Myth and Legend: Journeys Through Time

Have you ever had a sibling that you just couldn’t stand? A brother or a sister that for some reason no matter how hard you tried, they just rubbed you the wrong way? Or if you don’t have siblings somebody in your life that for one reason or other just drove you bonkers? If so then you’ll be happy to know that even Gods and Goddesses had this problem. Norse trickster god Loki couldn’t stand his brother (even if they were only brothers by adoption) Thor. In some versions of Greek and Roman mythology Hades or as he’s known to the Romans, Pluto would do his best every so often to upset Zeus who’s Roman name is Jupiter.

Oh and in Native American mythology, they believed in the spirits and Coyote was one of the most distrusted, warily dealt with spirits ever..despite his intentions not always being bad, he simply couldn’t be trusted by the other spirits…or people and animals of our world. It’s been said that whenever the great spirits held meetings, they couldn’t allow Coyote at a meeting, nor could they rightfully turn him away and nobody wanted Coyote next to him…so he stayed in the doorway for a quick escape in case anything went wrong…or he simply couldn’t control himself.

However…compared to all of that…nobody ever had as bad a case of the jealousy as the Ancient Egyptian God Set. Set (also spelled Seth, Sheth, Sutekh, Setan, Seteh, Suetekh, Setesh, Seti, Setech, and Sutech) was the brother of Osiris, who came to be the Egyptian god of the underworld, Isis wife and sister of Osiris also goddess of magic, motherhood, love and life, and Nephthys, who was not only Set’s wife but also his sister. The thing that Set is most famously…well infamously known for is the murder of his brother Osiris. Before that though, Set was a god of the desert, storms, chaos, foreigners, and darkness. He was the chief god of Lower Egypt and his nephew Horus was the chief god of Upper Egypt. When Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt united, it was commonly depicted that Set and Horus shared the crown as opposed to one of them ruling Egypt entirely. However….Upper Egypt started conquering Lower Egypt so the pharaohs of Upper Egypt started depicting Set as an evil being. As somebody who would go out of his way to harm Horus instead of helping him. Some parts of Egyptian mythology say that Set became known as the personification of evil because he was terribly jealous of his brother Osiris, and why wouldrn’t he be? Osiris was fertile and could have children whereas Set was barren and could never have children. Osiris eventually came to be revered and honored for pretty much any and everything whereas poor Set was considered to be beneath him. Eventually Set got to the point where he could no longer take being a second class being so he tried to kill Osiris. Twice. The first time he attempted to kill Osiris, he did so by having a large, nicely decorated box constructed and placed at entrance to his palace. He invited all the deities over for a great feast and when Osiris arrived, managed to trick his brother into getting into the box…really it was a coffin. When Osiris was in the box, Set had his carpenters nail the lid shut and then sealed it with molten lead. After that he threw the sealed box into the Nile  river. As a result Osiris drowned. Isis though searched and searched for Osiris’ coffin and she eventually found it along the shore of the river. Using her magic, she brought Osiris back to life and conceived Horus during this time. Unfortunately,  Set discovered that Osiris was alive..again and this time around, decided to make sure Osiris stayed dead for good. Set killed Osiris again and to make sure that Osiris stayed dead, dismembered him and scattered his body parts all over Egypt. It is this second killing of Osiris that Set is most famously known for. Isis once again intervened and patiently searched for the pieces of husband’s body and upon finding them all, put them rightly together and brought her husband back to life. Although he was resurrected, Osiris elected to ule the Underworld as King of the Dead. His son Horus decided to take revenge against his uncle Set for his father’s murder and they both fought a great number of battles. Horus was going to kill Set but Isis took pity on her brother and asked her son to spare his life.  The battles between Set and Horus are often seen as the greatest fight between good and evil. All in all, Set wasn’t an evil god. He started out decently but sadly was slowly pushed out of favor which made him resentful and hateful towards his brother.

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Sa-Sp/Set.html
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/seth.htm
http://www.fact-index.com/s/se/set__mythology_.html
http://www.egyptiandreams.co.uk/set.php