| The Contendings of Horus and Seth | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Manuscript of 'Contendings of Horus and Seth' inhieratic script in theChester Beatty Library | |
| Size | length: 55 cm |
| Created | c. 1147 BC |
| Discovered | 1931 Luxor,Luxor Governorate,Egypt |
| Present location | Dublin,County Dublin,Ireland |
"The Contendings of Horus and Seth" is a mythological story from theTwentieth Dynasty of Egypt found in the first sixteen pages of theChester Beatty Papyri and deals with the battles betweenHorus andSeth to determine who will succeedOsiris as king.
The Papyrus Chester Beatty I dates to the Twentieth Dynasty during the reign ofRamesses V (reigned 1149–1145 BCE) and likely came from a scribe's collection that was recorded for personal entertainment (Chester Beatty Pap I, Oxford). The papyrus contains the story ofThe Contendings of Horus and Seth as well as various other poeticlove songs. The originalprovenience of the papyrus wasThebes. When found, the papyrus measured 55 cm (22 in) and had been torn and crushed.[1] The papyrus was published by theOxford University Press in 1931 and currently is located in theChester Beatty Library inDublin.[2]
Arguably the most important part of the Chester Beatty Papyrus I is the mythological story of "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" which deals with the battles between Horus and Seth to see who will be the successor to the throne of Osiris. The specific time of theContendings is a period during which the fighting has temporarily stopped and Seth and Horus have brought their case before theEnnead. Throughout the story, Horus and Seth have various competitions to see who will be king. Horus beats Seth each time. The beginning of the story is a sort of a trial when both Seth and Horus plead their cases and the deities of the Ennead state their opinions. Later in the story, Seth fights with Horus and after several long battles Horus finally wins and becomes the king.
The story of "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" is important to Egyptian society because of its significance to kingship. The story reflects the customary pattern of inheritance for kingship in Ancient Egypt: father to son. The story is also significant to the idea of divine kingship because it sets up the idea of the triad of Osiris as the dead king, Horus as the living king on earth, andIsis as the king's mother.
Many researchers andEgyptologists have dealt with "The Contendings of Horus and Seth".John Gwyn Griffiths, for example, talks about the whole conflict between Horus and Seth in his bookThe Conflict of Horus and Set. In the book, Griffiths discusses the different aspects of the ongoing battle for the office of Osiris, including the mutilations, homosexual episode, and the trial. Griffiths argues that the myth is of political and historical origin and that the story of Horus and Seth has to do with tribal struggles before the unification of Egypt.[3] Other historians have discarded this idea when it comes to "The Contendings of Horus and Seth" and say that this particular story was created simply as a religious myth and that it should not be considered of historical context (Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt).
InAncient Egyptian Literature,Antonio Loprieno argues that theContendings is one of the first instances of "mythology as a textual genre" and when mythology enters the literary field. He says that this has to do with the story as a political satire (Loprieno 50)[4]
In the Oxford publication of the Chester Beatty Papyrus I that contains "The Contendings of Horus and Seth", the discussion is conducted byAlan H. Gardiner, where he compares the story with the stories of the Greek deities and ofHomer'sOdyssey.
