manuscripts (object)

Torn sheet of papyrus with part of the Tale of Horus and Seth on the recto, in two pages of horizontal lines followed by two vertical columns in black in a clear, rounded hand with thick strokes and large signs; and parts of a table of accounts and commission namelist dated to a year 1 on the verso, in black and red, in a similar but more cursive hand. Threadbare edges, torn with some insect-holes. Petrie lot VI.2. Hieratic script. This fragment, along with UC32150a (and possibly UC32148b) form the earliest extensive account of the struggle between Horus and Seth in existence. The story of Osiris, Horus and Seth seems to have been well known in ancient Egypt and there are many passing references to it, especially in magical and medical texts. This, the complete part, describes an episode where Seth, apparently being overcome with Horus’s physical beauty after seeing him wet, makes overtures towards him. Horus reports Seth’s attentions to his mother who tells him what to do if Seth tries anything. A similar event is also described in the New Kingdom version but it differs in that Horus is unexpectedly sodomized after “passing a good day” with Seth and goes to his mother in shock afterwards.

Lahun

Kahun Workmens' Town (April 1889)

- Stevenson, Alice, The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: Characters and Collections

late Middle Kingdom late Middle Kingdom

LDUCE-UC32158

Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology