The War of Horus and Set Read online

  A real solar barque, reconstructed from a buried boat at Giza. Ra’s boat Mandjet would be like this, as would the boats constructed by Set and Horus for their race. (Photograph by Berthold Werner)

  Osiris saw immediately that this was indeed the right answer, and that Horus was not just giving in to anger but was thinking about his actions and his strategy. With those words, Horus had proved his wisdom to Osiris, and Osiris could return to the Duat confident that his son was ready to make things right.

  Escorted by his mother, Horus left Wadjet’s island at Chemmis and travelled to Heliopolis, to present himself to the grand council of the gods, presided over by the creator and king of the gods, Ra. There, Horus revealed what Set had done to Osiris and claimed that Osiris’s throne – and vengeance upon Set – was his birthright.

  The gods were not quite sure what to make of this. Most of them knew what had happened between Set and Osiris, and while many disapproved of Set’s actions, all of them agreed that they could not simply hand Egypt over to an untested child; this was a job that required specialist education and lots of experience. Ra, in particular, was in favour of Set. He felt that Set was an experienced ruler who had proven his worth, and he also valued his contribution and loyalty as the protector of Ra on his journey each night. Shu, the god of the winds, and Thoth, the god of wisdom, sided with Horus and Isis, feeling that this would be more just. Thinking that the matter was settled, Isis asked Shu to tell Osiris of the result, which he did. Ra was angered by this, since, as king of the gods, he felt he should have the final say.

  The triumphant and imposing pylons, as archaeologists call them, of the Temple of Horus at Edfu. (Library of Congress)

  Set suggested a simpler way to decide the matter: a trial by combat. Horus was free to step outside with Set and fight him for the throne. Horus agreed eagerly and took on Set in single combat. Although Horus was younger and faster, Set was far more experienced at warfare, and the fight quickly turned against the younger god. Before Set could defeat him, however, the other gods emerged from their council chamber, and Thoth separated the combatants. This, the god of wisdom insisted, was not the way they should decide such matters.

  Time passed differently for gods than for mortals, and by the time Ra looked upon Set and Horus in the council chamber once more, 80 years had passed, and Set’s main ally, Queen Aso, had died. Now Set had fewer allies, with even his mother, Nut, saying Horus should be given the throne. Ra would still have preferred the stronger and more experienced Set and thought that Horus was a weakling who could not hold the throne, but he knew he must be fair and even-handed and hear both cases.

  Set pointed out that he had ruled in his brother’s stead for years, and that everyone knew he was the loyal one who defended Ra from Apep every day. Without him, he said, Ra would have been destroyed long ago, and the world lost to chaos. Many of the gods appreciated this point and agreed that Set, as the elder candidate, was a more suitable ruler. Thoth disagreed, however, and said that it could not be right to give the throne to a brother when the rightful heir is able to sit upon it.

  During a break in deliberations, Isis disguised herself as a beautiful widow, and made sure that Set noticed her. She told Set in front of the other gods that she was the widow of a farmer, who, with her son, was to be evicted from their farm and have their cattle confiscated. Set was enraged at such an injustice, and promised to exact punishment for such a crime. Isis immediately revealed her true identity and pointed out to the assembled gods that Set had condemned himself by admitting that his own claim was by his own standards unjust.

  The gods immediately thought to give the throne to Horus, but Ra, still willing to believe the best of Set, allowed Set to challenge Horus to a less lethal form of contest than single combat. The first challenge was for both of them to transform into hippopotami and see who could stay underwater the longest. This they did, but after three months, Isis grew suspicious that Set, who was associated with this animal, had an unfair advantage and had done something to her son. She, therefore, made a harpoon, and threw it into the water where she could see a hippo which she believed to be Set. Unfortunately, Horus had been holding his own in the contest, and had not been harmed by Set, and this was the hippo that she hit. Horus thrashed in pain, coming to the surface immediately.

  Aerial view of the Temple of Horus. (Library of Congress)

  Horrified by her error, Isis healed her son, and then threw the harpoon at the correct hippo, whom she knew would now seem to have won the contest by staying underwater longer. Pierced by the copper spear, Set erupted from the water in anger and agony, to find Isis waiting to finish him off. Set pleaded with her to see what she had done, and to think about how she was about to commit the same crime for which she condemned him - fratricide. At this reminder, Isis stepped back, much to the annoyance of her son, who saw this as a missed opportunity for a just revenge.

  Horus was so incensed, in fact, that he struck off his mother’s head in a tantrum, but she was a goddess and so this merely turned her into a statue for a while, until he placed her head back upon her body. Angered in turn by his disrespectful behaviour, Set put out Horus’s eye as a punishment. Lashing out in pain, Horus in turn castrated Set.

  By now the other gods had noticed what was happening. Hathor healed the wounded combatants, and Ra summoned them to appear before him again. Angry at the escalation of their conflict to include Isis, Ra commanded them to make peace. Set agreed to the request of his grandfather, and invited Horus to his home for a feast. This was a pretence, however, so that Set could trick Horus into eating Set’s semen, hidden in the food, and thus embarrass the younger god by having sexually dominated him. If his plan succeeded, Horus would be a laughing stock, and the gods would award Set the throne.

  Isis, however, had already been suspicious, and helped her son to turn the tables on Set, who himself consumed the semen, which Isis had switched from Horus’s plate onto some lettuce on Set’s plate. When Isis then revealed this to the rest of the gods, Set was mocked and laughed at, and Thoth declared that if this was considered a challenge, then Horus had won. However, because Isis had interfered, Set’s humiliation did not mean that it was a victory for Horus, as he himself had not actually been the one to trick Set.

  Bas-relief in the heart of the temple in Edfu, Egypt depicting Horus and his family. (Library of Congress)

  Horus and Set by Evelyn Paul.

  The next challenge for the pair was simple: they were each to build a boat of stone and hold a race. Set played fairly by the rules, building a boat made of stone, but Horus instead built his boat out of wood and rushes, which he covered with a thin layer of plaster to look like stone. Of course as soon as the boats were placed in the Nile, Set’s boat sank like, well, a stone, while Horus paddled his boat away at high speed. Once in the river, Set immediately transformed into a hippopotamus, and pursued Horus’s boat. He surged up from under it, smashing the flimsy wood and rushes into dozens of pieces.

  ANIMALS AND GODS

  One of the most distinctive things about artworks depicting the Egyptian gods – whether tomb paintings or statues – is that most of them were depicted at least partially in an animal form. Specifically, they were usually shown as a human figure with the head of a bird or animal. At other times they were shown with a sun or moon, depending on whether they had solar or lunar connections, and often this was on top of a bird or animal head. For example, Horus had the head of a falcon, as did Ra, but because Ra was the embodiment of the sun, he was shown with the sun resting on top of the falcon’s head. Horus often had a crown on top of his falcon-head. Some gods were depicted wholly as animals, such as Khepri, who was always shown as a scarab beetle, Wadjet the cobra goddess, and Taweret, the goddess of pregnancy and birth, who was shown as a hippopotamus that stood upright on its hind legs.

  The most familiar example of Ancient Egypt’s linking of animals and gods – the sacred cat, in this case a statue of Bast. (Author’s Collection)

  The
Egyptians did not worship animals, although they farmed them for food and they kept pets. That said, some animals were also kept in cages or enclosures as symbols of a god or goddess, while others simply lived in temples and were considered sacred. These pets and sacred animals were often mummified when they died, like a member of the family.

  The Ancient Egyptians saw things in certain animal behaviours that reminded them of attributes of different gods. These similarities that the Egyptians saw between their gods and their animals are not blatantly obvious to modern eyes. Anubis, who is in charge of weighing the hearts of the dead to determine whether they were good or bad, for example, has the head of a jackal. This is because a jackal, as a carrion-eater, can tell good meat from bad in a dead creature. The Ancient Egyptians simply modified this to being able to tell good from bad in the deceased’s heart.

  Scarab beetles were seen to roll balls of dung along, just like the fiery ball of the sun rolled along the sky, so – even though Ra was also thought to travel in a boat – the beetles became associated with the god Khepri, who was a giant beetle who pushed the sun along. They were also associated with Osiris and Horus as symbols of rebirth, because they would bury themselves in the sands in hard times, and then reappear as if reborn later.

  The best-known animal sacred to the Ancient Egyptians was, of course, the cat. Cats had poise and grace, and were effective hunters that protected grain from rodents – just the sort of graceful justice you might expect from Bast, the daughter of Ra. The least-known animal in Egyptian terms, however, was the one that shared its face with Set. Set has an animal head, but the type of animal is unknown. In fact most sources seem to suggest that the Set animal is some kind of hybrid made up of such diverse creatures as donkeys and giraffes, probably because the seated animal shown in hieroglyphics to represent Set’s name looks like a mixture of these. However, there may in fact be a single answer to the question of the Set animal.

  Look at Set’s nose and ears, and look at this aardvark. The Set animal in hieroglyphics is shown in the triangular sitting position that a dog or cat sits in, but an aardvark cannot sit that way, which may be why the hieroglyph looks like it’s made from different animals. (Life on white / Alamy)

  Horus, now enraged, was determined that it was time to kill Set, but the other gods refused to let him. Frustrated, he went to Saïs, to appeal to his grandmother, Nut. He told her how all the judgements so far had pointed to him as deserving the throne, but still it had not been given to him.

  Meanwhile, Ra and Osiris had argued about who should take the throne. Ra knew Set as a loyal ally who protected him from Apep, but Osiris had been murdered by him and that coloured his view. Now that he was king of the underworld, Osiris had found that he was in charge of many beings and monsters who had no fear of either gods or mortals, but who had the power to destroy both, if they were wrongdoers. Even the stars themselves could be brought down by them, taken below the western horizon and into the Duat, to be judged by Osiris and either destroyed or sent into the afterlife.

  Ra viewed this as a threat, and one which he could not resist. If denying the son and heir his father’s throne would lead to the destruction of the heavens and the earth by said vengeful father’s crew of underworld creatures, then that son must be given the throne. Ra, therefore, summoned the gods once more and pronounced his final judgement: Horus would be given his father’s throne.

  Because Ra had been forced into this decision, he was determined to make his own point as creator and king of the gods. He therefore also decreed that Set would not be punished for his actions but would keep the throne of Upper Egypt, and he would continue to accompany Ra on his daily journey, and that his voice would be heard in the thunder. While Horus would sit on his father’s throne, it would be as god of Lower Egypt, not of the whole empire.

  The Final Conflict

  For 363 years, this situation worked, with Horus ruling Lower Egypt in the north, and Set ruling Upper Egypt in the south. Eventually, however, tensions began to mount again, as both gods wanted to rule a unified realm. Horus wanted Set to lose his kingdom as punishment for the murder of Osiris, while Set wanted to recover the half of the kingdom he had originally taken from his brother.

  As there was tension between the gods, so too was there tension in the mortal world, as the peoples of each half of the kingdom rallied behind their ruling god and fought the followers of the other. Each god was very protective of his people and viewed the actions of the other’s followers as an insult. When Horus began moving an army towards Nubia – and thus in the direction of Upper Egypt – Set took this to be an attack, and had his people rise in open rebellion. If the gods would not curb Horus’s vendetta, Set thought, then he would.

  Set gathered an army of gods and mortals, and travelled north to meet Horus at Edfu, where Horus was based at his temple. Horus, knowing that the final reckoning was coming, had Thoth turn him into a falcon as bright as the midday sun.

  Horus then flew up to the sun, from where he could see the whole of Set’s massive army darkening the earth. Set, meanwhile, was looking out for his nephew, but because Horus appeared to be at one with the sun, Set was blinded by the light and could not see him. As the armies met between the riverbank and the temple, Horus dived into the midst of Set’s forces. Being as bright as the midday sun in this form, he blinded the warriors who followed Set, and so when they hacked about themselves, trying to fight off the blinding light, they hit each other instead of Horus or his warriors. By the time Set’s army reached Horus’s army, their numbers had been depleted as they had blindly hacked off each other’s limbs and cracked each other’s skulls.

  Nevertheless, the two armies did meet, and, in the midst of them, so did the two gods. All along the riverbank, gods, demigods, and wizards among Set’s followers turned themselves into hippopotami and crocodiles to ambush Horus’s followers on the riverside. Set, meanwhile, equipped himself with sword and spear, and launched himself at Horus. Horus had learned much since their last duel, and was able to defend himself far more effectively than before. Nevertheless, the onslaught of Set’s blades drove him back towards a nearby pyramid. Set pressed home his attack, certain of victory. He could see that Horus had improved his skills, but knew that his longer experience of battles would win through in the end.

  As the pair duelled at the heart of the battle, however, Thoth worked his famed magic, using both spells and his knowledge of the sciences to make the weapons of Horus’s army strong enough to pierce even the thickest scales and hide. Set and Horus, meanwhile, continued to cut and thrust at each other with their own swords and spears, duelling up and down the steps of nearby pyramids before Horus began to push Set back through the temple.

  Has Set made a tactical error by repeating an earlier trick? In either case, the final showdown reflected the fact that hippopotami, not crocodiles, were considered the most dangerous animals in the Nile.

  Though the two gods were evenly matched, Thoth’s help with Horus’s army meant Set’s army was in trouble. As it fell back under the onslaught of stronger weapons, Set was soon outnumbered. As Set’s followers were brought down by Thoth’s strengthened blades, the survivors began to flee south. Horus’s army swept on after them, pursuing them deep into Upper Egypt. Recognizing that his followers were defeated, Set broke off and fled the temple of Edfu for the river. While his army pursued the remnants of Set’s forces, Horus fought his way through the stragglers and most fanatical followers of Set, to the river. He borrowed a boat from Ra and took to the river in pursuit of Set.

  Set had gone north towards Lower Egypt, thinking both to draw Horus away from doing further harm to his army, and to be able to take the throne as soon as he had killed his nephew. Set remembered how he had been able to destroy Horus’s fake stone boat before, and planned to lure him into a trap where he could do the same thing again. This time he intended not just to destroy the boat but to kill his nephew.

  Unfortunately, Horus had also remembered what happened with the boa
ts before, and this time he was ready for Set’s attack. Set dived deep in order to approach Horus unseen, but Horus’s healed eye was better than his original, and so Horus was waiting for him when he surfaced. Horus hurled his spear down at Set as Set burst forth from the waters. The spear slammed into the angry god, but it did not stop him. He leapt upwards, almost turning Horus’s boat over. Horus struggled to remain standing steady in order to hurl more spears at Set. Set slammed his body against the boat, trying to knock Horus into the jaws of the waiting crocodiles, but Horus jumped out at the last second and straddled both banks of the river like a colossus. From there, Horus stabbed downwards, impaling Set upon a harpoon. Set struggled to free himself, but too late. Horus drew his sword and decapitated his nemesis with a single stroke.

  Mere decapitation was not enough to permanently destroy a god, of course, but it was more than enough to be a decisive defeat. The severed head disappeared as the rest of the hippo transformed into a beaten and humiliated Set, who had no choice but to kneel before Horus and accept defeat. This was proof enough for all the gods – even Ra – that Horus was indeed capable of ruling a unified Egypt, and so Ra pronounced that henceforth Horus’s throne would be that of both Upper and Lower Egypt together. Set returned to his duties as Ra’s bodyguard and protector against the desert, while Horus ruled wisely with the advice of Isis and Thoth. Justice was finally done.