Set

   In the myth of Osiris, Set is the child of Nut and Gea or Nut and Ra, the brother and husband of Nephthys, the brother of Isis and Osiris, and the uncle of Horus. He appears to have been a pre-dynastic ruler of a tribe having an animal similar to a pig as its totem, and worshipping a sky and sun god.

   Associated with him was the Divine King, who was ritually slain, possibly by fire. His position as a sun god is shown by the fact that in the stories of his legal dispute with Horus for the throne Ra always took his part, while on several occasions Isis also did so, even against Horus. That Set was the ruler of Upper Egypt is seen from the final judgment of Thoth, who awarded Upper Egypt to Set and Lower Egypt to Horus.

   The application of the principle of Dualism, however, caused his original position as a sky and sun god to be forgotten, and for him to degenerate into the chief of the powers of evil, as manifested in the serpent, Apep. In spite of the defeat of this early religion by new ideas from the settled Nile Valley to the north, the cult of Set existed as late as the nineteenth dynasty, when its followers were known as Typhonians and were said to be identified by the redness of their hair.

   While the main story of the conflict is given under Horus, Isis, and Osiris, some additional light is given by the division of the stars between Set and Horus, Set taking all the circumpolar stars, i.e. those which never set, and Horus those which rise and set like the sun. To watch over Set, the four sons of Horus, Amset, Duamutef, Hapy, and Qebhsneuf, were given places in the Great Wain or Chariot of the Gods, in the constellation of the Great Bear. Set was also a chief god of the Hyksos, which explains why—after their departure—he was degraded to the position of lord of the powers of evil, and had his name erased from many monuments.