The ancient Egyptian gods have a plain and uncomplicated appearance: they are humanoid beings with the heads of prominent local animals such as a crocodile, a cat, a jackal, a falcon, and so on. However, experts are still baffled as to which animal represents the deity Set.
Set’s head resembles that of a dog or a jackal, but his ears are exceedingly large and stand straight, and his mouth is not only extended but also curled, similar to that of an anteater. Anteaters, on the other hand, do not reside in Egypt; they are only found in Central and South America, and anteaters do not have such ears.
Because no other local animal has a head like Set’s, it’s no wonder that the controversy about which animal’s head the deity wears on his shoulders has raged for centuries.
Set is the deity of storms, disorder, desert sands, violence, devastation, war, and total chaos, according to Egyptian mythology. Set was also known as the Greek Typhon, the Typhonian Beast, or the Typhonian Animal in ancient times.
Even if there is a picture of this Typhonic beast in the shape of a genuine animal, it cannot be recognized.
As a result, many historians think Set’s head is that of a fictitious animal that never existed in the actual world. However, this seems weird when compared to the fact that other Egyptian gods had entirely authentic animal heads.
Some academics have speculated that Set’s animal is either too stylized to be recognized or that the species is now extinct.
There are speculations that Set’s head is a stylized depiction of a jackal, fox, or even a hyena, however, Set has a significantly curled muzzle in all images that have survived, but these animals have a straight nose. And why on earth would the Egyptians bend the face of a crocodile or a cat for their other gods if they didn’t do so for Set?
Seth’s tail, which is sometimes represented standing straight with a tassel at the end, like a lion’s, or with a forked end, is also rather noteworthy.
By the way, the Egyptian deity Anubis has a jackal’s head, and his nose and ears are a reasonably realistic representation of a genuine jackal’s head. So when the Egyptians created Set with such a head, as opposed to Anubis’ jackal head, they clearly did not merely stylize a jackal’s head but showed precisely what they meant.
Some academics have stated that Set possesses a giraffe’s head, despite the fact that Set’s head is usually extremely dark in colored frescoes, typically black or dark red, but never yellowish-orange, as a giraffe’s is.
Many people think that Seth’s head looks a lot like a greyhound dog, which is an old breed, however, greyhounds’ ears are radically different, and this breed is unsuitable for the god of fury and battle.
Set may have the head of a donkey, an undiscovered wild dog, a pig, or even an okapi, according to some theories (a relative of the giraffe).
One of the more contentious hypotheses was proposed by a ufologist, who claims that Set is shown in his real form as an extraterrestrial, as were all the ancient Egyptian gods before they became mythic heroes.
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