Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favorite food. Horus (or Isis herself in some versions) then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favorite food. Though the argument was usually over which of the two had the rightful claim to rule Egypt, one rather odd battle involves lettuce. Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on lettuce which was Set’s favorite food. Image courtesy of KerrisdaleGallery.com. Set was born of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. Seth snuck up and gouged out his nephew’s eyes, burying them in the ground. Set is an Egyptian god of deserts, storms, disorder, war, violence, and foreigners. With his sister-wife Nephthys, he fathered the gods Anubis and Wepwawet. When Seth unwittingly ate the seed of Horus God in a salad, he became pregnant by his nephew. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070 Set tries to insert himself into Horus’ thighs, similar to how a man would ease into a woman, in order to assert his superiority by mounting Horus. Set seems to like spicy burritos (make sure they have sour cream and lettuce, because it references a myth where he ate a salad covered with Horus's.... Well ah. Get the best of Smithsonian magazine by email. When you think about food and sex, it may seem bit a bizarre to link these two together but their end goal is the same: satiation. Terms of Use In fact, the Eye of Horus is a symbol that represents divine protection in the ancient Egyptian religion. * On the relief of his funerary temple, Ramses III partakes in a harvest festival in honor of Min. Horus then took an oath by god as follows: “All that Set has said is false. Give a Gift. The original name also survives in later Egyptian names such as Har-Si-Ese literally "Horus, son of Isis". It became said that the Sun was his right eye and the Moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon, flew across it. Horus came over to America with Mr. Ibis, Bast, Set, and Mr. Jacquel. Set laid with Horus in sexual intercourse, thus proving his dominance, but Horus managed to twist about and catch his semen before it entered him, throwing it into the river. The gods first listened to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and call his semen forth, but it answered from the river, invalidating his claim. It was adopted into Greek as Ὡρος Hōros. He is the son of Geb and Nut, and is the brother of Osiris, Isis, Her-ur, and Nephthys. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Horu… She caused it to become stiff and inserted it into a pot, and he caused his semen to flow down into it. Set then ate the semen-covered lettuce, and so Horus (rather than Set with his first ‘attack’) bacame sexually dominant over his uncle. [Horus wins the kingship and Seth is compensated] Horus, son of Isis, was brought, and the White Crown was set upon his head and he was installed in the position of his father Osiris. I warned you the story would get real really quickly. Towards the end of the story, both Horus and Set appear in front of Thoth, who was another deity known to handle godly disputes: Said Set: “Let me be awarded the office of Ruler … for as to Horus, the one who is standing (trial), I have performed the labor of a male against him.”. Horus and Set binding the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. As experimentation on my part, I will be starting a blog series on food and sexuality in literature beginning in chronological order (as best as I can). (Case in point: a young god getting buggered by the uncle who killed his father, and then sneakily feeding him his sperm on lettuce leaves — aww, you just have to read it to believe it.) 11) Isis takes semen of Horus and impregnates the lettuce that Seth loves to eat. After Set had eaten the lettuce, they went to the gods to try to settle the argument over the rule of Egypt. Thoth removed the disk and placed it on his own head. Horus places his hand between his legs, catches Set’s semen and throws it into the river. The opponents were the Ancient Egyptian God Horus and the Ancient Egypttian God Seth. The earliest version of the greens resembled two modern lettuces: romaine, from the French word “romaine” (from Rome), and cos lettuce, believed to have been found on the island of Kos, located along the coast of modern day Turkey. By Coptic times, the name became Hōr. 12) Seth eats the lettuce; in magic ordeal, each to summon his semen. Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favorite food. Lettuce and Kings: The Power Struggle Between Horus and Set (Ed. This was achieved by having Horus’s semen spread over some lettuce, which was supposed to be Set’s favorite vegetable. (It is unclear whether the lettuce’s development in Egypt predates its appearance on the island of Kos.) Set then asked the gods to bring the semen forth from the ‘impregnated’ one, to humiliate Osiris’ son. California Do Not Sell My Info Fall 2020: A Special Issue on Persecution. Pleasure. The plant was believed to help the god “perform the sexual act untiringly.”. Image courtesy of Flickr user kairoinfor4u. And Isis added the semen of Horus onto it. Another theory suggests that there was a battle between the followers of Set and those of Horus at some point in time. Note: 1.3.04 is the standard version of English 1.3.04L is the Localization version which need you to do translation by yourselves. Instead of being part of a meal, the seeds from the bud of the flowers were harvested and pressed for their natural oils which were used for cooking, medication—even mummification. The gods first listened to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and called his semen forth, but it answered from the river, invalidating his claim. Behind him, a procession of priests holds a small garden of lettuce. 10) Seth assaults Horus ‘between his thighs’, H catches the semen, Isis cuts off his hand. By Coptic times, the name became Hōr. In fact, if one were to cut a lettuce leaf in half, a whitish, milky substance would ooze out of it. However, Horus places his hand between his thighs and catches Set's semen, then subsequently throws it in the river, so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set. Let Set’s semen be summoned that we may see from where it answers, and my own be summoned that we may see from where it answers.”, Then Thoth, lord of script and scribe of truth for the Ennead, put his hand on Horus’s shoulder and said: “Come out, you semen of Set.”, And it answered him from the water in the interior of the marsh. You can read the myth.). Unbeknownst to Set, he ate lettuce along with Horus’ semen, where it was held in his body as in a woman’s body for conception. Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr.w and is reconstructed to have been pronounced *Ḥāru, meaning "Falcon". But the story takes an erotic turn soon afterwards: Now afterward, (at) evening time, bed was prepared for them, and they both lay down. According to some texts, Set's semen enters Horus's body and makes him ill, but in "Contendings", Horus thwarts Set by catching Set's semen in his hands. Overnight, they grew into lotuses. As you may or may not know, Horus is one of the most important gods out of the entire Egyptian pantheon. Known as the god of the sky and war and hunting, Horus is often depicted with having a human body with a falcon head. The judicial power of the court was the Sun God Re and the contenders Horus and Seth were there to contest who had the rightful claim to the throne of Egypt after the death of Osiris. The gods first listened to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and call his semen forth, but it answered from the river, invalidating his claim. In this scene, we can extrapolate that virility is synonymous with dominance. According to a text on the Edfu Temple, the lettuce was able to help Min relentlessly perform. Her work also appears in OutsideOnline.com and Esquire.com. When Horus has Set’s semen in his hands, it demonstrates that he has been defiled by another man’s essence, so much in fact that his mother has to cut off the hands altogether. K. Annabelle Smith is a writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico who covers a wide variety of topics for Smithsonian.com. Now, Researchers Found Another, Renewing Hope for the Species, Medieval Chinese Coin Found in England Suggests a Vast Medieval Trade Route, Ancient Humans May Have Tossed Meaty Scraps to Wild Wolves, Boosting Domestication, Meet Joseph Rainey, the First Black Congressman, The State of American Craft Has Never Been Stronger. When the butt of modern Romaine lettuce is cut off, a similar substance oozes from the plant and gives it a bitter flavor. She took some of his semen and dropped it on some lettuce (henceforth a symbol of sexual potency). 2. “Over 3,000 years, role did change, but he was constantly associated with lettuce,” she says. Horus went to tell his mother Isis: “Help me, Isis, my mother, come and see what Set has done to me.” And he opened his hand(s) and let her see Set’s semen. Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo who specializes in Ancient Egyptian food explains Min’s part in lettuce history. Set then eats the semen-covered lettuce, and so Horus (rather than Set with his first ‘attack’) becomes sexually dominant over his uncle. According to Papyrus Chester-Beatty I, as interpreted by Ikram, Set at one point tries to overpower Horus by seducing him and then having intercourse with him. Homosexual Incest and Semen-Covered Lettuce. Because Set eats the semen-covered lettuce, in the eyes of the gods, Horus was dominant—at least until the next battle. Thoth calls, "Come out, you semen of Horus." A procession of priests carry large stalks of lettuce–phallic symbols, tall and erect. 915 East Washington Street Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favorite food (the Egyptians thought that lettuce was phallic). Horus proceeded to steal Set's testicles, causing Set to lose virility and strength. Advertising Notice Cookie Policy Smithsonian Institution. However, Horus places his hand between his thighs and catches Set's semen, then subsequently cut the hand off, throwing it in the river, so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set. He had already been ruled. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the Sun and Moon. As a description it has also typically been thought of as having the meaning "the distant one" or "one who is above, over". Michigan Quarterly Review, founded in 1962, is the University of Michigan’s flagship literary journal, publishing each season a collection of essays, interviews, memoirs, fiction, poetry, and book reviews. He is part of the Ennead. According to Papyrus Chester Beatty I, the conflict between Horus and Set happened to be a series of bouts, such as when they transformed into hippopotamuses and submerged themselves into the water to see who could last the longest, to Set removing Horus’s eyeballs as he slept. Therefore, when Set ate the lettuce, he unknowingly ingested Horus’s semen as … Privacy Statement Horus and Isis's next plan was to 'impregnate' Set with Horus' semen. According to one myth Set attempts to disgrace Horus by being the active partner in sex with him but on his mother's advice Horus catches Set's semen in his hand and takes it to his mother who puts it on Set's favourite food - lettuce - which Set then unknowlingly eats. Soon he went to the court with his charge of homosexuality, and the court at first laughed at Horus God for his supposed weakness. Because Set has performed a “labor of a male against him,” Horus cannot rule over anyone. *See K. Annabelle Smith’s piece, “When Lettuce was a Sacred Sex Symbol,” at Smithsonian.com. Both Horus and Set left the Funeral Parlorin Cairo behind with Set last being heard from in San Francisco in 1906 before the earthquake. But in Ancient Egypt around 2,000 B.C., lettuce was not a popular appetizer, it was an aphrodisiac, a phallic symbol that represented the celebrated food of the Egyptian god of fertility, Min. In ancient Egypt, lettuce was not considered a part of one’s salad but rather, an aphrodisiac. Search the archive for over fifty years of fiction, poetry, essays, and more. He was told: "You are a … According to one view, Set became associated with the Hyksos invaders who conquered the Nile Delta and therefore, by the time of the Second Intermediate period, Set had become regarded as a malevolent deity. Your email address will not be published. or In this tale, it was said that Set, the patron of Upper Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until ev… Image via wordpress. Under Domitian’s reign, as the story goes, the ruler would force his guests to eat lettuce before the meal so as to make them struggle to remain awake for the remainder of the visit. Isis at morning time went carrying the semen of Horus to the garden of Set and said to Set’s gardener: “What sort of vegetable is it that Set eats here in your company?”  So the gardener told her: “He doesn’t eat any vegetable here in my company except lettuce.” And Isis added the semen of Horus onto it. Set, on the other hand, was the god of the desert, disorder, and violence. Main Office: (734) 764-9265 Horus is recorded in Hieroglyphs as ḥr.w and is reconstructed to have been pronounced *Ḥāru, meaning "Falcon". So without further ado, let’s go back thousands upon thousands of years ago to the great civilization of ancient Egypt. This relief from the funerary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu depicts the festival of Min. Then she fetched some fragrant ointment and applied it to Horus’s phallus. Lettuce has been harvested for millenia—it was depicted by ancient Egyptians on the walls of tombs dating back to at least 2,700 B.C. In this myth, lettuce, an ancient aphrodisiac, is the tool used to submit Set to Horus’s power. Thereupon he became pregnant with the semen of Horus. Thereupon he became pregnant with the semen of Horus. When they first introduced a set order of courses, the meal included a salad at the beginning to stimulate the appetite and also at the end to encourage digestion, according to author Gil Marks. A trial was taking place in a court. — corrected thanks to feedback from reader joelfinkle) (While we’re talking etymology, raw lettuce dishes known as herba salata (“salted greens”) gave rise to the English word “salad.”) Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book provides further options for what the lettuce milk of the “ithyphallic god of increase” may represent: Lettuce was sacred to him because of the “straight vertical surge” of their growth, milky juice they exude which could be taken as a symbol of mothers milk or semen. After Set had eaten the lettuce, they went to the gods to try to settle the argument over the rule of Egypt. Isis retaliates by putting Horus's semen on lettuce-leaves that Set eats. Continue Subsequently, Horus secretly masturbates, and deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favourite food (the Egyptians thought that lettuce was phallic, since Egyptian lettuce … Because Set eats the semen-covered lettuce, in the eyes of the gods, Horus was dominant—at least until the next battle. According to legend, when the goddess Isis was pregnant with Horus, she had to hide from her brother Set because he was hungry for the throne, even killing her husband Osiris to usurp it. His mother spreads powerful unguents on Horus' penis, after which he ejaculated into a jar, and they spread it on some lettuce, a favourite aphrodisiac to the ancient Egyptians. Vote Now! Another interesting lettuce-related story in Ancient Egypt, not for the faint-of-stomach: In Egyptian history there are many battles between the Egyptian deity Horus and Set, the god of the desert. “Horus tricks Set by basically spurting his sperm and throwing it into a lettuce plant, ” Ikram says. Lettuce. The two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the son of Osiris and Isis were confused, so Set changed from being an equal to his brother, Horus the Elder, to the enemy of Isis's son. For this post, I will be discussing the royal intrigue between two gods, Horus and Set. Required fields are marked *. “Horus [then] tricks Set by basically spurting his sperm and throwing it into a lettuce plant, ” Ikram says. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Then Horus placed his hands between his thighs and received Set’s semen. Tired from decapitating his mother, Horus went to sleep on the mountaintop. He's also accepted a homemade pizza and a package of Hostess "HoHos..." 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