Pražské Egyptologické Studie (Nov 2021)
Which Seth? Untangling some close homonyms from ancient Egypt and the Near East
Abstract
This paper aims to disambiguate the proper name “Seth” and its cognates or homonyms – perfect or imper fect – in texts from ancient Egypt, the Near East and the Mediterranean. It considers: (1) the Suteans, West Semitic Amorite/Aramean nomads who feature negatively in Mesopotamian records; (2) S(h)eth in the Hebrew bible, in which a disparaged southerly Sutean group (“sons of Sheth”) may have been recast as the virtuous lineage of the third son of Adam (“sons of Seth”); (3) Seth, the Egyptian god of tumult and confusion, who has some elements in common with the Judeo Christian Satan; (4) Seth of the Jewish pseudepigrapha, a positive embellishment of the biblical figure; (5) the Gnostic Seth, a further embellishment of the biblical/ pseudepigraphical figure; and (6) Seth as an agent invoked in magical texts. Accordingly, the paper provides an integrated review of six Sethian subject areas that are seldom considered together; they are examined here through an Egyptological lens. The survey reveals that the two principal Seths – the Egyptian god and the son of Adam – maintain almost entirely separate trajectories in the religious and magical literature of ancient Egypt and beyond.
