The Story Archive

The Contendings of Horus and Seth

Egyptian myth · c. 1160 BCE · Myth / Legend · Egyptian · Ancient

Eighty years into a lawsuit before the assembled gods, the murdered Osiris's son and his uncle are still arguing title to the throne of Egypt while the tribunal stalls, the sun god sulks in his tent, and Isis works the court in disguise. The proceedings descend into hippopotamus duels, a race in boats supposedly of stone, and a sexual trick whose evidence is summoned to give testimony in open session. Preserved almost whole on a Ramesside papyrus, it is the fullest narrative statement of the Egyptian succession myth and startlingly irreverent about its own gods.

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