0:03

Do you ever hear the tragedy

0:05

of Osiris who died? No.

0:09

I thought not. It's not a story the

0:11

monotheists would tell you. It's

0:13

a Seth legend. Hello,

0:25

and welcome back to the History of

0:28

Egypt podcast. Episode 192, The

0:30

Trouble with Seth. Around

0:41

1300 BCE, the king of

0:43

Egypt was officially named Men

0:46

Ma'at Ra. This

0:48

name translates as the

0:50

Ma'at or Order, Justice, Truth

0:53

of the sun god Ra

0:55

is established or enduring. Men

0:58

Ma'at Ra is a classic pharaonic name.

1:01

It conveys the supremacy of the

1:03

sun god Ra, the essential order

1:05

of the world Ma'at, and the

1:08

obedience or devotion of the particular

1:10

ruler to that cosmic concept. But

1:13

every king of Egypt had multiple

1:15

names. And this ruler is

1:18

no different. Men Ma'at

1:20

Ra is more commonly known to

1:22

history by his personal name, that

1:25

is Setechi or Seti, a

1:27

name that roughly translates as

1:30

belonging to Seth or Seth's

1:32

man. This is

1:34

an unusual name. Across

1:37

the long annals of Egyptian history,

1:39

there are many kings who use

1:41

the names of deities within their

1:44

royal titularies and identities. If

1:46

you go through the king lists, you'll find

1:48

plenty of rulers who invoke the gods Amun,

1:51

Thoth or Jehuti, Montu

1:53

and Osiris. And

1:55

there are many, many references to

1:57

the sun god Ra or Order.

2:01

And yet, across the two thousand

2:03

years of our story so far,

2:05

we have not encountered a ruler

2:08

who used the name Seth as

2:10

part of their personal identity. We

2:12

have encountered Seth in the political

2:15

and iconographic realm. A

2:17

very early ruler named Parib Sen

2:19

made explicit references to this deity

2:22

as part of their political identity.

2:25

But King Seti I, around

2:27

1300 BCE,

2:30

is the first ruler explicitly

2:32

named after this god. Why

2:35

did it take so long? The

2:37

short answer is that in Egyptian

2:39

religion and mythology, the god Seth

2:41

is a complicated figure. Officially,

2:44

he was the brother of

2:46

Osiris, and also the goddesses

2:48

Nephthys and Isis. Together,

2:51

these four siblings were one

2:53

of the early generations of

2:55

deities descended from the great

2:58

creator, Atum-Ra. And

3:00

on Earth, it was Osiris and

3:02

Isis that ruled Egypt as the

3:04

king and queen. As

3:06

the stories go, they were good

3:08

rulers who taught humans the secrets

3:11

of agriculture and helped develop many

3:13

facets of civilization. But

3:16

while Osiris was a good king,

3:19

his brother, Seth, was

3:21

jealous. Seth

3:23

desired the power of Osiris and

3:25

the kingship for himself, and

3:28

so he hatched a treacherous plot. The

3:30

nature of this plot varies depending on

3:33

the story you read, but long story

3:35

short, Seth killed Osiris and

3:37

dumped his body into the Nile

3:39

or the sea. Consequently,

3:42

Osiris' widow, Isis, gathered up

3:44

the king's remains and brought

3:46

them back to Egypt. Then,

3:48

with the assistance of Anubis, Isis

3:51

wrapped the body of Osiris in

3:54

a shroud, preparing the first mummy.

3:57

Using their powerful magics, Isis and Anubis, the king and queen of the gods, were

3:59

the first Nubus, restored Osiris to a

4:02

form of life. It

4:04

wasn't mortal life, Osiris was

4:06

still dead, but he would now

4:08

live as the king of the

4:10

afterlife, and his resurrection gave hope

4:12

to mortals that they might achieve

4:14

the same thing. One

4:17

of the twists in the story is that

4:19

following her husband's death, Isis

4:21

was able to conceive a sun-horace.

4:24

She used her powerful magics to draw

4:26

forth the seed of Osiris, and

4:28

she placed it within her womb to

4:30

create an offspring who could avenge his

4:33

father. Subsequently, young

4:35

Horus grew to maturity, and he

4:37

and Seth engaged in a series

4:40

of contests to decide who was

4:42

fit to rule Egypt. In

4:45

some accounts, the conflict lasted

4:47

for eighty years, with each

4:49

side prevailing in different contests

4:51

and battles. Sometimes

4:53

Horus emerged victorious, other times Seth

4:56

came out on top, and other

4:58

times they used trickery or underhanded

5:00

practices to deceive and gain a

5:02

point over the other. Ultimately,

5:05

the conflict was rather indecisive, and

5:07

it had to fall to a

5:09

lawsuit before the counsel of the

5:11

gods. Again, the nature of

5:14

the dispute changes depending on the version,

5:16

but all of them agree on one thing.

5:19

Eventually, Horus emerged victorious, the crown

5:22

of his father was awarded

5:24

to him, and he took the

5:26

throne as the eternal king

5:28

of Egypt. So the

5:30

tale ends in the defeat of Seth,

5:32

he fails to achieve the kingship, and

5:35

thus he is punished for his

5:37

crime against Osiris. So

5:39

the story ends relatively happily, and

5:41

it explains why every king of

5:43

Egypt is a descendant of Horus

5:45

and his father Osiris. But,

5:48

as with all happy endings, what

5:50

came afterwards is a bit more

5:53

complicated. Although Seth failed

5:55

to take the throne of Egypt,

5:57

he did not walk away empty-handed.

6:00

The great creator Atum-Ra recognized

6:02

Seth's value, and he gave

6:04

the god powers and dominions

6:06

within the divine world and

6:08

the natural. In

6:10

particular, Seth had power over the

6:12

deserts, the storms, the winds, and

6:14

even the waves of the sea.

6:17

These were lands of the outsider,

6:19

so Seth was kept apart from

6:21

the natural world. But

6:24

to some degree, the conflict between

6:26

Horus and Seth ends

6:28

with a kind of reconciliation

6:30

or peaceful coexistence. Horus

6:33

rules humanity, specifically the Nile

6:35

Valley and the people of

6:37

Egypt. Seth, however,

6:39

rules over foreign lands, the

6:41

chaotic worlds beyond that tidy

6:43

stretch of river. The

6:46

point is, Seth remained a figure

6:48

worthy of respect, a being of

6:51

great power, whom people and kings

6:53

could look to as a protector

6:55

and defender. So

6:58

the rivalry between Horus and Seth

7:00

comes to a somewhat happy ending.

7:03

Nevertheless, there is always that one

7:05

thing that Seth did, how

7:07

he betrayed and murdered his brother

7:09

Osiris. That

7:12

never goes away, and it

7:14

remains a consistent theme within

7:16

religious texts throughout Egyptian history.

7:19

The end result is that we have

7:21

a deity, Seth, whose legacy and role

7:24

within the world is complicated,

7:26

to say the least. On

7:29

the one hand, Seth is an

7:31

archetypal villain, a man who slew

7:33

his own brother in a most

7:35

deceitful and wicked fashion. On

7:37

the other hand, Seth is a

7:39

valiant and skilled warrior, one

7:42

who deserves fear, but also

7:44

respect and even veneration. If

7:47

that sounds confusing, well, that seems to

7:49

be the point. Seth is

7:52

a multifaceted deity. He does not

7:54

fit into a simple binary of

7:56

good versus evil. He

7:58

is rather a chaotic but natural

8:00

force, one that has a

8:02

part to play in the God's world and

8:05

our own. With that

8:07

in mind, we can start to

8:09

see why until now, no Egyptian

8:11

king has used a personal or

8:13

throne name that invokes the god

8:16

Seth. Every king of

8:18

Egypt in a religious sense was

8:20

the physical incarnation of Horus and

8:22

the son of the god Osiris.

8:25

With those two deities making the ruling

8:27

house, a god like Seth

8:29

would not exactly be an appropriate

8:31

name for a ruler. But

8:34

then, along came Seti I. After

8:44

the death of his father, Remeses, Seti

8:46

I took power as a king of

8:48

Egypt. As far as

8:50

we can tell, he was always named

8:53

Seti or Setaki. He

8:55

didn't change this name when he became the

8:57

ruler. That might sound

8:59

strange, and it certainly raises a

9:02

bunch of questions. First

9:04

of all, if Seth had such

9:06

a negative reputation, why would

9:08

anyone name their child after this

9:10

god? And secondly, if

9:13

that child happened to grow up

9:15

and become the Pharaoh of Egypt,

9:18

how would they reconcile their

9:20

personal identity with their new

9:22

political and religious one? How

9:24

could Seti I, a living

9:26

Horus, use the name Seth?

9:30

We'll start with the human question. Why

9:32

would somebody name their child after

9:35

Seth? Isn't that a pretty

9:37

evil name to use? Well,

9:39

to start with, Seth himself

9:41

is not actually evil. A

9:44

word like evil is far too

9:46

simple to describe Seth. The

9:49

god is chaotic, he is

9:51

violent, he is undisciplined, and

9:53

he is antagonistic towards the

9:55

ruling lineage. But

9:57

the Egyptians didn't necessarily think of him.

10:00

him as an evil god per se.

10:03

Instead, it seems like Seth

10:05

was recognized as a violent

10:07

but natural part of the

10:09

cosmos. The idea

10:11

seems to be that if you have

10:14

a concept like truth, justice, or order,

10:17

you're naturally going to have something that is

10:19

the opposite of that. Seth,

10:21

in all of his chaotic fury,

10:24

is the opposite to the

10:26

established laws, rules, and boundaries

10:29

of a civilization and society.

10:32

But that oppositeness, that

10:34

rebellious nature and personality,

10:36

was not evil in a

10:38

modern philosophical sense. It

10:40

was simply a part of nature. And

10:44

for all Seth's violence, his

10:46

unpredictability, and his sheer dangerousness,

10:49

the god could be an incredibly

10:51

valuable asset. For example,

10:53

let's quickly go back to that

10:56

myth about Seth, Osiris, and Horus.

10:59

Although Horus emerged victorious from

11:01

this dispute, Seth was

11:03

not left out in the cold. The

11:06

god himself did receive a blessing

11:09

from the great creator, Ra, who

11:11

looked favorably upon Seth, and

11:13

appointed him as the lord over the

11:15

deserts and the winds and storms that

11:18

strike on sand and on sea. Ra

11:21

also made Seth the guardian or

11:24

protector of his solar arc,

11:26

the ship which he sails across

11:28

the sky. Seth

11:30

would defend that boat from any enemy

11:32

who would seek to destroy Ra and

11:35

end the cosmic cycle. So,

11:37

at the end, although Seth failed

11:39

to achieve his goal of the

11:42

kingship, the great creator Ra recognized

11:44

his value and gave him a

11:46

role within the natural world. So

11:50

once again, a word like evil

11:52

is far too simple for the

11:54

god Seth. He is

11:56

violent, but he is mighty. He

11:59

is… chaotic, but properly channeled,

12:01

that chaos can be used

12:03

for the betterment of Egypt

12:05

and its people. Seth's

12:08

authority over the deserts, the sea,

12:10

the wind and storms, made him

12:13

an essential and tangible part of

12:15

the natural world, and when you

12:17

put all of that together, you

12:20

get a deity who is dangerous,

12:22

but well worthy of respect. With

12:25

that in mind, we can start to

12:27

see why somebody might name their child

12:29

after Seth. And surprisingly,

12:32

there are many examples of names

12:34

that reference the deity from Egyptian

12:36

history. In the

12:38

New Kingdom, for example, we come

12:41

across names like Ah-ah-sut-ti, Seth is

12:43

great, Ba-ket-en-satech, the

12:45

servant of Seth, Sut-ti-mesu,

12:48

or Seth is born,

12:51

Sat-te-ker-kope-shef, Seth is upon

12:53

his sword, and

12:56

Sat-te-hem-hebef, Seth is

12:59

in his festival. Names

13:01

like these are not common compared

13:03

to other ones that reference Horus

13:05

or Amun, but they

13:08

do exist, and they give

13:10

a sense that the cult or religion

13:12

of Seth was still part of the

13:14

Egyptian social and religious landscape. The

13:17

god was dangerous, but he was

13:19

respected, feared, and even

13:21

admired by many people in the

13:24

land. So that's why

13:26

you might name your child after Seth.

13:29

What about that second question? How

13:31

did Sat-te-the-first, a living Horus,

13:33

a king of Egypt, reconcile

13:36

his personal identity with the god

13:38

for whom he was named? How

13:41

could a Horus also be Seth? This

13:45

question is quite interesting because it

13:47

has a definitive answer. From

13:50

his monuments, constructed throughout Egypt,

13:52

we do have evidence for

13:54

Sat-te-the-first and his followers consciously

13:56

adapting their work to reconcile

13:59

the king's personal identity

14:01

with his political and religious

14:03

identity as a pharaoh. The

14:11

god Seth is a complicated, even

14:13

confusing figure. His role

14:15

within mythology and religion is one

14:18

of a chaotic, trickster kind of

14:20

deity. But he still

14:22

has power, a great deal of power,

14:25

one that makes him a useful ally

14:27

both for mortals living their lives and

14:30

for kings ruling Egypt. This

14:33

could lead to some intriguing,

14:35

but occasionally contradicting situations. Most

14:38

notably the reign of Seti I. After

14:42

the break, we will explore the

14:44

relationship between this pharaoh and his

14:46

namesake god. Seti honored

14:48

Seth a great deal, and he

14:50

praised Seth with monuments and offerings.

14:53

At the same time, however,

14:55

there were situations in which

14:57

Seti's namesake and even his

15:00

personal identity were a cause

15:02

for conflict. That

15:04

is after the break. See you in a moment.

15:18

Seti I has a legacy as a

15:20

great builder. The king was

15:22

particularly active in the construction of monuments,

15:25

and you can find his work in

15:27

many places across Egypt. On

15:30

most of these monuments, you will find

15:32

the king's cartouches, his throne

15:34

name, Men Ma'at Ra, and

15:37

his personal name. In those

15:39

personal cartouches, Seti spells his

15:41

name with a distinctive hieroglyph.

15:44

It looks like a man sitting down and

15:46

wrapped in a shroud, but his

15:48

head is not a human head. Instead,

15:50

it is the head of the Seth

15:53

animal. The Seth animal

15:55

is a strange being, possibly mythological

15:57

or a composite. looks

16:00

like an anteater or a donkey,

16:02

with squared ears that kind of

16:04

cut off at the top. No

16:06

one knows exactly what the Seth

16:08

animal is, but the hieroglyph for

16:11

Seth appears in Seti's personal name.

16:13

The king made no secret of his origins

16:16

or the deity for which he was named.

16:19

In fact, Seti also commissioned

16:21

art on his monuments that

16:23

explicitly showed Seth as an

16:25

object of veneration and part

16:27

of Seti's royal identity. For

16:30

example, in the grand hypostyle

16:32

hall at Karnak, that magnificent

16:34

hall filled with columns that

16:36

Seti commissioned, you will find

16:38

images of the god Seth. In

16:40

one scene, Seth and Horus stand

16:42

to either side of the king,

16:44

Seti, and the gods reach up

16:46

with vases to pour water over

16:48

the head of the king. The

16:51

water takes the shape of the unk

16:53

symbol, meaning life. So symbolically,

16:56

Seth and Horus together bless

16:58

the ruler with his existence.

17:01

In this scene, Seth appears in

17:03

his classic form, with a human

17:05

body and the head of that

17:07

strange animal. It's a powerful

17:09

scene that appears to present Seth

17:12

and Horus as equals, cooperatively responsible

17:14

for the power and blessing of

17:16

the Egyptian kingship. So at least

17:19

from that image, we get a

17:21

sense of Seti I's personal attitude

17:23

towards the great god. He

17:26

seems to respect him and consider him

17:28

an important part of the royal image.

17:31

We also have scenes of King

17:34

Seti I directly worshipping the god.

17:37

Another image, also at Karnak,

17:39

shows Seti kneeling before Seth,

17:42

who is referred to

17:44

as Setech-a-a-pechdi, Seth, great of

17:46

strength, and Yotef-sutti,

17:49

his father Seth.

17:51

In this scene, the god doesn't appear

17:53

in his classic form, with that strange

17:56

animal head. Instead, he

17:58

appears as a normal human male. standing

18:00

alongside the goddess Nebedhut or

18:03

Nephthys. In mythology, Nephthys was

18:05

closely associated with Seth, and

18:07

originally she used to be

18:09

his wife. So basically,

18:12

it's a classic scene of the king

18:14

making offerings to a divine couple. It's

18:16

the same sort of image as Seti

18:19

kneeling before Amun and Mut, but

18:21

it's one of the rare occasions where

18:24

we see Seth in person. There

18:26

are other monuments in which Seti praises

18:28

the great god. In

18:30

the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New

18:33

York, there is a stone offering table,

18:36

a sort of altar used to purify

18:38

and anoint goods before they were presented

18:40

to the gods. This

18:42

offering table is dedicated to the

18:44

god Seth, who is explicitly named

18:46

in hieroglyphs, and the cartouches

18:49

make it clear this offering table was

18:51

commissioned by Seti. So we

18:53

can imagine the pharaoh purifying items

18:55

like food and drink or precious

18:58

stones and gold, before offering them

19:00

to a statue of Seth. Presumably

19:02

this offering table comes from a

19:05

temple. Unfortunately, it

19:07

doesn't have an exact provenance or

19:09

place of discovery, so

19:11

we're not sure where Seti was making

19:13

these offerings, but he was certainly making

19:15

them. One last

19:17

monument, but perhaps the most interesting,

19:20

is the crumbled remains of an

19:22

obelisk. It is currently

19:24

in Alexandria, but originally it

19:26

was probably located in Iunu

19:28

or Heliopolis. The piece is

19:30

now just a slab of stone, but

19:32

it still has images and hieroglyphs that

19:35

show Seti I. Well,

19:37

they sort of show Seti I. The

19:40

obelisk has a scene of the

19:42

great creator deity, Artum Re. He

19:45

appears as a man seated upon a throne

19:47

and wearing a sun disk for his crown.

19:50

Artum reaches out with one hand,

19:52

holding an ankh symbol, meaning life.

19:55

He is presenting this ankh to an image

19:57

of Seth. On this

19:59

obelisk, In the obelisk, we find the

20:01

deity in his classic form with the

20:03

strange animal head, but this

20:06

time he does not have a human body, instead

20:08

he has the body of a lion.

20:11

This obelisk seems to show Seth

20:13

as a sphinx. That's

20:15

an extremely unusual image. In

20:18

fact, at the time it was created,

20:20

it may have been unique. There

20:22

are other images of Seth as a

20:25

sphinx, but they come from later periods,

20:28

so as far as I can tell, Sethi's

20:30

image might be the first example. The

20:32

significance of this is unclear, but

20:35

it may have something to do

20:37

with one of Seth's other duties,

20:39

and a curious overlap he has

20:42

with the great sphinx at Giza.

20:44

As we discussed, Seth is a

20:46

god of chaos. He is also

20:48

lord of the desert, of storms,

20:50

wind and the raging sea. Those

20:53

are his duties in the cosmos and

20:55

the great natural world. But

20:58

on Earth, in human society,

21:01

Seth is also associated with

21:03

foreigners. Especially during

21:05

the New Kingdom, between 1500 and 1100 BCE,

21:07

Seth was often connected with

21:12

the peoples outside of Egypt. These

21:15

might be enemies who threatened the safety

21:17

of the Nile Valley, or

21:19

they might simply be those beyond

21:22

the pharaoh's authority and recognition. In

21:25

other words, the people who lived in

21:27

the chaotic outside world. By

21:29

an interesting coincidence, the great

21:31

sphinx of Giza had also

21:33

become a symbol of deities

21:36

associated with foreigners. From

21:38

the New Kingdom, especially the 18th

21:41

and 19th dynasties, archaeologists

21:43

have found small shrines and

21:45

temples near the great sphinx,

21:48

which invoke deities from other lands

21:50

and give them honour and praise,

21:53

in connection with that monument. I

21:55

can't say for sure if this is what

21:58

Sethi was intending. any

22:00

detailed studies of this particular image,

22:02

but it is an interesting coincidence.

22:05

The Great Sphinx of Giza has

22:07

deities, or at least shrines,

22:09

associated with foreigners. Seth

22:12

is connected with the concept of

22:14

outsiders and has mastery over foreign

22:16

lands. Put them together

22:18

and you get an obelisk from

22:20

the time of Seti I in

22:23

which Seth himself appears as a

22:25

Sphinx. Seti

22:30

I is not the only ruler

22:32

who praised this particular god. From

22:35

the New Kingdom we do have art

22:37

from other pharaohs who acknowledge the power

22:39

of Seth and give him due respect.

22:42

But Seti I is unique

22:44

in that he is explicitly

22:46

named after the deity. And

22:49

this could be a problem. Although

22:52

the king was quite open and

22:54

upfront about his namesake and his

22:56

original identity, Seti also

22:59

had to deal with the religious

23:01

and political ramifications of his role

23:03

as a king of Egypt. More

23:06

specifically, as the incarnation of

23:09

Horus and the son of

23:11

Osiris, Seti would

23:13

encounter situations where his

23:15

name was inappropriate for

23:17

certain deities and monuments.

23:20

The problem starts with the hieroglyphs.

23:24

As we mentioned, the royal

23:26

cartouche of Seti includes the

23:28

hieroglyph of Seth. This

23:30

is an essential part of the name and it's

23:32

a core part of how he spells it. But

23:35

Egyptian hieroglyphs are not just

23:38

art or writing. They have

23:40

their own power and magic.

23:42

For the ancients, images and

23:44

art could have significant power

23:46

within other realms of existence.

23:49

This might be simple magic or it

23:51

might take effect beyond the earthly

23:53

world, the afterlife or the realm

23:55

of the gods. For

23:57

Seti I, this was a problem.

24:00

Because his name included the

24:02

hieroglyph for Seth, there were

24:05

going to be situations where the

24:07

king's name would need to appear

24:09

on a monument or in a

24:11

context where presenting the

24:13

symbol of Seth and

24:15

thus giving him power

24:17

was entirely inappropriate. This

24:20

problem is most visible in

24:23

the monuments associated with Osiris.

24:26

Finally we made an extended visit

24:29

to Seti's great temple at Arbidos.

24:32

That monument is beautifully decorated

24:34

and constructed, and it is

24:36

full of images of Seti

24:38

making offerings to various deities.

24:40

Of course he also makes offerings

24:42

to Osiris, who is the lord

24:45

of Arbidos, and for whom the

24:47

temple is basically dedicated. But

24:49

you can't have a monument

24:51

to Osiris that also includes

24:53

references to Seth, the archetypal

24:55

rival of Osiris. That

24:58

would be like building a temple to

25:00

Beggi and including Tupac, Michael

25:02

Jackson and including Prince, Megan

25:05

and including Nooki. So

25:07

Seti and his artists had a

25:09

problem. How could they include the

25:11

king in the religious scenes without

25:14

bringing the god Seth into Osiris'

25:16

domain? The Egyptians did

25:18

have a way of dealing with these kind

25:20

of issues. Like all

25:22

languages, ancient Egyptian has homonyms

25:25

and homophones, words with radically

25:27

different meanings but which are

25:29

spelled or sound the same.

25:32

Some basic examples include the word

25:34

mer, which can mean love

25:36

or beloved, but can also mean

25:39

pyramid, or the word nebej, which

25:41

means an evil one, but

25:43

can also mean a plait or a

25:45

strand of hair, or sebet,

25:48

which can mean a wrong thing,

25:50

or simply cargo, like you might

25:52

carry on a ship. Those

25:54

are just a few of the noteworthy examples

25:57

where a word might have a positive and

25:59

a negative of connotation, depending

26:01

on context. You get

26:03

the point. So if a scribe needed

26:05

to write a particular word, but they

26:07

wanted to guarantee the proper meaning, they

26:10

had to make adjustments to ensure the

26:12

correct reading. The same is

26:14

true for art. In monuments

26:16

like tombs or temples, the artists

26:18

might need to draw dangerous animals,

26:20

for example the beings who live

26:23

within the underworld and pose a

26:25

threat to the deceased. But

26:27

while they needed to include those

26:29

animals, they didn't want to give

26:31

the images their symbolic and magical

26:34

power. In those

26:36

cases, Egyptian artists or scribes would

26:38

often include small features to negate

26:40

the danger. If they

26:43

drew a snake or a hippopotamus, they

26:45

might add a sword or a spear

26:47

that cuts through the animal. That

26:49

way you can still read the art

26:52

or the writing, but the dangerous meaning

26:54

is removed from existence. That's

26:56

the standard response for dealing

26:59

with words or images that

27:01

might have dangerous connotations if

27:03

presented incorrectly. That's

27:05

fine for your standard texts or

27:07

even the images on tombs. How

27:10

do you deal with it when it's a pharaoh?

27:13

The big challenge for Seti I was

27:15

that his personal name was also

27:17

the name of a living Horus.

27:21

With that in mind, the

27:23

artists and scribes could not

27:25

exactly damage or intentionally deface

27:27

his cartouches just to negate

27:29

the power of the sethe animal. So

27:32

when it came to certain monuments,

27:34

they had to think outside the box

27:36

and find other ways of presenting

27:38

the king's name. Their

27:40

solution was quite intriguing, and

27:43

tells us a lot about religious

27:45

attitudes of the time and the

27:48

way royal or personal identity could

27:50

work in different contexts. Let's

27:52

start with Abydos. In

27:55

the great temple sacred to Osiris,

27:57

we have many, many images of

27:59

it. We

28:01

also have many examples of

28:04

his cartouches, both his throne

28:06

name, Menmaadra, and his personal

28:09

name, Seti or Setaki. Well

28:12

I say Seti, but that's not really

28:14

what it is. Throughout

28:16

this temple, the king's artists actually

28:19

changed his personal name. Whenever

28:22

they needed to show the

28:24

Seth animal, they would substitute

28:26

different hieroglyphs to give slightly

28:28

different representations of the king's

28:30

identity and his name. In

28:33

some examples, they would replace the

28:35

Seth hieroglyph with an image of

28:37

Osiris, the tiny symbol of a

28:39

man seated on the ground, wrapped

28:41

in a cloak, but wearing the

28:43

distinctive crown and beard of Osiris

28:46

appears in place of Seth. In

28:49

other examples, they might include the

28:51

Tiet knot. This is

28:53

a specific type of knot which

28:55

is associated with the goddess Aset

28:57

or Isis, the wife of Osiris

29:00

and an important part of the

29:02

mythological tale. Finally, they

29:04

would sometimes replace the Seth animal

29:06

with a simple man seated on

29:08

the ground, bound in a robe,

29:10

and with long hair and a

29:12

beard. At a glance,

29:14

it's a relatively simple substitution, and

29:17

if you're not versed in Egyptian hieroglyphs,

29:19

you might not even notice the difference.

29:22

But the changes are significant. For

29:25

one thing, they completely change the

29:27

meaning of Seti's name within these

29:29

monuments. None of these

29:32

hieroglyphs, the Osiris, the Tiet knot,

29:34

or the little man, are really

29:36

substitutes for Seth. You

29:38

don't find them as replacements for that

29:40

name in other contexts. So

29:43

it's not like they are spelling Seti's

29:45

name in a slightly different way, but

29:47

with the same core meaning. Here

29:49

in the temple of Osiris, they have

29:52

fundamentally changed the king's name. In this

29:54

temple, you will not find Seti. Instead,

29:57

you will find Ussiri, or Ussir. or

30:00

tipti, or usir tipti.

30:03

This symbolic substitution also appears

30:05

in other monuments of Seti

30:08

I, most notably his

30:10

memorial temple on the west bank of

30:12

the Nile at the modern city of

30:15

Lukfur, and also in

30:17

his tomb. The king's

30:19

elaborate tomb in the Valley of

30:21

the Kings obviously has many examples

30:23

of his cartouches, but again

30:26

throughout this monument you will

30:28

not find the Seth hieroglyph,

30:31

instead it is consistently replaced

30:33

with these other symbols of

30:35

Osiris, the Tietnaught, or a

30:37

simple bearded man. The

30:40

result is that in these

30:42

three monuments the royal artists

30:44

consistently remove the symbol of

30:46

Seth, and they replace it

30:49

with other hieroglyphs that are more appropriate

30:51

to the context. Significantly,

30:53

these are the only monuments where

30:55

Seti changes his name like this.

30:58

If you visit Karnak or Lukso

31:01

temple, you will find his name

31:03

in its classic form. If you

31:05

visit Cairo museum or Heliopolis, you

31:07

will find monuments that have the

31:09

normal Seth hieroglyph. It's

31:11

only these three structures that have

31:13

the alternate spelling. Why?

31:16

The reason we find it in these

31:19

monuments, the temple at Arbidos, the memorial

31:21

temple at Lukso, and the tomb in

31:23

the Valley of the Kings, is

31:26

that all three of them are

31:28

fundamentally connected with the world of

31:30

Osiris. Arbidos was

31:32

the sacred city of Osiris,

31:34

and the king's memorial temple

31:36

was supposed to sustain his

31:38

soul when he inevitably went

31:41

to Osiris kingdom. Then,

31:43

of course, the royal tomb is

31:45

a space fundamentally connected with Osiris

31:47

and his world in the Buat.

31:51

So these three structures are intimately

31:53

connected with the god of the

31:55

dead. Thus, it

31:57

would be inappropriate to include the same.

32:00

death hieroglyph in any of these

32:02

contexts. The result is

32:04

that if you visit the great

32:06

temple at Abydos, the memorial temple

32:09

on the West Bank, or the

32:11

king's beautiful tomb, you're not really

32:14

visiting the monuments of Seti, but

32:16

rather the structures of Usiri or

32:18

Titi. It's a strange feature

32:21

of the king's reign. In

32:24

monuments related to Osiris, the

32:27

name of Seti I appears with

32:29

a different spelling, and

32:31

fundamentally a different meaning. We

32:34

have no idea who initiated

32:37

this change. It may

32:39

have been Seti's initiative, as

32:41

an acknowledgement of Osiris's supreme

32:43

importance, and the slight

32:46

difficulty that his personal name presented.

32:49

Alternatively, it might have come from

32:51

the priests themselves, the servants who

32:54

managed Osiris temples, and made offerings

32:56

to the god on a daily

32:58

basis. It's not

33:00

hard to imagine a situation in

33:03

which some overzealous priests may have

33:05

insisted that if Seti was going

33:08

to build monuments for Osiris, they

33:10

needed to change the name. That

33:13

is total speculation, we have no evidence

33:15

either way, but it

33:18

is entirely possible that some

33:20

theologian raised the issue with

33:22

the king and ultimately initiated

33:24

the change. Another

33:27

point that might be relevant

33:29

is that Seti initiated these

33:32

changes just a few decades

33:34

after the reign of Akhenaten.

33:37

The pre-Heritic pharaoh showed

33:40

very little interest in the religion

33:42

of Osiris. In

33:44

his worldview, Akhenaten and

33:47

his son-god Aten were the

33:49

be-all and end-all of life

33:51

on Earth and life

33:54

after death. After Akhenaten,

33:56

the temples of Osiris had

33:58

been largely negated. collected. Even

34:01

if he didn't attack them like

34:03

he attacked Amun, Akhenaten

34:05

was still largely disinterested

34:07

in this god. Significantly,

34:11

after Akhenaten's death in the

34:13

days of Tutankhamun, Ai,

34:15

and Horemheb, we do

34:17

see a slow increase in

34:19

the prominence and references to

34:21

Osiris, both in royal

34:24

and non-royal monuments. We'll

34:27

get into that in the future, but

34:29

long story short, following Akhenaten,

34:31

Osiris seems to become even

34:33

more popular than he had

34:35

been before. With that

34:38

in mind, it's easy to wonder

34:40

if there was increasing attention and

34:42

focus on the tale of Osiris,

34:45

his importance as a king of

34:47

the dead, and the premise of

34:49

eternal life which his story offered.

34:52

In that social and religious

34:54

context, you might imagine that

34:56

Egyptians started paying more attention

34:58

to the tale of Osiris,

35:01

and to Seth who had so

35:03

cruelly betrayed him. In

35:05

that hypothetical context, it's easy

35:07

to imagine a ruler like

35:09

Seti needing to make

35:12

concessions within certain contexts. He

35:14

might not do it all the time, but

35:16

when it came to Osiris, Seti

35:19

would not belong to Seth. In

35:29

Egyptian mythology and religious history,

35:32

Seth had a problematic role from

35:34

the perspective of order and

35:36

royal stability. He was

35:38

a chaotic and rebellious deity

35:40

who had committed great crimes

35:43

against his family and against

35:45

the lineage of kingship. Nonetheless,

35:48

Seth did retain an important

35:50

role in the natural world.

35:53

He was the lord of deserts and storms,

35:55

and the divine protector of

35:57

Ra's solar boat. On

36:00

Earth, the god was respected

36:02

and appreciated. We have examples

36:04

of people naming themselves after

36:06

the deity, and statues

36:09

or images of Seth do

36:11

survive, especially from the New

36:13

Kingdom. For King Sethi

36:15

I, the god Seth was

36:17

a powerful namesake, one

36:19

whom the pharaoh honored with monuments

36:22

and beautiful art. But

36:25

a name like Sethi belonging

36:27

to Seth was a problem

36:29

in certain locations or contexts.

36:32

Monuments that had an

36:34

Osirian character, monuments associated with

36:37

Osiris, could not necessarily

36:39

include a representation or

36:41

even the hieroglyphs that referred

36:43

to Seth. Seth's

36:46

betrayal and murder of Osiris

36:48

made him an inappropriate figure

36:50

to include in those contexts.

36:53

As a result, Sethi I and

36:56

his followers had to do something

36:58

quite drastic. Whenever the

37:00

king's cartouches appeared in those monuments,

37:03

they would alter the spelling. When

37:05

they did so, they fundamentally

37:07

changed Sethi's identity within these

37:10

monuments. He was not

37:12

called Sethi by another name,

37:14

or some euphemism for that

37:16

deity. Sometimes his name would

37:18

change to entirely different forms,

37:20

like Osiri or Titi. He

37:23

doesn't do this with any other

37:25

god, just with Seth and

37:27

just in Osiris monuments. Whether

37:30

this change came from Sethi himself

37:32

or from the Osiris priests, we

37:35

will never know. But

37:38

it is an interesting feature of his

37:40

reign, one that at

37:42

the time was unique. There

37:45

had never been a king named after

37:47

Seth. There would be others

37:49

in the future, but around

37:52

1300 BCE, Sethi

37:54

and those building and decorating

37:56

his monuments were faced with

37:58

an unprecedented challenge. Their

38:01

solution is fascinating, and

38:03

gives us a glimpse at personal

38:05

and religious identities at

38:07

the height of a pharaoh's power. Thank

38:23

you for listening to the History of Egypt

38:25

podcast. I hope you have

38:28

enjoyed this tale of Seti I and

38:30

his namesake deity. While

38:32

Seti might have changed his name

38:34

in response to pressure from the

38:36

priests of Osiris, my

38:39

priests have been nothing but supportive.

38:41

I would like to give a

38:43

special thank you to my top-tier

38:45

supporters on patreon.com. The priests help

38:47

keep the temples running, and ensure

38:49

that I, by whatever name I

38:51

use, am able to research and

38:53

tell these tales. Priest-level

38:55

supporters get a special shout-out at the

38:58

end of every episode. And

39:00

accordingly, I would like to

39:02

thank Veronica, Ashley, Nadenh, Kyla,

39:05

Evan, Andy and Chelsea, Mykost,

39:08

Yola, TJ, Terry and

39:10

Linda. These

39:13

fine folks are endlessly generous, and

39:15

I, and Seth, are in your

39:17

debt. To everyone

39:19

listening, priest, patron or otherwise,

39:22

thank you so much for joining me. I'll

39:25

see you soon.