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Ra's heavenly boat reaches the summit of a mountain where the great serpent lies in ambush. This serpent swallows in one gulp a great portion of the Nile, but Seth, at the front of the boat, 'directs his lance of fire against it, causing the snake to cough up all that had been swallowed.
~ Book of the Dead, Chapter 108

Set is the Egyptian god of war, chaos, storm, disorder, waste, drought, famine, destruction, hunger, and foreign invasion/influence; everything which the Egyptian people feared and hated Set would aim to embody.

Overview[]

He was seen as the personification of khefety, which means either enemy or opponent, and has been compared to Satan of Christian religion.

He is the brother of Osiris, Isis, and uncle to Horus, and brother as well as husband to Nephthys. His other consort was the goddess Tawaret, a hippo-headed deity who presided over fertility and childbirth. He is one of the first five gods created by the union of Geb (earth) and Nut (sky) after the creation of the world.

History[]

Usurping Osiris[]

As first-born, Osiris was elevated as ruler of the Egyptian world. Set in time became jealous of his brother's power and resented his success. His bitterness is said to have grown tenfold after his wife Nephthys, attracted by Osiris' beauty, disguised herself as Isis and seduced the great king, becoming pregnant with the god Anubis.

It was Set decided to assassinate his brother, and had a magnificent casket created, the most beautiful chest ever made, tailored to Osiris' exact measurements. He threw a grand party, to which Osiris was invited, and after the banquet told the guests he had a special surprise. He revealed his creation, a sarcophagus, and said that whoever could fit most perfectly inside could take it home.

One by one the guests climbed into the casket but could not fit until Osiris' turn came. He lay down in the casket and found, of course, that it fit him perfectly. As the last participants of the party left, seeing that they would not get to keep the sarcophagus, Set then slammed the sarcophagus shut, impaling his brother with the many sharp blades on the inner side of the to the majestic object. Set absorbed the power of Osiris and dumped his brothers dismembered body and limbs along the Nile River in hopes that the god Sobek would devour all traces of his dark deed.

Reign of Set[]

Set took the throne, and the harmonious balance which had been maintained by Osiris and Isis was lost. Set was a chaotic and unpredictable monarch who brought storms and drought, causing people turned on each other in their efforts to survive. However, he was met with opposition as Set was also the archenemy of his nephew Horus, who routinely opposed him in his efforts to overthrow the Egyptian pantheon.

Despite his status as a god of evil, it is believed that when push comes to shove, Set has sided with the Egyptian Pantheon to defeat the chaos serpent Apep which threatened to tear the world asunder, a world Set wished to rule for himself. On multiple occasions it is said that it was the might of Set that prevented the great serpent from overtaking the gods and defeating Ra.

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