A bit belated recap, sorry.
Last Friday I managed to invest my last half-day of leave before the witer holidays to sneak in the Sackler Library one last time for 2017 and, as promised, I managed to finish my reading list for the year.
So, as for “Antisocial Gods“, my considerations from the last post remain the same. The second part of the article considers the misdeeds of Horus and Osiris against Isis and Horit, respectively, but in my opinion, at least in the case of Horus, it fails to take into account the fact that the texts use and weave different mythological traditions, in some of which Isis is not Heru-Wer’s mother (or related to him in any way) and in some of which Isis is the canonical spouse of Horus-Min, so it was a bit frustrating.
All CWs still remain too (rape, sexual assault, incest)
As for the other book, here comes the review.
“The Reign of Seth: Egyptian Perspectives from the First Millennium B.C.E.” by Mark Smith in “Egypt in Transition – Social and Religious Development of Egypt in the First Millennium B.C.E”, ed. L Bares, F. Coppens and K. Smolarikova, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, 2010, pp. 396-430
CW: violence, assault, abuse.
As anticipated, this paper deals with the issue of the reign of Seth and of the role and perception of this deity through a selection of Late Period material. It evidences that the myth can be related through two different traditions, one of which is exemplified by the Shabaka Stele of the 25th Dynasty and by the Contendings, and the other of which is exemplified by the Edfu Temple Texts and related material.
While in the former the situation is resolved by a trial and does not deal excessively with the misdeeds of Seth (these texts are more interested in the legitimisation of the proper rules of succession and incorporate some pre-Osirian aspects), the latter depict a lawless situation in which Seth is free to abuse his power and mistreat almost everybody, accumulating a very impressive rap sheet. These texts result in the elimination/expulsion and execration of the malfeisant. This type of texts is an innovation of the Late Period and can be related to the trauma of foreign invasions (Asyyrian, Persian, etc…).
While in the texts from Tradition 1 the fact that Seth reigned over Egypt is openly admitted, in Tradition 2 it is only alluded upon.
I actually enjoyed reading this paper a lot as it was very informative and well-written, so I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Late Period myths and theology.
Many Journeys 