Seth

Seth
/seth/, n.
1. the third son of Adam. Gen. 4:25
2. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning "substitute."
/sayt/, n. Egyptian Relig.
Set.

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I
or Set

Ancient Egyptian god and patron of the 11th nome, or province, of Upper Egypt.

A trickster, he was a sky god, lord of the desert, and master of storms, disorder, and warfare. He was the brother of Osiris, whom he killed, and he was antagonistic to Horus, the child of Osiris's sister, Isis. Seth's cult largely died out in the 1st millennium BC, and he was gradually ousted from the Egyptian pantheon. He was later regarded as entirely evil and identified as a god of the Persians and other invaders of Egypt.
II
(as used in expressions)
Reduced Instruction Set Computing

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▪ Egyptian god
also called  Setekh ,  Setesh , or  Set 

      ancient Egyptian god, patron of the 11th nome, or province, of Upper Egypt.

      The worship of Seth originally centred at Nubt (Greek Ombos), near present-day Ṭūkh, on the western bank of the Nile River. Nubt, with its vast cemetery at nearby Naqādah, was the principal predynastic centre in Upper Egypt. The town lost its preeminent position with the unification of Egypt about 3050 BCE, which was carried out under kings whose capital was Abydos and whose royal god was Horus.

      Seth was represented as a composite figure, with a canine body, slanting eyes, square-tipped ears, tufted (in later representations, forked) tail, and a long, curved, pointed snout; various animals (including aardvark, antelope, ass, camel, fennec, greyhound, jackal, jerboa, long-snouted mouse, okapi, oryx, and pig) have been suggested as the basis for his form. Because even the ancient Egyptians rendered his figure inconsistently, it is probably a mythical composite.

      Originally Seth was a sky god, lord of the desert, master of storms, disorder, and warfare—in general, a trickster. Seth embodied the necessary and creative element of violence and disorder within the ordered world. The vicissitudes of his cult reflect the ambivalent attitude of the Egyptians toward him, as well as the shifting political fortunes of Egypt. During the 2nd dynasty (c. 2775–c. 2650 BCE), King Peribsen identified himself with Seth for the first time, giving himself a Seth title instead of the traditional Horus name. His successor, Khasekhemwy, gave both Horus and Seth equal prominence in his titulary, reflecting the mythical resolution of the two gods. During the rule of the Hyksos invaders (c. 1630–1521 BCE), Seth was worshipped at their capital, Avaris, in the northeastern Nile River delta, and was identified with the Canaanite (Canaanite religion) storm god Baal. During the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 BCE), Seth was esteemed as a martial god who could sow discord among Egypt's enemies. The Ramesside pharaohs (1292–c. 1075 BCE), originating in the northeastern delta, ranked him among the great gods of Egypt, used his name in their personal names ( Seti I and Seti II, Setnakht), and promoted the image of Seth as the protector of Re in the prow of his bark, slaying Re's enemy, Apopis. Seth also joined Amon, Re, and Ptah as the fourth of the principal gods of the cosmos.

      In myths, Seth was the brother of Osiris. There too his character was troublesome, for he was depicted as bursting out of the womb of his mother, Nut, being an unfaithful husband to his consort and sister, Nephthys, and murdering Osiris, whom he tricked into entering a chest, which he then closed and hurled into the river to be carried out to sea. After Osiris's murder, Horus was conceived miraculously by Isis, the wife and sister of Osiris. Horus struggled with Seth, who sought to dispossess him from his father's throne. This struggle forms the theme of the Ramesside text The Contending of Horus and Seth, which borders on satire, and the later, much more sombre version recorded by Plutarch, in which Seth is the embodiment of the Greek demon Typhon.

      After the close of the New Kingdom, as Egypt lost its empire and later its independence, and as the cult of Osiris grew in prominence, Seth was gradually ousted from the Egyptian pantheon. In the 1st millennium BCE his name and image were effaced from many monuments. He was now identified as a god of the eastern invaders of Egypt, including the Persians. No longer able to reconcile Seth with Horus, the Egyptians equated the former with evil and the demon Apopis, or with the Greek Typhon. Elaborate rituals of the repeated defeat of Seth as an enemy largely replaced the earlier ritual destructions of Apopis.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Séth — Seth Pour les articles homonymes, voir Seth (homonymie). Cet article fait partie de la série Dieux égyptiens Présentation Par ordre alphabétique …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Seth — ist der Name folgender Personen oder Figuren: Sohn Adams im Tanach, siehe Set (Bibel) ägyptischer Gott, der Osiris tötete, siehe Seth (Ägyptische Mythologie) ägyptischer Pharao, siehe Seth (König) kanadischer Comic Zeichner und Texter, siehe Seth …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • SETH — (Heb. שֵׁת), antediluvian patriarch, son of Adam and Eve. The Bible has preserved two different traditions regarding Seth. In one Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve, born to them after the murder of Abel (Gen. 4:25 (J). His name is said to… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Seth [1] — Seth (Set), ägypt. Gott, der als Stadtgott vornehmlich in dem oberägyptischen Ombos (auf dem westlichen Nilufer bei Nagâde) verehrt und nach der Gründung des oberägyptischen Reiches zu dessen Schutzgottheit wurde. Die Sage berichtet von den… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Seth — m Biblical: name (from a Hebrew word meaning ‘appointed, placed’) of the third son of Adam, who was born after the murder of Abel (Genesis 4: 25, ‘And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath …   First names dictionary

  • Seth — Seth1 [seth] n. [LL(Ec) < Gr(Ec) Sēth < Heb shet, lit., appointed < shat, to put] 1. a masculine name 2. Bible the third son of Adam: Gen. 4:25 Seth2 [sāt] n. var. of SET …   English World dictionary

  • Seth — Seth, prop. n. (Egyptian Mythology) An evil beast headed god with high square ears and a long snout; his was the brother and murderer of Osiris. Called also {Set} [WordNet 1.6] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Seth — dieu égyptien du Mal et des Ténèbres, frère d Osiris, qu il assassina. Seth personnage biblique, troisième fils d Adam et d éve (Genèse, IV, 25) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Seth — (d.i. der Gesetzte, Ersatzmann), dritter Sohn Adams, welchen Eva nach dem Tode Abels u. dem Abfall Kains gebar u. welcher 912 Jahre alt geworden sein soll. Die Secte der Sethianer (s.d.) hielten S. für den Sohn eines weiblichen Äon, geschaffen an …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Seth [2] — Seth, nach 1. Mos. 4 u. 5 Sohn Adams, Stammvater der Sethiten, die sich vor den Nachkommen seines Bruders Kain (Kainiten) durch Gottesfurcht auszeichneten. S., der zweite der sogen. Urväter, erreichte wie diese ein ungewöhnlich hohes Alter; er… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

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