On some aspects of the veneration of Seth in the oases (on the example of the Smaller Dakhla stela)

The article is devoted to some aspects of the image of Seth in the oases on the example of the smaller dakhla stela (Ashmolean museum no. 1894.107b) dating from the Third Intermediate Period (XXV Dynasty). The text of stela informs that a certain official in the oases, called Ta-bia (&A-biA), donated in a temple a daily offering of five breads in favour of his father. In this top register, on the left, is a representation of the falcon-headed god Setekh with a sun-disk on his head. In front of him are the words: %wtx aA pHty zA Nwt - «Utterance by Setekh, great of strength, the son of Nut». Seth (Setekh) is here a principal god, because he was the lord of the oases. The image of Seth on the stela is untypical - he is represented as the falcon-headed god with a sun-disk. This unusual image of Seth is associated with the evolution of his image since the New Kingdom. The closest iconographic analogy is the anthropomorphic image of Seth with a sun-disk on his head that placed on a column of temple of Heliopolis of the reign of Merneptah, the pharaoh of the XIX dynasty. This connection between Seth and sun can be explained by the existence of Set's cult in Heliopolis. This is evidenced by a scarab of Ny-maat-ra (Ny-mAat-Ra) (Middle Kingdom) and cube statue of Hapi-ha (@apy-xa) (New Kingdom) where is mentioned the temple of Seth in Heliopolis. The image on the dakhla stela can be considered also as the first monument where is depicted a falcon-headed Seth. Until then falcon-headed Seth was depicted only once - on the faience seal of the time of the New Kingdom, where Seth in a double crown stands paired with Horus, also crowned with a double crown. But this is not an image on the monument, but the third name-title, the so-called «Golden» name of the egyptian king. From the early dynastic period Seth was a patron of king's power what made him a p air of Horus. Through this connection with Horus and the royal power, Seth could be given the falcon features. The final transformation of Seth into a falcon-headed god on monuments from oases take place during the XXVII dynasty. On the relief from the temple of Hibis in the oasis of Kharga (XXVII Dynasty) Seth appears with falcon's head in a double crown and with two wings. He wields a spear against serpent Appophis. At the end of the Third intermediate period and until the Ptolemaic period Seth in oases is represented only as falconheaded god. The name of Seth is write as i %(w)tX without Seth animal appears in the hieroglyphs. During the XXV Dynasty the iconography of Seth in Dakhleh underwent some changes as a result of official policy in the Nile Valley. The Seth animal no longer used, neither as a hieroglyph nor in the iconography of the god.

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