Edfu – A Battle Between Harsiese and Seth in the Form of a Red Donkey 1/6

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Among the five major textual witnesses to the Horus–Isis–Osiris myth complex preserved at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, the fifth stands out for its distinctive treatment of the struggle for Egypt’s rightful inheritance. Inscribed on the socle of the enclosure wall’s inner east face (third register, lines 1–40), this narrative, published by Chassinat and newly translated by Kurth, focuses on the decisive phase in which Horus, born as Harsiese (“Horus, son of Isis”), claims the land after the defeat and expulsion of Seth. The text unfolds within the broader Egyptian tradition of the Osirian cycle—the murder of Osiris, the posthumous conception and birth of his heir in the marshes of Chemmis, and the eventual transfer of royal power—yet it adapts these core elements to Edfu’s local theology. Horus Behedeti appears both as the manifestation of the pan-Egyptian Harsiese and as an independent protective figure, illustrating how temple scholars continually reshaped mythic material to serve specific ritual and political concerns. The central theme remains the restoration of order: only after Seth, portrayed throughout as the fratricidal usurper who seeks also to destroy the young Horus, has been overcome can the legitimate succession take place and Osiris live again in his son. Particularly vivid is the climactic confrontation at Wabui. Informed that the enemy of Osiris would be found before the Council of the Merechet, Horus advances and discovers Seth holding “the leg.” At the sight of his pursuer, Seth transforms himself into a red donkey. Horus answers by assuming the form of a powerful youth. In the ensuing combat Horus brings his adversary down, severs the thigh, and delivers the vanquished Seth to the council at Herakleopolis. The episode ends with Osiris buried securely in that nome—“He who cannot be dislodged from his place”—while Horus is acknowledged as sole lord of Upper and Lower Egypt. Such graphic and apparently original details, together with the consistently negative characterization of Seth, reveal the creative freedom enjoyed by Edfu’s theologians. Far from mere repetition of a nationwide myth, the text presents a localized drama of possession and legitimacy, in which the defeat of the red donkey becomes the indispensable prelude to Horus’s unchallenged reign.



Ref.: Chassinat, Le temple d’Edfou, Vol. 6, pp. 219 – 223 —  Kurth, Edfu VI. Die Inschriften des Tempels von Edfu, Abteilung I, Übersetzungen, Band 3, pp. 390 – 395  — Sketches modified after Chassinat, Le temple d’Edfou, Vol. 10, plates CLI, CLIX  — Photo modified after  Chassinat, Le temple d’Edfou, Vol. 14, plates DLXXXII, DLXXXIII, DLXXXIV  — Floor plan Chassinat, Le temple d’Edfou, Vol. 9, p. 71, Pl 1

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