Set the Murderer
Set was the son of Nut the Goddess of the sky and Geb the God of the earth, he was the brother of Osiris, whom he murdered out of jelousey. Osiris was the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead, and the god of the resurrection into eternal life; ruler, protector, and judge of the deceased.
According to one myth Set lived in the Great Bear, a constellation in the northern sky – an area which symbolized darkness and death. He was a storm god associated with strange and frightening events such as eclipses, thunderstorms, and earthquakes
Seth was a powerful and often frightening deity, however he was also a patron god of the pharaohs, particularly Ramses the Great. He protected the dead on the way to the Afterlife.
Even as an infant Set was dangerous and unpredictable. According to the pyramid texts he ripped himself violently from his mother’s womb instead of being born normally like his siblings.
In this unusual image from the tomb KV14, Set stands firmly on top of a lion with two faces who both wear the crown of the south, it symbolizes the reconciliation of the two opposing forces it represents ‘he of the two faces’ who has the heads of Horus and Set. it is from the 9th Division of the Book of gates, on the left is a hawk-headed lion, on the right from the hind of a lion emerges a human head.
The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. The soul is required to pass through a series of 'gates' each hour of the night. Each gate is associated with a different goddess, and requires that the deceased recognize the particular character of that deity. The text implies that some people will pass through unharmed, but that others will suffer torment in a lake of fire. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night. Set helps in the cavernous journey through the gates and hours of the night and he rescues Ra from the Apophis snake
Before the New Kingdom, those who were found guilty in the Hall of Judgement were damned to suffer a continuous cycle of everlasting torment in the outer darkness of an area in the deepest recesses of the underworld, a place of continuous punishment that was infested with demons who had risen from the ranks of the damned themselves, killing and torturing each other. They would rip the protective mummy wrappings off each other, screeching and tearing each others flesh, their skin no longer protected, it rotted and decomposed Their hearts were ripped out and the ba soul was lost, never knowing the way to fly back to its bodily home again. Thirst and hunger ravished them, but they are denied the gifts of wine or bread, as their funeral gifts never reach them., they would sneak past the four baboons that guarded the Lake of burning fire only to find the water was not cool for them, refreshing their thirst as it would for a righteous man, for the damned it was a place of destruction where burning, bloody water and the horrendous stench of putrefying burnt flesh rose from its cesspools, for they were the brothers of Set, the God who murdered his own brother Osiris, and disguised himself as a pig to blind Horus thus causing the eclipses of the light and sun.
Set was furious with his unfaithful wife but took his vengeance out on his brother Osiris whom he murdered and scattered all the parts of his body to the far corners of Egypt. The Goddess Isis was so destraught that for many years she searched Egypt to find the body parts of her husband Osiris and with her magic, she was able to bring Osiris to life, but Ra said that Osiris could not live on the earth with the living so he made him the Judge of the Underworld, he became the God of Eternal life and judged the deceased to see if they had led a just life, and were worthy of an afterlife
Set the protector of Ra
Despite the fact that Set murdered his own brother Osiris, he was considered to be the defender of the sun god Ra, whose barque he protected on its journey through the underworld (or the night sky) and he fought and killed the demon snake known as Apophis who has has guzzled the water surrounding the barque of Ra, on the journey through the caverns of the under world the barque was becoming trapped in sandbanks, but they were not sandbanks, it was the obese fat crushing coils of this gigantic snake Aphosi that would trap the barque, while its demon eyes will hypnotize the crew, enabling the snake to swallow their heads engulfing them in everlasting darkness. On the holy barque of Ra panic and chaos ensues, help is desperately needed, the companions on the barque struggle to fight off this vile creature, that has swum in the waters of chaos for eternity, In the battle Heka (the God of Magic) stands on the prow of the boat his divine magic was given to the human race by Ra and with his magical incantations he will exorcise the snake, subduing it to his power. Ra then calls for Set, the god of Darkness, war and Chaos to help them kill the snake whilst Heka has it in his spell, Set leaps to the prow of the boat with his spear launching it at this terrifying demon serpent, it rises above the boat emitting a screech as its poisonous fangs launch towards them, Seth leaps onto the serpent and thrusts his sword into the back of its head. Screeching it crashes into the waters of chaos launching the boat into a tidal wave through the caverns. Set is washed across to the shore where he drags the serpent and hacks its goutiness body to pieces. In contempt of Ra and the other companions he gloats that only he could save them from the threat of this Demon, Ra in his anger instructs Hu and Sia to guide the boat to safer waters, leaving the Set on the shore.
