RayGun

Isis and Set

Could you substantiate the claim, made in the Isis article, that Set was "gay"? The context supplied also seems to indicate bisexual would be a more appropriate description, but that's straying from the topic somewhat. I am familiar with Ancient Egyptian mentions of masturbation, but homosexuality is rather a low-profile topic.

What would be most useful is a reference to the papyrus or other ancient author reporting the Nephthys/Set/Isis/Anubis tale.

Urhixidur 14:33, 2005 August 20 (UTC)

• He was originally god of the desert, thus infertile, leading to "oh, he must be gay then"
• He had a male lover/boyfriend/partner/fuck-buddy (a libyan god called Ash, who was god of Oases)
• His favourite food was lettuce. This might be a bit obscure so I'll explain:
  • Egyptian lettuce is very tall and thin (like the shaft of a penis)
  • Egyptian lettuce is very firm (like an erection)
  • Lettuce emits a creamy/milk-like substance when rubbed (c.f. masturbation)
  • I.e. saying lettuce is his favourite food is a euphamism for saying he likes swallowing cock.
• He topped Horus (Interfemoral intercourse) (in the battles between Horus and Set)
• The Oxyrhynchus fish is a symbol of Set, due to its unusual snout resembling that of the strange Set-animal. The Oxyrhynchus fish (representing Set) swallowed one of the 13 body parts of Osiris when Osiris was dismembered by Set. The part it swallowed was the penis.
• Although he was married to Nepthys, he had no children
• He was so uninterested in having sex with Nepthys, even when disguised as the beautiful Isis, she had an affair, resulting in the birth of Anubis

Homosexuality was a non-issue in ancient Egypt - Set being gay meant nothing significant, simply an extrapolation of his being god of desert, and thus infertile. --RayGun 11:07, 22 August 2005 (UTC)