Set animal facts for kids

The Set animal, also known as the sha, is a mysterious creature from ancient Egyptian art. It was the special animal linked to the god Set. Because Set was also connected to the Greek monster Typhon, this animal is sometimes called the Typhonian animal.

Unlike many other animals in Egyptian art, the Set animal doesn't seem to be a real creature we know today. Most experts believe it was an imaginary animal. Even so, it was very important to the ancient Egyptians. It often appeared in their writing and art. Some old Egyptian texts even say that Set could turn into a dangerous animal, like a bull or a crocodile.

What the Set Animal Looks Like

The sha usually looks like a thin dog, similar to a greyhound or a jackal. It has three special features that make it stand out:

• A stiff tail that points straight up, often split at the end.
• Ears that stand up straight and are usually square or triangular at the top.
• A long nose that often curves slightly downwards.

It is usually shown as black, but sometimes it might have been reddish. The Set animal is often shown resting, either lying down or sitting. Its head shape can sometimes look a bit like a giraffe, but its body is clearly like a dog.

The Set Animal in Hieroglyphs

The Set animal was used as a hieroglyph, which is a picture symbol in ancient Egyptian writing. These symbols helped represent the god Set. Another common hieroglyph for Set showed a seated god with the head of the Set animal.

These hieroglyphs were used in the Egyptian language to describe things related to "chaos," "suffering," "violence," or "storms." The first known use of the Set animal symbol was on a very old object called the Scorpion Macehead. It also appeared on the royal names of kings like Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy.

The Set Animal Through History

Drawings of the sha appear in Egyptian artwork for about 2,000 years. This was from the Naqada III period all the way to the New Kingdom. Even though it's a mysterious animal, it was drawn in a realistic way, like real creatures.

You can find the sha on the ceremonial Scorpion Macehead. It's also on the royal names of kings from the Second Dynasty, like Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy. Later, in the Twelfth Dynasty, it appeared in tombs. In the Nineteenth Dynasty, the pharaohs Seti I and Seti II used the Set animal in their royal names. King Setnakhte and his family from the Twentieth Dynasty also used it.

Its Link to the God Set

The god Set depicted as a man with a set-animal head.

The god Set was usually shown as a man with the head of the sha. This is why experts call it the Set animal. When Set was shown as a human with this animal's head, he had a long, slightly curved nose and upright, squared ears. Sometimes, Set was shown completely as the sha animal itself. He would have a long, downward-curved snout, squared ears, a stiff forked tail, and a dog-like body.

Other animals important to Set included the antelope, hippopotamus, wild boar, crocodile, and scorpion. These animals all represented strength, power, or wildness. The sha was also used in the names of Set and the goddess Nut, who might be linked to Nephthys, Set's wife.

Special staffs called Was-sceptres looked like the Set animal. Gods, pharaohs, and priests carried these staffs. They were a symbol of power. Later, they also showed control over chaos. The head and forked tail of the Set animal are clearly visible on these staffs.

Why the Set Animal Became Less Popular

Set was first seen as a protector of the sun god Ra and the Egyptian kings. But his popularity changed as the worship of Osiris grew. Osiris became a very important god. The followers of Osiris saw Set as a symbol of violence. They remembered him as the murderer of his brother Osiris. This idea of Set grew stronger during the Second Intermediate Period. This was when Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos people from Western Asia. Their god Sutekh was linked to Set.

Set was still respected during the New Kingdom. Some kings even had names that showed their devotion to Set. These names included a hieroglyph of Set as a seated god with the Set animal's head.

However, during the Third Intermediate Period, Set became very unpopular. People stopped worshipping him, and many pictures of him were destroyed. The images of the Set animal likely suffered the same fate.

What Animal Was It?

It's hard to identify the Set animal because its images changed over thousands of years. There's no separate story about the sha that could help identify it. Some experts believe it was a purely imaginary animal that never existed in nature.

The Set animal looks distinctly like a dog. But its exact identity has never been confirmed. It's sometimes described as a jackal or another wild dog. However, the jackal is usually linked to the god Anubis. The jackal in Anubis's images never has the special features of the Set animal: the stiff, often forked tail, the squared ears, and the long, slightly curved nose. It's possible these features were added to make Set's animal different from Anubis's jackal.

Could It Be a Saluki?

A Kurdish Saluki running. Notice its ears and tail pointing up.

One idea is that the Set animal is actually a Saluki. The Saluki is one of the oldest types of domesticated dogs. It has a curved snout and a body very similar to the hieroglyph. Salukis are from the region where ancient Egypt was. When a Saluki runs, its ears and tail stand up vertically. Also, people in the Middle East often cropped (shortened) the ears of hunting dogs. Salukis also appear in other Egyptian hieroglyphs, showing they were well-known.

Other Ideas for the Set Animal

Besides the jackal or the Saluki, some scholars have suggested other animals. These include an oryx, donkey, fennec fox, jerboa, camel, okapi, elephant shrew, aardvark, giraffe, pig, or even a type of fish. Some also think it might have been an animal that was rare or has since become extinct.

Since Set was often shown as a donkey or a man with a donkey's head later in Egyptian history, it's possible the donkey inspired the Set animal.

See also

• Egyptian mythology
• List of hieroglyphs/C
• List of hieroglyphs/E
• Mušḫuššu
• Peribsen and Khasekhemwy—for the history of the Set animal mounted upon serekh