The Headless God

But even the proofs that Delatte cites for the solar nature of Seth from the Hellenistic period do not seem tenable. He seeks them in the magical papyri, which, according to their current version, were written in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, yet in their hymns and various items of religious history go back to an earlier time. Their magic-versed authors not infrequently make use of Seth's help. There is first a revelation spell which the magician Nephotes communicates in letter form to the Egyptian King Psammetichos: P IV 155—285. The long practice falls into two sections. Most varied preparations and

ceremonies are necessary to ensure the favor of Typhon-Seth for the practicing magician or adept; the entire magic is under his authority, without his having to appear himself. This procedure is transmitted by the beginning of the Nephotes letter, lines 168—221. Its high point consists of a hymn to the god:

"Mighty Typhon, scepter-holder and ruler of the dominion up there, god of the gods, Lord, shaker of darkness, bringer of thunder, stormy1, nightly flashing2, (turning the night star?), breather of cold and warmth, shaker of cliffs, you who make walls tremble, stirrer of waves, shaker and mover of the deep...

I am the one who searched the whole earth with you and found the great Osiris, whom I brought to you in chains.

I am the one who fought in league with you against the gods.

I am the one who closed the double gates of heaven and lulled to sleep the serpent that one cannot look upon, who brought to a standstill sea, floods, the waters of the streams, until you became Lord over this realm"3.

Nothing, I believe, points to a solar divine nature in these invocations. A mighty, terrible nature demon, a lord over thunder, lightning, night, storms, and darkness, an exciter of earthquakes—that is Typhon. To the poet of the hymn, he counts as the enemy of the "great" Osiris, whom the magician—he likens himself to an ally of Seth—has overcome. The allusion to the myth of the struggle of both gods is unmistakable; Typhon is thought of as the victor; the continuation of the war and its end does not come into consideration for the magician or hymn-writer in this case: he wants to win the favor of the feared one, and so he can dedicate the following flattery to him after the sign of being heard (appearance of a sea hawk):

"I have been recommended (united?) to your holy form, I received strength through your holy name, I became a partaker of you, the outflow of the Good, Lord, god of the gods, ruler, demon."

1 "Shining" Hopfner; P writes lelanete (lalapete), van Herwerden lampeta.
2 nyktastraptate P, nyktastrapete van Herw., nyktastro(str)apeta?
3 Fr. Zucker has also provided a translation of the Seth invocations in G. Roeder, Set, op. cit. 775.