The Earliest Representation of Set Is That on a Carved Ivory Comb from the Amratian Period

Set immediately slammed the lid closed and sealed the casket shut (with molten lead). The sealed coffin was then thrown into the Nile.
Isis was devastated at the loss of her husband and searched for the casket throughout Egypt and then overseas. She eventually found it where it had come to rest in the roots of a massive tree.
Isis then returned the coffin to Egypt for a proper burial. For safe keeping she concealed it in the marshes beside the Nile.
Unfortunately for Isis Set found the casket while out hunting and was so enraged he chopped the body of Osiris into pieces, and scattered the parts throughout the land of Egypt.
Poor Isis had to then set out again looking for the parts of her husband. Eventually she found all the parts except one and reassembled Osiris and wrapped him in bandages. In some accounts Isis breathed life back into Osiris' body and it was then that Horus was conceived. This was a more magical event that it seems, considering the one part of Osiris Isis couldn't find.
The young Horus then went out to battle his uncle Set and to avenge his father’s death. After a series of fights detailed in 'The contending of Horus and Set' neither god was able to secure an overall victory. Ultimately Osiris was declared king of the underworld, Horus king of the living, and Set ruler of the deserts as the god of chaos and evil.

Set

The earliest representation of Set is that on a carved ivory comb from the Amratian period (Naqada I, 4500BC - 35BC, orthodox dates) and he also appears on the famous Scorpion mace head. His worship seems to have originated in one of the most ancient settlements in the town of Nubt (Kom Ombo), in upper (southern) Egypt. Nubt (near modern Tukh) lies near the entrance to the Wadi Hammammat, the doorway to the eastern desert and its gold deposits, and the city took its name from the word for gold, Nbt (which also means ruler or lord). As a result Set was sometime called "He of gold town". Nubt was the most important of the ancient settlements, and was located close to the site of the Naqqada settlement from which this early culture takes it name. Pre-dynastic worship of Seth was also evident in the 19th and 19th Nomes of Upper Egypt.

At this point in history, Set was clearly associated with Upper Egypt and was a popular and esteemed god. However, by the Third Intermediate Period was associated with the Hyksos (who saw a similarity between Set and Baal) and so became seen as a force for evil. He was then "rehabilitated" during the Nineteenth Dynasty only to be recast as an evil deity by Greek, Roman and Christian theologists.

Set was the black boar who swallowed the moon each month, obscuring its light. He was also identified with the hippopotamus, crocodiles, scorpions, turtles, pigs and donkeys - all animals which were considered to be unclean or dangerous. Some fish were considered to be sacred to Set (most notably the Nile carp and the Oxyrynchus) as they had apparently eaten the penis of Osiris after Set had dismembered the dead king. However, he was most often depicted as a "Set animal" or a man with the head of a "Set animal". The Set animal (sometimes known as a 'Typhonian animal' because of the Greek identification with Typhon) is a dog or jackal like creature, but it is not clear whether it exactly represented an extinct species, or was a mythological beast uniquely associated with Set himself.

In the Osirian mythology he was married to Nephthys, but their marriage was not a happy one. However, Set had many other wives/concubines. According to one myth he lived in the Great Bear, a constellation in the northern sky - an area which symbolized darkness, and death. He was restrained with chains and guarded by his wife Taweret, the hippo goddess of childbirth. He was given the two foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte (war goddesses from the Syria-Palestine area and daughters of Ra) as wives in compensation for Ma´at´s (or Neith´s) ruling that Horus should rule Egypt.

However, he had no children, despite being married to the goddess of childbirth and a Cannanite fertility goddess as well as Nephthys and Neith. This was considered to be very unconventional by the Egyptians. Not only was he infertile, but one of his testicles had been torn off by Horus when Set tore out Horus´ eye. He only ate lettuce, which was sacred to the fertility god Min because it secreted a white, milky substance that the Egyptians linked to semen and he was considered to have odd sexual habits. He was bisexual, and tried (and failed) to rape both Horus and Isis.

Set's battle with Horus (the elder and the child) and Osiris

Although they fought, neither party could win and it was believed that they would continue to fight until the end of time when Ma´at was destroyed and the waters of Nun (chaos) engulfed the world. However, once Set had been recast as an evil entity, the story changed to record that Horus had won their battle, and thus good had triumphed over evil. Some historians have argued that the battle between Set and Horus was a mythological representation of the struggle to unite Egypt under one ruler. According to this theory, the followers of Horus were successful and so Set was pushed into the background.

It is interesting to note that the pharaoh Sekhemhib displayed his name in a serekh topped by a Set animal, not a falcon (representing Horus), while Khasekhemwy´s serekh included both a Set animal and a falcon. This has been taken as evidence that the battle between Upper and Lower Egypt had been won and the ruler wished to appease both factions.

Even as an infant he was dangerous and unpredictable. According to the pyramid texts he ripped himself violently from his mother´s womb instead of being born normally like his siblings. Set was jealous of his brother Osiris. Two reasons are given for this jealousy. The first is that Osiris was made Pharaoh of Egypt after Geb resigned the throne. Set felt that he should have been given this accolade, and wished to usurp the throne. The second reason is that his wife Nephthys tricked Osiris into having sex with her (by disguising herself as her sister Isis, the wife of Osiris), and bore him a son - Anubis. Set was understandably unhappy about the situation but seems to have held his grudge against his (more handsome) brother Osiris rather than his unfaithful wife. Whatever the reason, Set decided that his brother had to die.

He made a great feast, supposedly in honour of Osiris, and offered a beautifully carved chest to whichever guest would fit into it. Of course, the chest was built to fit Osisris, and when he lay down inside it, Set´s followers nailed the lid shut and threw the chest into the Nile. Isis managed to find the chest and bring it back to Egypt. However, Set discovered the chest and dismembered the corpse of his brother, spreading the parts all over the country. Isis and Nepthys began their search for the pieces of Osiris, but his penis could not be found (because it was swallowed by a fish in the Nile). Undaunted, Isis reassembled the pieces and magically conceived her child, Horus. When he grew up he fought with Set, essentially adopting the position of Horus the Elder as the enemy of Set. This of course, added to the confusion between Horus the Elder and Horus the son of Isis and Set´s role changed from being an equal to his brother Horus the Elder, to the evil uncle of his nephew Horus the child.

Set the protector

He was thought to have white skin and red hair, and people with red hair were thought to be his followers. He was associated with the desert (which takes its name from the Egyptian word "dshrt" - the red place). He represented the fierce dry heat of the sun as it parched the land, and was infertile like the desert. Initially he probably represented the desert near Nubt, but soon he represented all deserts and foreign lands, becoming a god of overseas trade. Set had been associated with the desert and foreigners for some time before the Hyksos took over parts of lower Egypt. However, when they took him as their main god, this broke Set´s association with lower Egypt. His name was erased from monuments and his statues destroyed. All of his negative attributes were emphasised and his positive side was ignored.

But Set's fortunes soon changed. The Pharaohs of the Nineteenth Dynasty were from the Delta area where worship of Set was still popular. It is also interesting that both Seti I (who even named himself after Set) and Ramesses II seem to have had red hair. Although Amun was the state god, Set was more highly venerated in the Delta. Ramesses II´s divided his army into four divisions, and named one for Set. When he fought the Hittities he was described as being "like Set in the moment of his power" and "like Seth, great-of-strength". He even named his daughter Bint-Anat (Daughter of Anath, Set´s wife).

The Greeks associated Set with Typhon, the largest monster ever born. Typhon was the son of the Earth and Tartarus (the place of torture in Hades), and thoroughly evil. Both were storm gods associated with the colour red and with pigs (whose meat was considered to be unclean by many cultures including the Egyptians). However, unlike Typhon Set had a protective role and even in his negative aspects the Egyptians understood his place in the world. He was dangerous and unpredictable, but could be a powerful friend. During the Ptolemaic period a temple to both Horus and Sobek (who was often associated with Set as both took the form of a crocodile) was built south of Nubt and named Ombos (now known as Kom Ombos) after the god of the ancient city - Set.

Isis

Isis, the Egyptian goddess of rebirth remains one of the most familiar images of empowered and utter femininity. The goddess Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, the goddess of the Overarching Sky. Isis was born on the first day between the first years of creation, and was adored by her human followers. Unlike the other Egyptian goddesses, the goddess Isis spent time among her people, teaching women how to grind corn and make bread, spin flax and weave cloth, and how to tame men enough to live with them (an art form on which many of us would welcome a refresher course!) Isis taught her people the skills of reading and agriculture and was worshipped as the goddess of medicine and wisdom. More than any other of the ancient Egyptian goddesses, Isis embodied the characteristics of all the lesser goddesses that preceded her. Isis became the model on which future generations of female deities in other cultures were to be based.
As the personification of the "complete female", Isis was called "The One Who Is All", Isis Panthea ("Isis the All Goddess"), and the "Lady of Ten Thousand Names".
The goddess Isis, a moon goddess, gave birth to Horus, the god of the sun. Together, Isis and Horus created and sustained all life and were the saviors of their people.

Hathor

Hathor is one of the most ancient Egyptian goddesses. She was known as "the Great One of Many Names" and her titles and attributes are so numerous that she was important in every area of the life and death of the ancient Egyptians. It is thought that her worship was widespread even in the Predynastic period because she appears on the Narmer palette. However, some scholars suggest that the cow-headed goddess depicted on the palette is in fact Bat (an ancient cow goddess who was largely absorbed by Hathor) or even Narmer himself. However, she was certainly popular by the Old Kingdom as she appears with Bast in the valley temple of Khafre at Giza. Hathor represents Upper Egypt and Bast represents Lower Egypt.

She was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was considered to be the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow (linking her with Nut, Bat and Mehet-Weret). As time passed she absorbed the attributes of many other goddesses but also became more closely associated with Isis, who to some degree usurped her position as the most popular and powerful goddess. Yet she remained popular throughout Egyptian history. More festivals were dedicated to her and more children were named after her than any other god or goddess. Her worship was not confined to Egypt and Nubia. She was worshipped throughout Semitic West Asia, Ethiopian, Somlia and Libya, but was particularly venerated in the city of Byblos.

She was a sky goddess, known as "Lady of Stars" and "Sovereign of Stars" and linked to Sirius (and so the goddesses Sopdet and Isis). Her birthday was celebrated on the day that Sirius first rose in the sky (heralding the coming innundation). By the Ptolemaic period, she was known as the goddess of Hethara, the third month of the Egyptian calendar.

Hathor was also the goddess of beauty and patron of the cosmetic arts. Her traditional votive offering was two mirrors and she was often depicted on mirrors and cosmetic palettes. Yet she was not considered to be vain or shallow, rather she was assured of her own beauty and goodness and loved beautiful and good things. She was known as "the mistress of life" and was seen as the embodiment of joy, love, romance, perfume, dance, music and alcohol. Hathor was especially connected with the fragrance of myrrh incense, which was considered to be very precious and to embody all of the finer qualities of the female sex. Hathor was associated with turquoise, malachite, gold and copper. As "the Mistress of Turquoise" and the "lady of Malachite" she was the patron of miners and the goddess of the Sinai Peninsula (the location of the famous mines). The Egyptians used eye makeup made from ground malachite which had a protective function (in fighting eye infections) which was attributed to Hathor.

As the "lady of the west" and the "lady of the southern sycamore" she protected and assisted the dead on their final journey. Trees were not commonplace in ancient Egypt, and their shade was welcomed by the living and the dead alike. She was sometimes depicted as handing out water to the deceased from a sycamore tree (a role formerly associated with Amentet who was often described as the daughter of Hathor) and according to myth, she (or Isis) used the milk from the Sycamore tree to restore sight to Horus who had been blinded by Set. Because of her role in helping the dead, she often appears on sarcophagi with Nut (the former on top of the lid, the later under the lid). She occassionally took the form of the "Seven Hathors" who were associated with fate and fortune telling. It was thought that the "Seven Hathors" knew the length of every childs life from the day it was born and questioned the dead souls as they travelled to the land of the dead. Her priests could read the fortune of a newborn child, and act as oracles to explain the dreams of the people. People would travel for miles to beseech the goddess for protection, assistance and inspiration. The "Seven Hathors" were worshiped in seven cities: Waset (Thebes), Iunu (On, Heliopolis), Aphroditopolis, Sinai, Momemphis, Herakleopolis, and Keset. They may have been linked to the constellations Pleiades.