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Bisexual, violent and indefinite, Seth is one of the few Egyptian varieties that tend to evil, a feature that worsened with several foreign invasions.
The opponent of Horus
As for Horus, his myth is very strongly linked to that of Isis and Osiris, in which he performs the function of “evil” par excellence. In fact, he will bury his brother Osiris alive and, once his consort has found his body, he has torn it to pieces and scattered it all over Egypt. It will be the legendary god-hawk, son of the couple, to avenge the affront suffered, even if in ways that seem extremely bizarre to us.
According to legend, in fact, Seth was bisexual and tried to have a sexual relationship with Horus, who agreed in exchange for some of his strength. However the second managed not to let the seed of the god enter into him, throwing it into the Nile. On the contrary, Horus spilled his seminal liquid on lettuces, which were then eaten by Seth, carrying the white liquid inside him. This affair, besides being very “particular”, is fundamental in the mythical contest that divided the 2, since the god-hawk gained an advantage over his rival precisely because of these facts. According to the beliefs of the time, the presence of this substance was in fact a practical demonstration of domination and this had a not insignificant value for the claims to the throne of Horus. Still on the subject, shortly after that, between the two there was a sort of final duel in which Seth lost one of his testicles, while, the nephew, the famous eye.
Seth, the alien god
The bisexuality and the lust for meat of the god are not accidental and must be linked to his role in Ancient Egypt, that of “lord of chaos” and storms or, if you prefer, of what is foreign. As already seen in the article on Horus, in fact, Seth also opposed geographically to his nephew, always going to represent the different, those who were “outside the Kingdom”, which, of course, brought the divinity and be associated with always varied and different elements.
Originally it was supposed to represent Nubia, then Upper Egypt and finally “foreigners”. Not surprisingly, when the country was invaded by foreign populations known as Hyksos, Seth became one of the most adored entities ever; this is also due to the profound similarity between the latter and Teshub, god brought by the new rulers. Precisely because of this “connivance”, the divinity began to acquire increasingly malignant and negative connotations, also associated with the growing xenophobia that will envelop Egypt, now less and less independent and increasingly servant of foreign powers. To complete the concept of “stranger”, then, there is his sacred animal, still one of the few undefined beasts of the entire Egyptian pantheon.
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