Set - Blog Posts
i'd like to imagine nephthys as being quite jealous. you can't really tell she is because she hides her feelings quite well, but if you ever bring up seth to her, nephthys' lips twitch. she has loved him ever since the day they were born—it was this pull towards him that made her heart flutter, as though they were soulmates. she's not as forward as isis is, and she gets flustered quite easily, so she has never had the strength to tell seth her true feelings. seth has always seen her as his little sister, one that needs protection, but he knows she's just as capable of taking care of herself. sometimes nephthys acts pathetic because she wants seth's attention, even if it makes a fool out of herself.
seth has never really harbored feelings for anyone. he's like the desert sand, as free to come and go as he pleases. nephthys wants to grab ahold of that sand and anchor him, tether herself to him, but seth slips easily through her fingertips. he isn't actively looking to slight nephthys or her feelings, no—it's just how he is. for a long time, nephthys has accepted that. if nobody can have seth, then that means he's free for the taking indefinitely.
then horus (the elder) comes onto the scene. he feels the same way about seth—this tug towards the god that makes nephthys feel uneasy. she banks on seth's ability to not give a damn; his freedom means her success. but just like she is forever interwined with isis, horus is with seth. from the shadows she watches in horror as horus easily wins him over, feeling nauseated. so many thoughts run in her mind: if only she had confessed to him first, if only she had made her move, if only she had been what seth had needed and wanted, if, if, if... she wants to scream in frustration—horus is the one who grounds him, not her. why him?! she's the goddess of peace, the one meant to quell seth! not the king, his supposed nemesis!
it's only when horus and seth fall out she seizes her chance. she's grown smarter over the years of seth's absence; more cunning, though not as flashy as her sister. watching horus and seth interact with each other makes her have a good idea of what he likes and dislikes, and she's ready to be the perfect spouse for seth. she will take care of him, lavish him, and show him the depths of her feelings. then, maybe then, seth can fall head over heels for her too.
obviously, seth is hesitant. his heart has been broken and shattered into a million pieces, but here nephthys is picking up the peaces methodically. she shows him how he's supposed to be loved, how much she loves him. it's a slow, tedious process, and given enough time seth slowly warms up to her. nephthys can pretend to be happy—after all, he's her husband now. nobody can take him away from her. they even have a cute little baby together! but despite it all, she senses his apprehension. nephthys is second to that damn horus, and always will be. it will only take her brother appearing back into seth's life for his resolve to waver, and he'll crawl back to him in an instant. the worst part is that horus will accept seth back with opens arms, as if their separation was just a little lover's quarrel.
nephthys will make sure that won't ever happen, not under her watch. seth is hers—forever.
I'm watching Adventure Time and I just made some parallels...
Horus and Anubis
Thoth and Set but yuri (Seshat and Sekhmet?)
Thoth and Maat
Thoth and Ra
I'm brainrotted sorry but do you see my vision
Do you ever think about how Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep may have been the first ever recorded gay couple in history, and how the paintings on their tomb walls show them listening to a song about Horus and Set as they eat dinner? And how the story of Horus and Set the ancient Egyptian's idea that homosexual intercourse could only ever be violent, a tool of humiliation, and yet, in the story, their union creates the god Thoth, who settles their conflict, peace and goodness coming out of what is supposed to only be violence? And that perhaps they recognized that, finding a way to see themselves in the stories their society gave them? Do you ever think about that? Do you ever lie on the cold ground and stare up at the sky, thinking about how we how we have been doing this forever and never stop?
Full English Translation of the Kahun Papyrus's "Tale of Horus and Set" (the Horus/Set gay sex papyrus)
The "Tale of Horus and Set" is two surviving "pages" of a Middle kingdom papyrus that was found at the site of Kahun/El Lahun with the rest of the "Kahun Papyrus"/"Kahun Papyri" collection. It's pretty small, and one page is almost completely destroyed, but what can still be read of it is a version of the Horus vs. Set lettuce myth. There is some debate about whether it is a piece of a magic spell or of a longer narrative. If was part of a spell than the story was probably not very long, but if it was a narrative text then this would be the only surviving part of a a much larger story (perhaps similar to the Contendings of Horus and Set).
This translation was done by me. I speak Middle Egyptian, although I am not an Egyptologist. As far as I'm aware there is no publicly available full English translation of this story (there was the original Latin one in 1898 and then some partial English ones you can find in various papers), so I've created this for anyone who's curious. While doing this, I tried to find as many other translations as possible to compare notes, and have left notes to explain where other translations disagree with me.
Most of the first page is so destroyed that what’s left is basically just gibberish. The gibberish looks something like this:
(1) … him (2) …he/his [something] (3) …that, with regard to it, is made(?) (4) …this [some type of person?]. I, moreover, will give (5) …to you against the stomach. Look, you (6) …[something] which has been repeated, without that, when I give (7) …stomach. You are upon the water, giving…
Sadly Egyptian is a language where meaning depends heavily on context, so brief snatches of only a couple words like this could have many, many different meanings depending on what the other words around them were.
The fragment proper begins on the last line of the first page.
(8) Then the Majesty of Set said (1) to the Majesty of Horus, “How beautiful your two buttocks are! Make wide (the space between) your two feet!…” (2) Then the Majesty of Horus said: “Wait, so that I may tell this [to my mother.” And he returned] (3) to their house. Then the Majesty of Horus said to his mother, Isis: “[What should I do?] (4) Set [has come], so that he may ‘become acquainted’ with me.” Then she said to him: “Be careful! Don’t approach him about that. [But], after he tells you that (5) again, you must say to him: ‘That would be utterly too difficult for me, because you are too heavy. (6) My strength will not bear your strength,’ you will say to him. "Then, after he has given you strength, (7) you must shove your fingers between your buttocks. Indeed [it] will cause… it to him like… (8) ...Indeed, it will be highly sweet upon his heart… (9) this semen which comes forth from his phallus, without letting Ra see." (10) [Then the Majesty of Set said:] “Come, do not [be afraid] of me (11) … I [will stop] that which I produce."
The papyrus becomes more damaged and disconnected as it goes on. It seems like Isis is advising Horus to "catch" Set's sperm in his hands, so it can't get inside of him, similar to what he did in The Contendings of Horus and Set, but since the end is so disconnected it's hard to tell if there are any significant differences in how that plays out here from Contendings.
The word the story uses for "strength" is pHty, a word that specifically means male sexual strength or strength with a sexual connotation. Ancient texts frequently describe Set as having a lot of pHty (he is often called aA pHty, "great of strength"). pHty sounds similar to pHwy, the word for "buttocks," so “My strength will not bear your strength” is wordplay, it sounds a lot like "my ass will not bear your strength." That line could also be read as "my strength will not be equal to your strength" since rmni can mean both "to support" or "to equal."
In “Homosexual Desire and Middle Kingdom Literature” by RB Parkinson, which has a section about this story, Parkinson believes "strength" in the line "after he has given you strength," may be referring specifically to Set's semen or phallus, (so “giving strength” means Set penetrating Horus.)
At the very end of the fragment it seems like Set shows back up again (there's a divine name determinative there but the divine name itself is missing). What he says is very unclear, but for the sake of completeness I have tried to make an attempt at filling it in. In the original 1898 Latin translation (from "Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob"), Petrie guessed that the first thing Set says might’ve been “don’t be afraid of me,” which fits the context, although I’m not sure what word would be used for "afraid" there. Given that there’s a force/activity determinative visible in the second thing he says, although the rest of the word is missing, I have made an extremely tentative guess that he’s promising to pull out.
The two big places where my translation deviates from other translations are right at the beginning:
After complimenting his ass, the second thing Set says to Horus appears to be wsx rdwy.ky, and what that is supposed to mean in this context is very hard to decipher. Parkinson translated it as “broad are your thighs,” but I don't think it makes sense to use rdwy to refer to thighs, it seems to always be used to mean feet and feet related things, not other parts of the leg. So I think it is more likely that this referring to stance, and what he's saying means something like "widen your stance" or "spread 'em."
In response to what Set has just said, Horus tells him to "sAi" (𓊃𓅭𓄿𓀸𓂻), which my dictionaries tell me means "wait." The 1898 translation has something like “Away with you!, I will tell that to my mother!” here, which is iconic, but that’s because Petrie didn’t recognize this word and had to guess what it meant; because sAi looks like sAw (𓊃𓅭𓄿𓀸𓀜) a word that means “beware!,” but with a 𓂻 legs determinative, he guessed it to mean "go away." (He explained his reasoning in his translation notes, it's pretty cool to read). Parkinson translates it as though the word just was sAw; he has Horus say “watch out, I shall tell this”, so I think he assumed the legs were a mistake. But "wait" also works in this context so I don't see any reason to assume it wasn't intended.
I was able to read this papyrus using Petrie's scans and hieroglyphic transcriptions from the plates volume of Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob, linked here. The plate for this papyrus is on page 24. (You may notice that the hieratic scans have different line numbers than the transcriptions; I've used the numbers on the scans.)
To make it easier for people to check my work if they want to, I've also made this alternatively formatted version, showing the translation line by line beside the hieroglyphs. The glyphs have been reformatted slightly to be all horizontal and left to right. I've marked the parts where my transcription differs from Petrie's in red:
saw this meme and thought of them
Guess I'm gonna post my edits here too
Связаны - Щенки ♬
(word count: 1,548)
From a lonesome, hidden balcony located somewhere on the outskirts of the palace, one could see a familiar sight: Seth, being heckled by his adoring wife into visiting the servants, trailed by their hesitant son. For many of Egypt’s regulars, this was a normal sight to behold—the fearsome desert god, He Who Has Caused Destruction, the murderer, transformed into something better. Greater.
It made the elder Horus scowl deeply.
If Seth felt his presence—he surely did, he must have—he did not react. Instead, his attention was solely focused on rebuking Nephthys, his tail swishing furiously. Horus knew all too well that it was nothing more than playful deceit, and he could only narrow his eyes as his gaze drifted over to the goddess. His sister had always been the simpler out of the two, but to see her laugh so casually with him was…
“Uncle,” a quiet voice startles him, causing the older god to whip around. Horus bristled; not a single soul on this earth knew of this place, unless of course you were—
“Nephew,” Horus the Elder nods simply, turning his back on the younger and adjusting his gaze. By now the trio had long since moved on, but he kept his eyes glued upon the spot where they once were—where he once was.
The younger Horus moved silently to stand beside him, a mutual understanding blossoming between the two. If Elder Horus could, he’d laugh at the absurdity of the situation: Isis, giving birth to Osiris’ son, and naming the poor, weak babe after him. It was as though the universe had taken his Ba and stuffed it into the young god before him. He was practically a walking, living, breathing carbon copy of his uncle—a great offense, seeing as how he was very much alive and well.
Horus the Younger let his own eyes meet the spot the Elder was staring at, and although he had arrived at the scene of the crime far too late, he seemed to have grasped what had occurred. Leaning onto the railing, he kept the tense yet peaceful silence for a moment before speaking.
“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?”
Again, if Elder Horus could, he’d start cackling.
“... Yes,” the older god acknowledges slowly, his fingers flexing against his palm. If he had been much younger, much more arrogant, he would’ve punched the younger square in his jaw for even mentioning him. Uttering Seth’s visage upon one’s tongue was a heinous crime and deserving of a fate worse than death. Now though, he no longer had any right to think so. Thus, he kept his mouth rightfully shut. “He had always been.”
This causes the younger Horus to tilt his head slightly—inquisitively. Curiously. Hungrily.
He decides to indulge him.
“He hasn’t changed in thousands of years,” elder Horus mutters, searching for the sandy red hair amongst the crowd. “He couldn’t have changed in thousands of years. I know him like I know the back of my hand, little one. Seth’s a stubborn mule, you’ve come to find out. Not many things worm his way into his heart.”
Horus thought for a moment. “Do you think that…?”
“God’s no,” the older exclaims in disbelief, “Not a chance. Nephthys—gods bless her—she’s not exactly… his type. Too boring, too plain. Words taken out of the horse’s mouth.” Horus frowns, clenching his hand into a tight fist. “That’s why I don’t understand. He’s not… He’s really not…” He falls silent, turbulent memories swirling within his heart.
It’s true, the younger had to admit—the god before him knew his uncle far too well; even on a scope that not even he, himself, could ever achieve in his lifetime. The thought makes him feel uneasy; a pang of unwarranted jealousy flooding his body. Horus wishes he could take his uncle’s place—perhaps then things might’ve been better, no matter how irrational he thinks otherwise. To hold him, to worship him… it should’ve been him doing that. The feeling makes his guts squeeze and mash together in a hot mix of adoration and lust that he struggles to hold down. Horus the Elder’s chuckle is the only thing that snaps him out of his reverie, his face one that of understanding.
“I loved him,” he continues. “No, I still do. Even after all these years, I wish I could go back in time and not have thought so rationally.” Elder Horus shakes his head sorrowfully. “Many around me praised it; told me it was a necessary sacrifice. Without your father as king, they said, Seth would’ve ran Egypt into the ground, bathing Egypt in a sea of innocent red. But no, I don’t believe that, not even for a second.”
He turns to the younger, placing a hand gently upon his shoulder. “Do you know how long the events of that period in time keep replaying in my head? For eons now, it feels like. Once upon a time, it used to be a nightmare I’d struggle to wake up from. Now, though, it is nothing more than the comfortable blanket of grief I wrap willingly around my body. I’ve always dreamt of a time where I let him rule—sometimes we co-rule, other times he does so alone. But all in all, I am still there, still pacifying him.”
“In the end, he would’ve made for a fantastic ruler, believe me. It is because I would’ve been there, guiding him; coaching him. As impulsive as he is, he would’ve still come to me, even if I had ascended into the heavens; asking me questions well into the night, even if the candle had long since burned out.”
Closing his eyes, the elder shakily inhales. “I always picture what happens next: Seth, curled up into my arms. It’s the only haven he’s known for so long. He had always looked up at me so softly, so sweetly, you see. So lovingly; so unlike him to most. Did you know he could smile, that brute? His lips always curled upwards in a subtle way when he did, and his nose would crinkle slightly, along with his eyes. That smile had always been reserved for me.”
The air is deathly silent.
He hadn’t realized until the tears had begun to wet his cheeks that he had been crying, out of all things. It shocks even the younger Horus to see, who recoils slightly. To see the older war god, the pillar of Ennead after Ra, crying so easily… A weak-hearted man would’ve fallen to his very knees at the sight. Horus the Elder cherishes these tears, though; a weak, strangled laugh twisting out of his tight throat. He’s no stranger to crying—he doesn’t believe such things dictate masculinity—but to be so vulnerable in front of his descendant is… humbling, in a sense. For both of them.
It takes him a while to wipe those tears, his heart bleeding out and oozing for Horus to see. The younger acknowledges it, although hesitantly, reaching up and placing his hand on the opposite shoulder. His palm is warm, lacking the calluses of a true war god. The Horus before him is youthful; vibrant—nothing like the broken older god he had now become. It makes him feel even more bitter, but that bitterness quickly ebbs away into nothingness. He doesn’t let himself succumb to such things anymore—he cannot afford to.
“Little one,” he manages to rasp, lowering his head in defeat. “Let me warn you of the path you will inexorably take. It will not be easy—no, far from it. Too much time has passed for him to open up his heart again. Whatever vestiges of love he feels for Nephthys are nothing more than the little lies he tells himself. You are my shadow; my half. He will be haunted by me—by you—for as long as you both live. It’ll be hard for either one of you to become close; it is the lesson he has learned: never again.”
Horus the Younger nods solemnly, sincerely. “Uncle, I understand,” he replies, squeezing his shoulder. “I would be stupid to think I ever had a chance with him. But still, in my heart… you know it well, too: he’s the only one for me. I might not have had the same opportunities as you, but it’s still there—that fire, that passion. Even so, I want to understand. I want to be there for him—I know I can be.”
This time, his laugh is louder; a deep, boisterous sound that echoes throughout the air. It matches that of a powerful being who had once ruled the land with an iron fist and a strong heart; one whose Ba is full of timeless sorrow and a sense of inescapable acceptance. Horus feels the chills run down his spine, momentarily awed by the power the elder had once wielded—power that is now his.
“Ah, gods bless you, Horus,” Horus the Elder muses as he wipes away the remaining tears. He turns away from the balcony, giving the younger a firm pat on the shoulder. “You have my blessings, little one.”
Before he can even utter a question, the elder god is gone within a blink of an eye; the only evidence of his visit being the light wind that causes the linen curtains to sway gently in the breeze.
AND the latest doodles
Lazy but I REALLY like the last page
Trying to find Xochiquetzal because Valentine's Day is around the corner and she's the participant of one of my ideas (can't promise that she WILL be there though, I still don't have everything figured out)
Love how I did her eyes and faceshape and nose tho
Since I was absent, dumping this on you cause I can't reblog from my old-sideblog but I need this here
Doodles!
Tried to make this look as much like a middle school power point presentation slide as possible (featuring: my statues of Sekhmet and Bast)
Reminds me of the time I picked out lps that looked like/reminded me of Egyptian gods
Guys what do we think about LPS set animal
I depend on you
(Original ↓)
(Cr to sometimes317 on twt)
What toons I think Egyptian gods would main. Sorry gun to my head had to make this.....
Uhh art summary
While reading the book, for some reason I found this moment funny and wanted to illustrate it :3
«The Lord ordered Horus and Seth to tell in turn why each of them believes that he is worthy of the royal title. The gods treated Seth with due respect, but Thoth and Onuris drew attention to the fact that uncle should not inherit the throne. The Lord said something so terrible that his words were not even recorded; all that is known is that they threw the other gods into deep despair.»
Ohhh I like Ra and Seth more and more🙏
It's the end of the year, with Christmas and New Year's celebrations. Did you know that the ancient Egyptians already had the notion of 12 months in the year and the celebration of the New Year? This makes me wonder what the gods were doing at these times. After all, regardless of the Christian meaning they forced on this date (since it was a pagan date before), it's a time for gatherings
It's Horus' birthday, so he clearly spends the whole day talking about it and wanting to receive gifts. Unfortunately for him, he's the typical case of people who only get one gift for Christmas and their birthday
Hathor is definitely organizing a huge family dinner and setting up a shiny Christmas tree in the middle of the palace. She lets Ihy put up the Christmas star
Imseti and Hapi definitely still think Santa Claus exists
Seth didn't want to go, but since he was forced, he's going to make it everyone's problem and bring the silliest arguments to the table. Unfortunately, no one is immune to Seth's annoyance, so they end up arguing a lot all night long
Isis just wanted an excuse to get the family together and celebrate, but half of the family hates each other and the other half is so distant that it's hard to find them. She spent most of the year getting them together for this party, so Isis definitely brought a lot of good food and several gifts for the ones she really loves
Thoth and Ma'at show up for two minutes to wish Horus a happy Christmas/birthday and then disappear back to their work
Anubis didn't want to be there and he really isn't. He stayed for the first half hour, saw the first fight and then sneaked out. He won't be seen again until January
Nephthys loves family gatherings and is the one who brings albums and takes lots of pictures
Sekhmet and Sobek keep betting on who can set off the most fireworks and have already burned a few things in the process
Osiris is wearing his beloved custom sweaters for Christmas. He makes Isis and Horus wear them too. And he is definitely the uncle who makes the stupid jokes at Christmas dinner, sorry but I don't make the rules
Gebe is the one who makes the silly Christmas jokes
Serket keeps changing the song every five seconds because nothing pleases her, ignoring the others' complaints by skipping songs they like
Wadjet and Tawaret are trying to keep the children busy so they don't turn the palace upside down, but they keep getting distracted by talking and the cute decorations in the house
Ptah and Khnum are just in the corner, enjoying the few snippets of music they can hear while they talk about life. There might be a lot of crying in a few minutes
Kebechet really wanted to stay awake and see in the New Year with her parents, but she fell asleep in a few minutes and didn't wake up even with the noisy family
Anput gives the best gifts for Secret Santa and New Year's Eve, but she always ends up getting things like socks and picture frames
On New Year's, it must be a different kind of gathering. Everyone gathers at the Pharaoh's (Horus) palace and there are drinking competitions, lots of beautiful fireworks and dancing. Everyone looks forward to the flooding of the Nile as the main attraction of the night and it is generally a very good time of year. I wonder if there would be as much chaos, but I can definitely imagine Ra making all the silly "I'll do it next year" jokes.
I really love the end of the year, I hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Slightly Christmas something
Gotta make one but with Kheruiphi 💪
Sketchbook (again)
salad with the forbidden mayonnaise