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Subject: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Goldstein posted Wed, Sep 1 2004, 10:12am  Wondered if anyone knew much about the mysterious animal supposed to represent the ancient Egyptian god Set/Seth, also known as Suty or Sutekh... Unlike all the other Egyptian gods who are represented as human figures with very clearly drawn heads of known animals (such as the falcon, jackal and ibis), Seth is shown with the head of an unknown animal, which has been variously compared to an ass, wolf, aardvark, giraffe, camel, okapi and even hippopotamus (although it certainly doesn't look like the latter). There are also heiroglyphs of the full Seth animal, which looks sort of like a greyhound-type dog or skinny jackal with an elongated (kind of anteater/aardvark-like) head and strage, square-ended "ears" (or possibly horns), and a tail with a sort of tuft on the end of it. People have suggested that it could be an extinct animal, including a Chalicotherium which was a very odd-looking thing with some both horse-like and primate-like features. However i found another extinct creature from the right area which looks like a closer candidate, the Sivatherium (the name of which comes from the Hindu god Siva or Shiva, who shares some characteristics with Seth), which is a possible ancestor of the giraffe and okapi, and had strange "horns" or "antlers" - Pics: http://www.commersen.se/djurtid/bilder/arter/partaiga/hjortdjur/sivathe rium.gif http://www.avph.hpg.ig.com.br/jpg/sivatherium.jpg Anythoughts on the Seth animal? Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Valerie ReVander posted Wed, Sep 1 2004, 2:27pm  I researched Egyptology and most extensively, the beasts of Set, over a span of a year deep in the basement of a college library. All three seem to be composites, though history texts tell of an actual bounty put on the salawa in Heliopolis. Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: JtheWeirdo posted Wed, Sep 1 2004, 2:52pm  I don't know enough about it to comment, but on SG1 they commented about it and Tel'c told a really bad joke that the jefar (sp?) tell about his jefar but everyone just looked at him like he was crazy as he laughed away.. ok i'll stop now. Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Panthera posted Wed, Sep 1 2004, 3:51pm  A stylized or undiscovered extinct canid perhaps? Maybe a cape hunting dog. Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Saau_Hatshepsut posted Sun, Sep 5 2004, 3:51am  I used to be hopeful that the Sethian creature was out there in the past, but over the last few years I've become less sure. I'm midway through my Egyptology Masters degree, and just recently did a paper on Seth. While I didn't specifically study his association with the animal, I did enough research to touch on a few points. Firstly, the representation of him has changed a bit through time. Originally either didn't have his forked tail (that we know and love), or had a 'normal' tail that you'd see on all sorts of other animals. There's one or two ivory combs from the PreDynastic that show this, I think they're both Naqada II. Also, a glyph shown to represent him, with a seated Sethian creature, is a pose that looks unlikely for any deer-like animal such as the Sivatherium (interesting picture, by the way, I've never seen one before). And in later times a glyph for him was reduced down to a simple line drawing - something that I don't believe has happened for any other animal. But perhaps most convincingly, to me at least, came when my lecturer was talking about animals in their religion. Someone asked why such common creatures as rams, birds, and bulls were chosen to be the representatives of gods. The answer, which makes a lot of sense as far as I'm concerned, is because seeing these animals frequently would have been seen as the gods' constant touch upon the world. The Egyptians *wanted* to know that their gods were nearby. With Seth, however, there were so many negative connotations that maybe they did NOT want to see him. And so, to pull the proverbial rug from under him, maybe they linked him with a creature so fantastical that its like could not possibly ever be seen, therefore thwarting chaos. Does that make any sense? Egyptian religion is murky at the best of times. Cheers, Saau Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Panthera posted Tue, Sep 7 2004, 3:31pm  Good theory. Subject: Re: Egyptian Seth/Sutekh animal From: Nobody posted Mon, Oct 11 2004, 1:31pm  I thought Seth was represented with the head of a crocodile.

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