LEGENDS OF THE GODS

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of Set, the Arch-fiend and great Enemy of Ra. Thither Horus and hiswell-armed Blacksmiths pursued them, and came up with them at the towncalled Per-Rerehu, which derived its name from the "Two Combatants," or"Two Men," Horus and Set. A great fight took place, the enemies of Rawere defeated with great slaughter, and Horus dragged 381 prisoners onto the Boat of Ra, where he slew them, and gave their bodies to hisfollowers.PLATE VII.Horus of Behutet and Ra-Harmakhis in a shrine.PLATE VIII.Horus of Behutet and Harmakhis in a shrine.PLATE IX.Ashthertet ('Ashtoreth') driving her chariot over the prostrate foe.PLATE X.Left: Horus of Behutet spearing a Typhonic animal, and holding hisprisoners with rope.Right: Horus of Behutet, accompanied by Ra-Harmakhis and Menu, spearingthe Hippopotamus-fiend.Then Set rose up and cursed Horus because he had slain his allies, andhe used such foul language that Thoth called him "Nehaha-her," i.e.,"Stinking Face," and this name clung to him ever after. After thisHorus and Set engaged in a fight which lasted a very long time, but atlength Horus drove his spear into the neck of Set with such violencethat the Fiend fell headlong to the ground. Then Horus smote with hisclub the mouth which had uttered such blasphemies, and fettered himwith his chain. In this state Horus dragged Set into the presence ofRa, who ascribed great praise to Horus, and special names were given tothe palace of Horus and the high priest of the temple in commemorationof the event. When the question of the disposal of Set was beingdiscussed by the gods, Ra ordered that he and his fiends should begiven over to Isis and her son Horus, who were to do what they pleasedwith them. Horus promptly cut off the heads of Set and his fiends inthe presence of Ra and Isis, and be dragged Set by his feet through thecountry with his spear sticking in his head and neck. After this Isisappointed Horus of Behutet to be the protecting deity of her son Horus.The fight between the Sun-god and Set was a very favourite subject withEgyptian writers, and there are many forms of it. Thus there is thefight between Heru-ur and Set, the fight between Ra and Set, the fightbetween Heru-Behutet and Set, the fight between Osiris and Set, and thefight between Horus, son of Isis, and Set. In the oldest times thecombat was merely the natural opposition of light to darkness, butlater the Sun-god became the symbol of right and truth as well as oflight, and Set the symbol of sin and wickedness as well as of darkness,and ultimately the nature myth was forgotten, and the fight between thetwo gods became the type of the everlasting war which good men wage
against sin. In Coptic literature we have the well-known legend of theslaughter of the dragon by St. George, and this is nothing but aChristian adaptation of the legend of Horus and Set.After these things Horus, son of Ra, and Horus, son of Isis, each tookthe form of a mighty man, with the face and body of a hawk, and eachwore the Red and White Crowns, and each carried a spear and chain. Inthese forms the two gods slew the remnant of the enemies. Now by somemeans or other Set came to life again, and he took the form of a mightyhissing or "roaring" serpent, and hid himself in the ground, in a placewhich was ever after called the "place of the roarer." In front of hishiding-place Horus, son of Isis, stationed himself in the form of ahawk-headed staff to prevent him from coming out. In spite of this,however, Set managed to escape, and he gathered about him the Smai andSeba fiends at the Lake of Meh, and waged war once more against Horus;the enemies of Ra were again defeated, and Horus slew them in thepresence of his father.PLATE XI.Horus of Behutet and Thoth spearing human victims with the assistanceof Isis.PLATE XII.Horus of Behutet and Thoth spearing Set in the form of a crocodile.Horus, it seems, now ceased to fight for some time, and devoted himselfto keeping guard over the "Great God" who was in An-rut-f, a districtin or near Herakleopolis. This Great God was no other than Osiris, andthe duty of Horus was to prevent the Smai fiends from coming by nightto the place. In spite of the power of Horus, it was found necessaryto summon the aid of Isis to keep away the fiends, and it was only byher words of power that the fiend Ba was kept out of the sanctuary. Asa reward for what he had already done, Thoth decreed that Horus shouldbe called the "Master-Fighter." Passing over the derivations of placenameswhich occur here in the text, we find that Horus and hisBlacksmiths were again obliged to fight bodies of the enemy who hadmanaged to escape, and that on one occasion they killed one hundred andsix foes. In every fight the Blacksmiths performed mighty deeds ofvalour, and in reward for their services a special district wasallotted to them to dwell in.The last great fight in the North took place at Tanis, in the easternpart of the Delta. When the position of the enemy had been located,Horus took the form of a lion with the face of a man, and he put on hishead the Triple Crown. His claws were like flints, and with them hedragged away one hundred and forty-two of the enemy, and tore them inpieces, and dug out their tongues, which he carried off as symbols ofhis victory.Meanwhile rebellion had again broken out in Nubia, where about onethirdof the enemy had taken refuge in the river in the forms of
Page 5 and 6: may be assigned to a time between t
Page 7 and 8: Nut, the Sky-goddess, and Keb, the
Page 9 and 10: [FN#5] Monuments, tom. iii., p. 245
Page 11 and 12: slay all those who had blasphemed a
Page 13 and 14: hieratic character on a papyrus pre
Page 15 and 16: and secret name, whereby he lived,
Page 17: PLATE V.Horus standing on the back
Page 21 and 22: The greater part of the text consis
Page 23 and 24: [FN#30] Pyramid Text, Teta, l. 276.
Page 25 and 26: Bent-enth-resh was possessed by an
Page 27 and 28: a great feast in honour of the supe
Page 29 and 30: of King Tcheser, when Matar, the Er
Page 31 and 32: The magical and religious texts of
Page 33 and 34: acking in pieces. These things woul
Page 35 and 36: a scorpion, and to lie here in the
Page 37 and 38: of Isis and Osiris introduced by th
Page 39 and 40: Then Shu and Tefnut rejoiced from o
Page 41 and 42: [FN#57] i.e., I uttered my own name
Page 43 and 44: have slain [some of] them, but ther
Page 45 and 46: THE LEGEND OF THE DESTRUCTION OF MA
Page 47 and 48: Darkness), it is the Soul of Nu and
Page 49 and 50: which she putteth together destroy
Page 51 and 52: to this day]. And Heru-Behutet was
Page 53 and 54: Thoth, "The enemies are resting . .
Page 55 and 56: [FN#85] i.e., the Mediterranean.XVI
Page 57 and 58: [FN#90] The month Thoth.[FN#91] The
Page 59 and 60: priests who shall minister by the m
Page 61 and 62: [FN#107] Northern Nubia; the name m
Page 63 and 64: holds between his forelegs the sola
Page 65 and 66: Those who are among the holy ones a
Page 67 and 68: strength[FN#151], destroyer of the
Page 69 and 70:
And the Prince of Bekhten sent a me
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A LEGEND OF THE GOD KHNEMU AND OF A
Page 73 and 74:
"Here is the bed of Hapi (the Nile)
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[FN#188] i.e., the stone was very f
Page 77 and 78:
"Whatsoever is caught in the nets b
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Be vomited, O poison, I adjure thee
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Say the [following] words:--"O Ra-[
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'son of a man' (i.e., anyone) who b
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And the fire [which was in the hous
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[FN#224] The land of the sunset, th
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[FN#228] We ought, perhaps, to tran
Page 91 and 92:
Then Isis placed her nose in his mo
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in front of his two Eyes; and he wh
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hour[FN#258] to hurl back the repor
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[FN#262] According to the Egyptian
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salt from their meals. This they do
Page 101 and 102:
VIII. This much may be depended upo
Page 103 and 104:
egard to their method of philosophi
Page 105 and 106:
that in memory of this event the Pa
Page 107 and 108:
sacred place, forming omens and pre
Page 109 and 110:
wherever Isis found one of the scat
Page 111 and 112:
Horus and the beheading of Isis, be
Page 113 and 114:
which are proclaimed openly, and ot
Page 115 and 116:
that the Daemons underwent punishme
Page 117 and 118:
[FN#326] According to the texts the
Page 119 and 120:
doleful rites, and they exhibit as
Page 121:
hippopotamus stamped on them. Sec.
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LEGENDS OF THE GODS

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