© 2012 Yozzer Hughes

Set in Hieroglyphs

Set is the god of  chaos, storms and the desert. Set’s parents were Geb and Nut

with Osiris, Isis and Nephthys as siblings. Nephthys was also his sister / wife as was common amongst deities. He was primarily worshipped at Ombos (modern day Naqada - a conglomeration of towns along the West bank of the Nile).

Set is represented as a unique animal in that he seems to be made up of a jackal, Aardvark and donkey (Note the square ears and pointed nose / mouth).

Set originated from Heliopolis in the Nile Delta but his earliest recorded
image was on a mace-head of the Proto dynastic (Dynasty 0) Scorpion King (circa 3790 - 3500 BC).

Set being the god of chaos, had his fair share of conflict mainly with his
sibling Osiris and Nephew Horus. In the Osiris - set myth, Set traps Osiris
in a wooden coffin which he throws into the Nile hoping he is never to be
seen again. Isis however finds the coffin, but Set intercepts it on the way
for burial and carves said coffin and its contents into 14 pieces and scatters
then to the farthest corners of the world.  Isis managed to recover all the
parts and reconstitute the body as well as conceive Horus.

Horus seeks revenge for his father’s murder through a series of challenges
in which ultimately, after losses on both sides, results in Horus being given
all of Egypt as his domain, whilst Set gets the desert.

Set had the height of his worship in Pi-Ramses (Avaris) during the reign
of Ramses the Great (Ramses II).