Set

Name forms and etymology:
The Greeks commonly spell His name Seth. The variants Setech, Setekh, Setesh and Sutekh come from the Babylonian version of His name, while Setekh or Setech is closest to the pronunciation rules for the Kemetic language (insert an "e" between consonants for matters of pronuncability). In the Ramesside dynasty there were some pharaohs named after Him - the common translation here is Sethos or - and here we have the last of His name's common spellings: Seti.

There is another theory as to what His name might mean. Two Egyptian words bear a striking resemblance to the name: one is setes (meaning pillar, stabilizing staff etc.), the other means "dazzle" and is commonly written as setken. And Set is a steady force to be reckoned with, one without which there would be the chaos of isfet instead of a "productive mess".

History and geography of cult:
Set belongs to the Ennead of Heliopolis and is the son of Geb and Nut (or Ra and Nut, depending where you look Him up). He is the brother of Wesir, Aset and Nebt-het, who is sometimes given as His consort, although Set since the Middle Kingdom is more commonly associated with the foreign, Semitic goddesses Astarte and Anat. During the 3rd millennium BC Set even replaced Heru as the tutelary deity of the pharaohs, but the story of Wesir's murder gained currency and Heru was restored to His original status. There was an important sanctuary at Nubt ("City of Gold" = Ombos) in Upper Egypt, His reputed birthplace, and considered to be the home of his cult. His cult was also prominent in the north-eastern region of the Nile delta, and under the Hyksos reign and in Ramesside times there was a large sanctuary at Weret ("Great City" = Auaris). In the eleventh district of Upper Kemet there's supposedly been another centre of worship at Hypselis.

I've also heard it said that Set was already worshipped by the early nomads of the Negade II period, where Set, together with Heru-Wer, was one of the King's "royal forces".

Epithets:
He is the Lord of the Desert (wind), Great of Strength, the Red Lord, Lord of the Red Land (i.e. the desert, Upper Egypt - in comparison to Wesir being the Lord of the Black Land, i.e. Lower Egypt with its fertile, dark Nile mud). In the Book of the Dead, Set is called Lord of the Northern Sky and is held responsible for (thunder)storms, cloudy weather etc. He Before Whom the Sky Shakes is yet another of His titles, as is Mighty One of Two-fold Strength.

Mythology:
Usually Set is deemed to be the ancient Egyptian god of chaos, an embodiment of hostility - some even say He incorporates evil itself and put Him on one level with Apep. In truth, He is a god of the desert, of war, storms and even foreign or hostile lands. He is called upon for protection when caravans travel His country, but He is also rumored to conjure up sandstorms which may bring doom upon people - and which contrasts harshly with His brother Wesir's fertility aspect, making the Two antagonists in many cases.

In the Wesir myths, Set killed his brother and scattered the remains all over Egypt (Aset was able to put Wesir back together again, save for His penis, which a fish had eaten). The war that followed lasted eighty years; in those years Set tore out Heru's left eye and Heru tore off Set's foreleg and testicles. Eventually, Heru emerged victorious, or was deemed the victor by the council of the gods (interesting side note: in the war Aset sided with Set once instead of Her son Heru), and thus became the rightful ruler of the kingdoms of Lower and Upper Egypt. Set was forced to return the eye of Heru and was either castrated or killed. In other versions He went to live with the sungod Ra, where He became the voice of thunder.

Despite His normally bad reputation, Set has quite some good characteristics. He protects the sun barge of Ra during its nightly journey through the underworld and He fights the snake-like monster Apep (see a picture of them here). On the other hand, He was a peril for ordinary Egyptians in the underworld, where He was said to seize the souls of the unwary.

The kingdom of Set was supposed to be placed in the northern sky, and his abode was one of the stars which formed the constellation of Khepesh, or the "Thigh," which has been identified with the Great Bear. When you think it over, it sounds quite logical that the northern sky was considered the natural domain of Set, for viewed from the standpoint of an Egyptian in Upper Egypt the north was rightly considered to be a place/source of darkness, cold, mist and rain, each of which is among the attributes of Set. BTW, the Hebrews called the region of the winter hemisphere Sephon, a name which appears to be connected with Saphon (North).

The Greeks, when they learned of Kemet's gods, quickly equated Set with their Typhon, mistaking His fierceness and prowess in battle with cruelty and blind rage. Later, with the rising influence of other cultures and pantheons of foreign gods, and the following loss of the old myths and stories, Set's original purpose was forgotten. He became an epitome of evil and later was equated with the Satan from christianity.

Iconography:
Set is in most cases depicted as a man with the head of a canide of undetermined origin. His head has erect, square-tipped ears and a downturned, long snout like that of an anteater or aardvark, as some people say. Sometimes He is shown with a forked tail, and there exists an entire so-called sha or Set animal (see a picture here), which has a greyhound- or jackal-like body, but the tail and head described above. Rumors have it that such a beast has been seen in UpperEgypt or Northern Nubia in the late 90s, but it remains elusive - and one of the very few creatures used as icon of a god that can't be traced back to a known species.

(Personal note: Since in the early times of Kemet there were many strange creatures depicted, like on the famous Narmer plate, I think that Set may be a very old Name of Netjer, dating back as far as the very first dynasties - or even further? Alas, this is a humble private person's viewpoint only.)

Animals sacred to Set are the gazelle/Oryx, the donkey, the crocodile, the hippopotamus (as a creature that destroys fields and tips over boats), and the boar/pig. From the myths of Wesir we have the fish among His animals, too. Dog and jackal are counted among them by some scientists, too, but with the jackal starts the overlapping with Yinepu, Set's son, so I only mention that animal in a side note. The dog might be an alternative creature to the sha animal, invented in the 18. or 19. century as an explanation for the strange figure. I haven't found the slightest indication for "dog worship" in any scientific books about Kemet, nor have ANY dogs mummified as beings sacred to Set been found.

I said above that the serpent and the Set animal were the common symbols of Set, but rare cases are known in which He is represented in the form of a man, wearing a beard and a tail, and holding the usual symbols of divinity. In the example figured by Lanzone the god is called "mighty one of two-fold strength," and is accompanied by Nebt-het, Who wears upon Her head a pair of horns and a disk.

A number of beasts which dwelt in the waters, or at least partly on land and partly in water, were regarded as symbols of Set and as beings wherein He took up his habitation. Among these were the serpent Apep (interesting how Set sometimes is Apep, resides inside Apep, or slays Apep, isn't it?), the fabulous beast, Akhekh, which was a species of antelope with a bird's head surmounted by three uraei, and a pair of wings, the turtle etc. These animals were, however, not the only ones which were regarded as types of Set, for many creatures which were caught in the waters or hunted in the desert were treated as an animal or even incarnation of Set - animals with red or reddish-brown coats/skin, and in much later times even red-haired humans were supposed to be especially under the influence/in favor of Set.

Set's color is red, like the sand of His land, like the blood that is shed, like... well, like passion, too, and like fire, literal and metaphorical. His birthday is celebrated on the third (and thereby middle) of the epagomenal days in the Kemetic Year.

You'll find more about Set and His War against Ra/Heru/Wesir HERE.

Set and pharaohs

This one is interesting, though I do not agree with all that's said here. Nevertheless, a fascinating point of view.

Heru says to the king, "I will give thee a life like unto that of Ra, and years even as the years of Tem," and Set says, "I establish the crown upon thy head even like the Disk [on the head of] Amen Ra, and I will give thee all life, and strength, and health;" in his character of giver of life each god holds in his hand the notched palm branch, symbol of "years," which rests upon a frog, and the emblem of the Sun's path in the heavens and of eternity. In yet another scene we find Set teaching Thothmes III the use of the bow in connection with the emblem of the goddess Nit, whilst Heru instructs him how to wield a weapon which appears to be a staff.

According to Dr. Brugsch, Set was the god of the downward motion of the sun in the lower hemisphere, in a southerly direction, and for this reason he was the source of the destructive heat of summer; and since the days began to diminish after the summer solstice, it was declared that He stole the light from Heru or Ra, and He was held to be the cause of all the evil, both physical and moral, which resulted. The light which Djehuty brought with the new moon was withdrawn by Set as soon as it was possible for him to obtain power over that luminary, and He was naturally thought to be the cause of clouds, mist, rain, thunder and lightning, hurricanes and storms, earthquakes and eclipses, and in short of every thing which tended to shake/reverse the ordinary course of nature and of law and order. From a moral point of view He was the personification of sin and evil.

See, here we get back to the cliché of Set the evil guy. I'm happy that scientists overlook aspects which lie hidden deeper than first meets the eye, too - that it's not just a mistake made by "ordinary" people.

Theories and quotes about Set-Typhon

This excerpt is somehow fuzzy and weird, but still interesting (I forgot the source, unfortunately). It tells us about rites the Egyptians in the author's view performed for/against Set:

A statement in Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride (62), informs us that Typhon was called Seth, and Bebo, and Smy, "all of them words of one common import, and expressing certain violent and forcible restraint and withholding, as likewise contrariety and subversion; we are, moreoever, informed by Manetho that the lodestone is called the 'bone of Heru' by the Egyptians, as iron is the 'bone of Typhon.'" This information is of considerable interest, for it makes the identity of Set and Typhon certain, and it is, moreover, supported by the evidence of the inscriptions. The name Seth is, of course, Set; Bebo is the Egyptian, Baba and Smy is Smai, the well-known Egyptian name for Set as the Arch-Fiend. The associates of Set were called Smaiu, and the determinative, shows that the idea of "violence" was implied in the name. That iron was connected with Set or Typhon is quite clear from the passage quoted by Dr. Brugsch in which Thoth is said to have obtained from Set the knife with which he cut up the bull.

On the other hand, the animals which were used by man in the chase, i.e., dogs, cheetas, etc., and certain other animals, e.g., lions, cats, etc., were held to be sacred to the gods, and according to Plutarch (De Iside, 72), "the gods, through a dread of Typhon, metamorphosed themselves into these animals, concealing themselves as it were from his purpose in the bodies of ibises, dogs and hawks." The sacrifice of certain animals associated with Set played a prominent part in the ritual of the Egyptian religion, and at the seasons of the year when Set's influence was supposed to be the greatest earnest attempts were regularly made to propitiate him by means of offerings.

Thus in order to drive away Set from attacking the full moon of the month Pachons an antelope was sacrificed, and a black pig was hacked in pieces upon an altar made of sand, which was built on the bank of the river. On the twenty-sixth day of the month, Choiak, which was the time of the winter solstice, an ass was slain, and a model of the serpent-fiend was hewn in pieces. On the first day of Mesore, which was the day of the great festival of Heru Behutet, large numbers of birds and fish were caught, and those which were considered to be of a Typhonic character were stamped upon with the feet, and those who did this cried out, "Ye shall be cut in pieces, and your members shall be hacked asunder, and each of you shall consume the other; thus doth Ra triumph over all his enemies, and thus doth Heru-Behutet, the great god, the lord of heaven, triumph over all his enemies." On such occasions, we learn from Plutarch (De Iside, 63), sistra were shaken in the temples, for, say they, the sound of these Sistra averts and drives away Typhon; meaning hereby, that as corruption clogs and puts a stop to the regular course of nature, so generation, by the means of motion, loosens it again, and restores it to its former vigor."

The chief opponent of Set was the hippopotamus goddess Reret, who was believed to keep this power of darkness securely fettered by a chain; this goddess is usually represented with the arms and hands of a woman which are attached to the body of a hippopotamus, and in each she holds a knife. Her temple was called Het-Khaat. The duty of the goddess was to keep in restraint the evil influence of Set and to make clear a way in the sky of the birth of Heru-sma-taui, whom Dr. Brugsch identified with the spring sun; the texts, however, make it clear that Reret was nothing but a form of Isis.