Pert Em Heru / Kemetian Texts : The Demonization of Set

Set was one of the earliest deities, with a strong following in Upper Egypt. Originally highly regarded throughout Egypt as the god of the desert, a political faction inspired an initial disparaging of Set's name and reputation. Egypt was originally split into two kingdoms: Lower ruled by Horus (and later Ra), Upper by Set. Set's followers resisted a unification of the Upper and Lower kingdoms of Egypt by the followers of Horus/Ra (with the followers of Osiris and Isis). This political split was echoed in the Osiris & Isis myth, and subsequent battle with Horus. The followers of Horus thus denigrated Set as chaotic and evil. By the 22nd Dynasty, Set was equated with his old enemy, Apep, and his images on temples were replaced with those of Sobek or Thoth. Most modern popular misconceptions of Set come from Plutarch's secondary source interpretations of Set (via the writings of Herodotus et al.), long after Set's demonization (circa 100 A.D., Roman Period in Egypt).
Set was further demonized immediately after the Hyksos Period. The evidence from the Nineteenth Dynasty proves that this is a more complex picture.
Most scholars[who?] date the demonization of Set to after Egypt's conquest by the Persian ruler Cambyses II. Set, who had traditionally been the god of foreigners, thus also became associated with foreign oppressors, including the Achaemenid Persians, Ptolemaic dynasty, and Romans. Indeed, it was during the time that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated.
Set's negative aspects were emphasized during this period. Set was the killer of Osiris in the Myth of Osiris and Isis, having hacked Osiris' body into pieces and dispersed it so that he could not be resurrected. If Set's ears are fins, as some have interpreted, the head of the Set-animal resembles the Oxyrhynchus fish, and so it was said that as a final precaution, an Oxyrhynchus fish ate Osiris' penis. The Greeks later linked Set with Typhon because both were evil forces, storm deities, and sons of the Earth that attacked the main gods.
Nevertheless, throughout this period, in some outlying regions of Egypt Set was still regarded as the heroic chief deity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mythology)

The ancient philosophical truth that matter is eternal, and that the destruction of vegetable life through the agency of cold was one of the necessary processes of re-generation, or the renewal of life, had evidently been lost sight of at the time when Seth was dethroned in Egypt. Wilkinson informs us that "both Seth and Osiris were adored until a change took place respecting Seth, brought about apparently by foreign influence." Sethi or Sethos, a ruler whose reign represents the Augustan age of Egyptian splendor, received his name from this Deity. It is said that during the twentieth dynasty Seth is suddenly portrayed as the principle of evil "with which is associated sin." Consequently all the effigies of this great Goddess were destroyed and all her names and inscriptions "which could be reached" were effaced.
Bunsen tells us that Schelling, who has made a study of Egyptian mythology, although totally ignorant of the later historical facts which by means of hieroglyphical monuments have been obtained, had arrived at the conclusion that Seth had occupied an important position in the Deity down to the fourteenth century B.C. "Schelling had on mere speculative grounds been brought to lay down as a postulate that Typhon, at some early period, had been considered by the Egyptians as a beneficent and powerful God."
Wilkinson says that the character given to Seth, who was called Baal-Seth and the God of the Gentiles, "is explained by his being the cause of evil." We are assured that formerly "Sin the great serpent, or Apophis the giant, was distinct from Seth who was a deity and a part of the divine system. But after the recondite principles underlying sun-worship were lost or forgotten; when cold and darkness, or the sinking away of the sun's rays, which are necessary to the reappearance of light and warmth, came to be regarded as the destructive element, or the evil principle, woman became identified with this principle. She was the producer of evil, and came to be represented in connection with a serpent as the cause of all earthly or material things. She is Destruction, but not Regeneration. She is in fact matter. The cold of winter and the darkness of night, which are necessary to the return of the sun's warmth and which were formerly set forth as a beneficent mother who brings forth the sun, became only the evil principle–that which obscures the light. In fact Darkness or absence of the sun's heat has become the Devil. It is the "cause of evil in the world."


Read more: The Phoenician and Hebrew God Set or Seth http://phoenicia.org/godidea.html#ixzz1eBm8Gjxf

In ancient times the Nile Valley was home to a number of neolithic tribes worshipping a multitude of gods. Their supreme deity was the beneficent Set (Seth).
Around 3400 BCE conquering tribes, of possibly Mesopotamian origin, brought rapid advancement in civilisation and Unification to Egypt. Archaeological evidence indicates that the conquerors had markedly larger bodies and skulls than the indigenous peoples. The conquerors had the sky god Horus as their chief deity. The descendants of the indigenous peoples were forced into Upper Egypt around Ombos (in modern Keneh). The struggle between the followers of Set and those of Horus was reflected in the mythology of the time. At the time of the Unification, Set and Horus were equals, while during the Second Dynasty Set replaced Horus as the royal deity.
As the indigenous peoples intermingled with their conquerors, their tribal gods became assimilated into the gods of their conquerors. The tribal gods became the nome gods of later times. Set however, always remained a god apart, and served as a rallying point for the oppressed indigenous peoples. History is always written by the victors, and so Set became the personification of evil. Apart from a few brief periods where various pharoahs attempted to bring back the worship of Set, he was feared and despised for primarily political reasons.
Set was associated with the inhospitable deserts. The deserts were thought of as realms of wild animals and the source of storms. This led to Set being thought of as a storm god. The deserts were known as the Red Land, in stark contrast to the fertile lands alongside the Nile which were known as the Black Land.
As the roads leading out of Egypt passed through the deserts, Set became known as Lord of Foreign Lands. When the Hyksos invaded Egypt, they identified Set with their war god, Baal, calling him Sutekh. Despite already having a wife, the Hyksos gave Set two consorts - Anath and Astarte. Anath was a war-goddess considered to be the daughter of Re. Astarte, in her war-goddess aspect was identified with Sekhmet, and in her love-goddess aspect was identified with Hathor.
Set was portrayed as a composite beast referred to as the Set animal. Set was often described as having red hair. He was associated with the scorpion, serpent, hippopotamus, crocodile, wild ***, wild boar and pig.
In the Pyramid texts, Set was associated closely with Horus the Elder and was very much portrayed as his equal. Set always appeared as a god who was a friend and helper of the dead. In the Book of Coming Forth by Day, Set was shown defending the Solar Barque on its journey through the underworld. He was the only god capable of killing the serpent Apep.
Set was seen as incredibly powerful, but with the passage of time, of history, his redeeming features were gradually pruned away leaving only a tendency towards evil. In the time of Ramesses, Set was associated with the harmful elements of the desert as well as the life giving oases. Perhaps his alleged evil nature is most clearly seen in the Osiris myths.

http://www.hermeticmagick.com/content/deities/set_typhon.html

The following is from the Pyramid Texts:

Utterance 532.
1255a. To say: O Mooring-post of the morning-boat of its lord;
1255b. O Mooring-post of the morning-boat of him who is in it,
1255c. Isis comes, Nephthys comes, one of them on the right, one of them on the left,
1255d. one of them as a ḥȝ.t-bird, one of them (Nephthys) as a kite.
1256a. They found Osiris,
1256b. after his brother Set had felled him to the earth in Ndi.t,
1256c. when Osiris (N.) said, "come to me," hence comes his name as "Seker."
1257a. They prevent thee from rotting, in accordance with this thy name of "Anubis";
1257b. they prevent thy putrefaction from flowing to the ground,
1257c. in accordance with this thy name of "jackal of the South";
1257d. they prevent the smell of thy corpse from being bad, in accordance with this thy name of "Ḥr-hȝ.ti."
1258a. They prevent Horus of the East from rotting; they prevent Horus, lord of men, from rotting;
125 8b. they prevent Horus of the Dȝ.t from rotting; they prevent Horus, lord of the Two Lands from rotting.
p. 208
1258c. And Set will not ever free himself from carrying thee, Osiris N.
1259a. Wake up for Horus; stand up against Set;
1259b. raise thyself up, Osiris N., son of Geb, his first (-born),
1259c. before whom the Two Enneads tremble.
1260a. The keeper (min.w) stands up before thee, so that (the feast) of the New Moon may be celebrated for thee; thou appearest for (the feast of) the month;
1260b. thou advancest to the sea (of N.); thou traversest to the Great Green;
1261a. for thou art "he who stands without being tired" in Abydos;
1261b. thou art spiritualized on the horizon; thou endurest in Dd.t (Mendes);
1261c. thine arm is taken by the Souls of Heliopolis; thine arm is seized by Rē‘.
1262a. Thy head, N., is raised up by the Two Enneads;
1262b. they have put thee, Osiris N., as chief of the double ’itr.t-palace of the Souls of Heliopolis.
1262c. Thou livest, thou livest, raise thyself up.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/pyt28.htm#page_208

The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world.[1][2] Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom. The oldest of the texts have been dated to between ca. 2400-2300 BC.[3] Unlike the Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead into which parts of the pyramid texts later evolved, the pyramid texts were reserved only for the pharaoh and were not illustrated.[4] Following the earlier Palermo Stone, the pyramid texts mark the next-oldest known mention of Osiris, who would become the most important deity associated with afterlife in the Ancient Egyptian religion.[5]
The spells, or "utterances", of the pyramid texts are primarily concerned with protecting the pharaoh's remains, reanimating his body after death, and helping him ascend to the heavens, which are the emphasis of the afterlife during the Old Kingdom. The spells delineate all of the ways the pharaoh could travel, including the use of ramps, stairs, ladders, and most importantly flying. The spells could also be used to call the gods to help, even threatening them if they did not comply.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts

hetep indeed it took me a minute to figure out the true meaning of the concept known as set. It is difficult to learn what the concept of set represents if the first introduction is in the holy trinity or the osirian myth. Set is a very important concept my understanding now is that he represents the ego a very important and vital component of the hu man psych. The development of the ego is important while the spirit in incased in "flesh" however if the ego dominates and imbalance prevails then it will lead to a manifestation of events and or occurrences one might find unfavorable. The smai twai is my favorite visual image of this fact with heru and set raging battle of the soul. Which is similar to what u have with wisr or ausar in the middle of heru and set receiving a offering from them. Both entities constantly a war over the soul. hetep