The ancient Egyptians often represented gods as human with animal heads. Usually, we can tell exactly what kind of animal they meant. But there's one god--Set or Seth, the god of chaos and darkness--whose animal representation remains unclear.
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| Dude, what are you--a camel? Anteater? And what's with those ears? |
When he's depicted as a full animal, the body is clearly some sort of canine (being the dawg he is), but nobody knows for sure what his head is supposed to represent. Some think it could be the Fennec fox, found in remote areas of southern Egypt.
Possibly. But I dunno. The ears might work, but these cute little foxes don't seem as if they would be as fearsome as you would expect from the god of chaos, destruction and danger. Also, they don't have the straight tail with the bushy end as shown on the hieroglyph of Set. So, basically, nobody knows. But I think I've figured it out, folks. Seriously. You must watch this fearsome creature and see for yourself. Look at the ears! Look at the tail! And then if you don't expire from the cuteness, you too might agree that the Egyptian jerboa--with the legs of a kangaroo, face of a mouse, body of a bird and tail with a bushy tip, might very well embody the pure evil that is Set.*
*Obviously, just kidding! Nobody knows what Set was, but I couldn't resist the winsomeness of the jerboa.
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