriors and wayfarers.

Though a god of chaos, Seth was also venerated in some places in Egypt. He was particularly venerated in the northeastern Delta region, and one of his principal cult cities was Avaris. The Hyksos, a foreign dynasty that ruled Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650-1550 BCE), identified Seth with their storm gods and made him a protective deity.

When pharaohs were honoring Seth, he was mostly associated with the military might of the country, such as in the case of Seti I and Ramses II of the Nineteenth Dynasty, as it was with regard to the use of Seth as a safeguard against enemies. Militaristic strength made Seth another important figure during the reign of the Egyptian rulers, giving those with divine protection legitimacy.

Symbolism and Legacy

Egotistical and destructive yet completely necessary, Seth had an essential role in Egyptian mythology; like disorder, he was a necessary part of the cosmic balance, an order against which he is the embodiment of that struggle. Seth in different inter-

Seth (Set, Sutekh, or Setesh) is Egyptian mythology's most complicated and controversial deity. He had been a god of war, chaos, and storms, and of the desert, a powerful yet unpredictable force. Though he bore negative connotations, Seth was a vital and protective power in the universe's balance and was revered in some parts of ancient Egypt.

Origins and Depictions

From the earliest parts of Egyptian mythology, Seth is usually derived. He was often portrayed as a most mysterious creature called the Seth animal, an archaic deity with an elongated curved snout, square ears, and a forked tail. Some interpretations have taken this hybrid form as a reflection of his chaotic nature so that nowhere could he easily identify himself and the animal kingdom of the real world.

In the Egyptian arts also, Seth was shown as a strong warrior with huge scepters signifying further arguments over Africa and storms. His reddish skin was sometimes interpreted to suit the dry and unfruitful lands comprising such as the deserts of Egypt, in contrast to the most fertile black soils of Egypt's Nile Valley.

God Seth

According to an ancient belief, God Seth was the son of Geb and Nut, his wife was the sister of Nephthys.
However, none of the unions with the many possessed women has been useful and this was probably related to the sterility of the deserts over which Seth's power extended.

The body of this animal had fur bunches that were formed like inverted arrows. In his hands was a long staff that had the head of a Seth animal on top and was forked at the bottom. Seth is depicted holding an ankh sign (key of life) in one hand and a staff in another. He is associated with the pig, the donkey, and the crocodile. He was also associated with some poisonous creatures like scorpions, and snakes, and sometimes as a hippopotamus.

The Mythology of Ancient Egypt

Seth and  Horus were the two deities that symbolized Egypt in the two ethnic components. All the Asian populations that settled in Egypt, starting with the Hyksos, had their main divinity in Seth.

Originally Seth was worshiped as a local god in the fifth and eleventh districts of Upper Egypt; in prehistoric times, he was the god of all of Upper Egypt. The cult of Seth was introduced under the reign of King Peribsen in the 2nd Dynasty, in the eastern Delta region, this king was even called Seth-Peribsen. Beginning in the Heliopolitan era, the kings who ruled Egypt from north to south were "Servants of Horus", therefore enemies of Seth.

He was also known by Egyptians as the god of war and storms and was linked with the planet Mercury and the color red. The people thus hated people with red skin and even killed animals having red fur because they thought they were related to Seth, Osiris’s younger brother, who grew jealous of him and murdered him. After killing Osiris, Seth dismembered Osiris’s body, and he scattered the pieces of his body over the face of the earth.