Ivy Reisner
Ivy likes to stand with one foot in the future, and one in the past. She’s been known to read on a Kindle while at her spinning wheel. She has a passion for quantum physics and 19th century Japanese history, both of which she can’t say she understands as much as she would like.
The Legend of Set
Author Ivy Reisner
explores the inspiration behind her upcoming release
from Keith Publications
SOLDIERS OF THE SUN SERIES
“OVERTHROWING SEBAU”
Ancient Egyptian Mythology
In the modern world, generally it’s Horus who gets the laurels for being the great and noble king of the gods and Set who is viewed as the villain, but it wasn’t always so. In my novel, The Book of Overthrowing Sebau, I dip back into the older legends where Set gets to play the role of hero, defending the sun barge from being eaten by dragons. Now if only he could get Naomi to see it that way.
In the original mythology, the war between Set and Horus started with the Goddess of Sluts, Nephthys. Okay, she might not have officially been given that title, but no goddess was ever so fit to fill that role. She desired her husband, Set, who, god or otherwise, needed a night off. She decided he had to be getting a little on the side, so she transformed herself to look Isis, and tried her advances then. Set, already exhausted from his wife, beat a hasty retreat. I find it delightful that he is so frequently ostracized for refusing to cheat on his wife. Osiris, king of the gods and husband to Isis, came upon the transformed, and exceedingly hot, Nephthys and, thinking her to be his own wife, took her to bed. Nephthys said not a word of protest.
Soon it was discovered that Nephthys was in a family way. When the baby Anubis was born he looked a lot like Set, but Set wasn’t fooled. He quickly discovered that the real father was Osiris (a fact that could not have surprised Set more than it did Osiris). Set tricked Osiris (granting Osiris the title of Lord of the Gullible) into partaking of a party game in which each guest would lie down in a box. Whoever fit best, would win a prize. Set had made the box to precisely fit Osiris. As soon as Osiris lay down in the box, Set slammed it shut and cut Osiris, box and all, in pieces. He scattered the pieces throughout the earth. Isis and Nephtys, in shock and in mourning, gathered the pieces, except for the phallus, which was eaten by a fish. Isis fashioned for him a silver penis (some say she used a bit more silver than was truly required to match the original) and restored him to life–sort of. He went from being the king of the gods to the Lord of the Dead. Upon his revival he impregnated Isis via his eyes. Oh baby, look my way again. The baby was named Horus.
Set, being the brother to Osiris, tried to take over as king of the gods. Horus, on reaching maturity, tried to reclaim the throne. The two went to war over it, and gods fight dirty. Set tore out Horus’ eye. Horus tore off Set’s testicles. The accounts vary on which happened first, but this is where the idea for the Eye of Horus talisman comes from. Be glad we didn’t get a corresponding icon for Set. Horus, establishing himself as Master Crybaby, went to grandpa Ra to make it all better, and so had his eye restored. Set, King of Obstinacy, did without his family jewels.
The war went on, and one day Isis approached Set in disguise as a beautiful woman. Clearly, she’d learned a few tricks from Nephthys. Set chased her into a woods, averring that he must have her. When he caught up to her, she told him she could not be with him because she was sorely grieved. She told him her husband was a cattle rancher who died, and a tyrant was trying to claim her son’s inheritance. Set demanded to see the tyrant, that he might give him what for. She dropped the illusion and explained that he was the tyrant stealing her son’s inheritance. He didn’t buy it. In frustration he, still without his testicles, spilled his seed on the ground in frustration.
It came to pass, during their fighting, that Set tried to taunt Horus saying “What a lovely buttocks you have”. Horus attacked, infuriated. Set knocked him flat and tried to rape him, but Horus caught Set’s sperm in his hand. Thinking about the mechanics of this, it was clearly a form of barroom theology. I’ll add that this was again after Horus ripped Set’s balls off. Horus threw Set’s sperm into the Nile where it was eaten by a fish. Fish in Ancient Egypt had strange feeding habits. Horus then ejaculated into a salad, then went and gave it as a peace offering to Set, who ate it. Apparently he didn’t find anything strange about the taste. That should have suggested that Set accepted Horus’ peace offering, but instead he went to the council to prove himself superior to Horus. Set called to his sperm, which answered from the Nile. Horus called to his sperm, which answered from within Set. Therefore it was seen that Horus was the greater deity. This victory lasted until Set’s stomach settled.
Set then suggested that he and Horus fight it out in the ocean. Both should turn themselves into Hippopotami and whoever gave up and came to land first, lost. Isis, thinking this a trick, tried to harpoon Set. She missed and hit Horus. Horus, doing what he did best in those days, wailed, “Mooooooom!” She chanted magic words and the harpoon fell away. Then she harpooned Set. Set asked if she could truly strike her own brother. She repented, and again spoke the magic works, and again, the harpoon fell away harmless. Horus was furious that she would show mercy to Set, and so attacked her (thus climbing out of the water and forfeiting the contest). He beheaded her, so Ra gave her the head of a cow, to get her by until she could restore he own head. The council of gods became furious with Horus and went after him, but apparently nothing ever came of that, and he ended up king.
I hope you’ll give my novels adaptation of the older mythologies a try. You can reach me at Ivy@IvyReisner.com. I’d love to hear from you.
You can find her at http://www.IvyReisner.com, or come visit her blog, her knitting podcast, her writing podcast, or her book review site. She also does audiobook reviews for SFSite. Her work also appears in the Complete Guide to Writing Horror, coming soon from Dragon Moon Press.
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Hi Ivy…your blog just came up. I've been out all day and noticed you weren't up. Hope you have a good afternoon. We all love your book. I know everyone will. You have a great blog.
What a lively tale! I've always loved Greek mythology, but never read much Egyptian. Very interesting…
HI Ivy, I enjoyed reading your blog. I like the touch of old and new.
Ivy,
How did you get interested in the mythology? I've always been fascinated myself. I used to look up the gods in the dictionary and mark the entries that I had read. I was 7 or so at the time …
Hi. I'm glad you like the legends behind it all. The Greek myths intersect the Egyptians in the deity Serapis. He entered the pantheon during the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Good story from that period, Cleopatra VII (THE Cleopatra) was the only Ptolemaic pharaoh to speak Egyptian. When she was young, she studied a variety of languages, excluding Latin, which she claimed was beneath her. One of the festivals required a member of the royal family to be on board a ship with the god statue as he traveled to the people, then back to the temple. None of the Ptolemies had done this and the priests had no hope one would. Cleopatra knew all this, and when the boat was ready to set off, she hopped on board and gave homage to the god. This so impressed the priests, they lefts dozens of texts and letters describing the incident.
Redacting the legends for the novel was impossible. At one point Set battles Set and kills himself. The story is told of a battle between Set and Sutekh. Sutekh was originally an alternate spelling of Set. Horus is redacted from so many gods, he's his own grandfather. I used the pre-Narmer stuff primarily, with a bit of the war between Set and Horus thrown in for fun.