Red-haired, ass-eared Set



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Set
donkeys
Samson
Links
While rummaging around in the attic (metaphorically speaking) to find the ideas for this page, I came across a whole load of related stuff. This page seemed big enough already, so I put it all on a page named "Jack"

Set was the evil uncle of the Egyptian god Horus, who had murdered and dismembered Horus's father, Osiris on Midsummer's Day, and molested Horus as a child. Set had the head of an unknown animal, which was sometimes an ass (making him equivalent to Bottom in "A Midsummer Nights Dream", Typhon, Guy of Gisbourne, Ishmael*, King Midas - who was given ass's ears by Apollo, and later deified and represented as an ass - and many other mythical characters), and sometimes a strange creature with a long snout, squared off upright ears, slim body and long legs (picture), which has been described as an aardvark, a wild pig, a composite of several creatures, something unknown to science or an okapi.

Set may not originally have been seen as an evil god, possibly the cult of Set was overthrown by the worshippers of Horus, who defaced his statues, re-wrote the legends and maybe exterminated the unfortunate animal sacred to him**. It has been suggested that the Christian image of Satan may have been partly modelled on Set. Set also seems to have popped up in modern popular culture as Batman

The theory that Set's animal was a composite of many different animals is supported by the fact that several animals were at various times associated with him:
In one legend, Set appears as a black pig (click here for more on this). In another legend, he takes the form of a bull hippopotamus, (female hippopotami and pigs were generally considered more benevolent) and the association of Set with the hippopotamus was widespread during the Old kingdom (2649-2134 B.C.). Set became associated with the donkey sometime in the Middle kingdom (2040-1991 B.C.) and by the New kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.), an unpopular person could be cursed as follows:
"May a donkey violate him, may a donkey violate his wife, may he not bequeath his [official] post to his children".
The Oryx, a desert dwelling antelope, was originally associated with the gods Sokar and Ra, but by the end of the New kingdom it was associated with Set [4].I am not really convinced by the "composite animal" theory, as most of the other Egyptian deities were represented by real animals, and a specimen of the appropriate animal would be kept in the temple of that deity. (the Egyptians did believe in a demon which was part lion and part crocodile, dwelling in the underworld, and eating the hearts of sinners, but I don't think that this really counts). I have noticed that many of the ancient Egyptian illustrations of pigs do vaguely resemble Set's animal, at least as far as the head is concerned. [Top]

Donkeys


The zodiacal sign of Cancer (which the sun enters on midsummers day) was, at one time represented as two donkeys feeding at a manger (the beehive cluster) [2] Edward Topsell[14] writes of asses:
"They are not coupled in the spring aequinoctium like mares and other beasts, but in the summer solstice by reason of their cold natures"
Topsell quotes Pliny and Aristotle as his sources, which makes me wary. If anyone has bred donkeys, and can tell me if this is truth or myth, please email me

Donkeys were first domesticated in the Nile valley, probably in pre-dynastic times (5500-2920 B.C.), and later introduced to Asia. Fans of Winnie the Pooh may be interested to know that the Egyptian name for the donkey was Eeyor [6]. They may have been domesticated independently in Neolithic Spain. Donkeys were first employed to pull the plough and to thresh the corn (perhaps this was why Set was held responsible for the murder of Osiris, who represented - among other things - the ripening corn).

White asses were especially prized in Egypt. I don't know if this tradition predates the character assasination of Set. As is well known, Cleopatra used to bathe in asses milk, as did Poppaea, a wife of Nero. Asses milk was believed to give a white complexion, and said to have numerous medicinal properties. Modern research has shown that asses' milk closely resembles human milk, and may be preferable to cow's milk in this respect. Until recently, it was believed to help cure meningitis. Poppaea is said to have kept 500 she-asses, and this is not unreasonable, as the milk yield is small [3].

Roman married couples used to adorn their beds with carved asses' heads, because of the association of the ass with fertility. The asses' head, representing Typhon was also engraved onto leaden tablets which were used as curses to cause accidents to rivals in Greek and Roman races. The Romans held the ass sacred to the Goddess Vesta. This was probably because of the association with flour and corn (see section on Samson below). There is even a crucifix from third century Rome showing an ass-headed figure hanging on a cross, with an inscription on it reading "Alaxemenos worships god" It has been interpreted as an insult to the Christian religion (early Christians were sometimes accused of worshipping a god who was a donkey), although it has also been suggested that it represents Typhon/Set and is not intended to be derogatory.
According to Epiphaneus (Heresy XXVI.12), The gnostics had a book which they called "The Birth (or descent) of Mary" which stated that Zacharius, the father of John the baptist, was killed because "....he saw as he was burning incense, a man standing there who had the form of an ass. And when he went out, they say and would have said: woe unto you! what (or whom) do you worship? He that was seen of him within the temple shut his mouth, that he might not be able to speak. And when his mouth was opened, so that he could speak, then he revealed it to them and they slew him."
[9] Donkeys are quite intelligent animals, the association with foolishness seems to have originated in Italy, possibly in the late Roman era. Prior to that time, as I have shown, many people held Donkeys in high esteem. In 260 B.C. There was a consul named Gnaius Cornelius Scipio Asina, who is believed to have been so called because of his large ears [3]. The clan names Asina and Asellus were particularly distinguished at this time [1].

The childish insult of touching ones ears with the thumbs, and waving the open palms of the hands at someone (you know what I mean), probably represents the ears of a donkey. Plutarch (book V, 363) reports that the Egyptians once called the Persian ruler Ochus, an ass. He responded by killing and eating the sacred Apis bull [6].

There also seems to be a connection between the Donkey and the European tradition of appointing a "Lord of Misrule" or "Christmas fool" at Midwinter. This tradition echoes the Roman tradition of the Midwinter Saturnalia, when slaves and masters changed places. In The Quest of the holy grail Hector has a dream in which Lancelot is wreathed in holly and riding a donkey***[13]. The location for Castle Cawdor near Inverness (made famous in Macbeth), was apparently chosen because the first Thane of Cawdor, William Calder had a dream that the castle should be built where his donkey lay down to rest. The donkey lay down next to a holly tree, the remains of which can still be seen in the castle grounds.

It should also be remembered that Christ, like Dionysus, rode a donkey, and that the cross shaped patch of dark hair on a donkey's back (which distinguishes true donkeys, from onagers) is said to commemorate this event. [Top]

Samson


lion and donkey

 (Click here for picture)

As well as threshing the corn, donkeys were also sometimes blindfolded or blinded, so that they could be induced to walk in a circle and turn a mill wheel. This is of course what the Philistines did to Samson, in revenge for his killing of 10,000 of them with the jawbone of an ass. Earlier in the story, Samson had asked the Philistines a riddle:
"Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong something good to eat"
Samson was talking about the honey from the wild bees which he had found nesting inside the ribcage of a young lion which he had slain previously. The Philistines reply to him with another riddle:
"What is stronger than a lion? and what is sweeter than honey?"
The answer to this riddle is of course love, and Samson, with his mane of dreadlocks is the lion who is to be overcome. A psychological interpretation of this story can be found here.

Samson is therefore compared to a lion in the first part of the story, and an ass in the second ****.

There is an interesting carved stone in Montrose museum, telling this story. Click here for a photo.

Rather worryingly, the Branch Davidians seem to agree with me on some of this!

Usually in stories of this type (Osiris, and Set, Llew Llaw and Goronwy, Curoi and Cuchullain, Baldur and Hodur***** etc.), the hero's bizarre secret weakness allows him to be killed by his rival who takes his place. Often the rival is the lover of the hero's wife. Samson is an exception, he has no rival, Delilah has no other lover, and after his secret weakness has been revealed, he is not killed. It is as though Osiris has become Set. Perhaps this is because the story of Samson comes from a strictly monotheistic society.

The lion-headed man seems to be a very ancient image. There is a 32000 year old carving from Hohlenstein-Stadel in Germany, made from Mammoth Ivory, apparently showing a figure with the head of a lion. Some experts claim that it is a woman with the head of a lioness (most statues from this era of women). It looks pretty macho to me. Click here to see a picture.

I think there is a parallel here with the story of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne, in which Robin would have been killed by Guy were it not for divine intervention by the The White Goddess, but instead Robin kills Guy and dresses in Guy's grotesque horse (or should that be donkey?) hide cloak, so that it appears as though Guy has killed Robin.

In The Last Battle by C.S.Lewis, a donkey impersonates Aslan by dressing up in a lion skin. I wonder where Lewis got his ideas from. It seems strange to me that an evangelical Christian should be using pagan motifs in his novels, although he does seem to be reinterpreting them in his own way. Looking at "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" in this light, Aslan is not only Jesus, but also the new sun ushering in the Spring, and triumphing over The White Goddess. I think it may be significant that elves seem to have been portrayed with ass ears and dreadlocks

The Ethiopian emperor, Haille Selassie had the title of "Conquering lion of the tribe of Judah", and for centuries before him, Ethiopian emperors used a seal with the inscription "The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed", taken from Revelations 5.5. Rastafarians, who worship Haille Selassie as a god, compare dreadlocks to a lions mane, and trace the tradition of dreadlocks back to Samson. Rastafarianism seems to have been founded in 1932, by Leonard Percival Howell, a couple of years after the coronation of Haille Selassie. It seems to be inspired by Christianity and Judaism, as well as traditional African religions. The Wolof society of Senegal and Gambia; Tyedde, the Islamic Baye Faal sect; the Okomfo Akan fetish priests of Ghana and many other traditional healers of West Africa all wear dreadlocks[15] [Top]

More on these kind of subjects can be found on the page called Jack



*Ishmael, Isaac's half-brother was "like unto a wild ass among men". Esau, Jacob's twin brother, and nephew of Ishmael, was red haired, like a wild ass (click here for more about the biblical "wild ass"). Jacob had his vision of the Stairway to heaven after cheating Esau out of his birthright. Amongst other things, the story seems to be about the Neolithic revolution: Jacob the farmer, supplants Esau, the hunter. In this respect, it is strange that it appears after the story of Cain and Abel (arable farmer versus nomadic herdsman)

**Horus was usually represented with the head of a falcon. It is known that the sacred falcon in at least one of the temples of Horus in ancient Egypt, was fed on donkey flesh [10][back]

***In the story, a hermit interprets the dream, saying that the holly gown is like a hair shirt of penitence, and that the donkey is a symbol of humility, meaning that Lancelot has humbled himself before God. The Lost Language of Symbolism[5] agrees that the donkey is a symbol of humility in Christian art, but I can't escape the feeling that the hermit is not telling the whole story. [back]

****Sikhs, (who, like Samson, never cut their hair) all have the surname "Singh", which means "Lion"[back]

*****In the best known version of the story, Hodur is blind, and an unwitting dupe in Loki's scheme, unaware that a mistletoe spear (unlike other weapons) can kill Baldur. Loki hands him the spear and guides his hand. It is strange then, that Wali the avenger (equivalent to Horus) subsequently executes Hodur, despite apparently knowing that Loki was responsible. In other versions of the story, Loki plays no part, and Hodur is clearly guilty [12][back]

Links to other sites on the Web

Red Hair Folklore about people of Typhonic character
The olde order changeth More about Osiris and Ancient Egypt
The Official Temple of Set Very strange, but some good pictures
The House of Netjer
Math son of Mathonwy (including the story of Llew Llaw)
The story of Baldur
The story of Osiris, Isis, Horus and Set
The Egyptian Book of the Dead online

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