Beyond Isis and Osiris - Alternate Sexualities in Ancient Egypt, Part 1: John J. Johnstone
- Debbie Challis
- Sep 9
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 14
This is a trail written by the late John J. Johnstone, based in part on a talk he gave at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in February 2008. It was the first event recorded in a museum in London for LGBT History Month. The objects would be put out especially for the trail in February, so it doesn't really work as a trail around the museum most of the time. I have turned it into a blog but also made the trail available to download below. John J. Johnstone was a true pioneer of public engagement with LGBTQ+ history, as well as with film, TV and other forms of popular receptions of Egypt.
I commissioned John for his talk and trail as well as for many events at the Petrie Museum from when I started working there in 2007 and, then from 2012, alongside my maternity cover and then job share partner the late Helen Pike. They were both marvellous, glorious and glittering people. I learnt so much and had so much fun working with them both. They are gone from this earth too soon.
Many thanks to Lisa Randisi for sending me this when I popped back with no notice and to the Petrie Team at UCL. I have divided the trail into 2 parts - here is John's introduction and Osiris and Seth. The length of it takes me back to when Helen and I used to stand at the back making manic signs for John to wrap up. The audience were always rapt though so we never got an event finished on time! The rest of this blog are John's words.
Introduction
This trail is the result of a series of lectures, which I have given either at the Petrie Museum or to the Friends of the Museum during LGBT History Month and at other times since 2008. In devising the trail, I have endeavoured to restrict myself to those objects within the museum’s collection rather than considering the wider evidence with one notable exception, which lies beyond the confines of the museum but still within the grounds of University College London.
It is, I think, appropriate that the Petrie Museum should host this trail as Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) was particularly keen, in his excavation of settlement areas, to reveal the truth of the ancient Egyptians’ day-to-day lives rather than uncovering the art treasures and funerary artefacts sought by his contemporaries.
I wish to begin by stating that the recognition and identification of objects directly exemplifying alternative sexualities is not easy. Many of the objects will serve merely as authentic illustrative tools. For various reasons, not least the intervening millennia of destructive and obstructive prejudice, the stories of these alterative sexualities are often obscured by innuendo and the mores of the period. However, sometimes, one is surprised by the refreshingly frank attitude towards sexual matters, which can reveal how differently the ancients viewed human sexuality and its manifold definitions.
That there is an ‘official’, somewhat censorious attitude towards homosexual acts in Pharaonic Egyptian culture is difficult to deny. However, the sources are varied and fragmentary. The twenty-seventh declaration of Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead is a confirmation by the deceased that he did not have homosexual relations, however, in that same section he states that neither did he commit adultery (Parkinson, 1995, 61).
Similarly, there is a quite complex portion of the ‘Instructions of Ptahhotep’ which appears to dissuade one from having sex with a ‘woman-boy’ (Parkinson, 1995, 69) a phrase which appears to discriminate specifically against effeminacy.
I would suggest that although such references are few, they exist because such acts did occur and probably with some frequency. In a culture where procreative sex with one’s wife engendered aspects of immortality both literally, albeit by proxy, and within a religio-funerary context there is a suggestion that to engage in non-procreative sexual acts was simply a waste of semen. It is apparent, as we shall see, that homosexual acts were certainly known and in certain circumstances accepted. As one moves forward through time and approaches those objects supported by Classical literary sources, a degree of clarity appears to develop although this, too, is open to substantial interpretation.
I have included a relatively full bibliography in the hope that the contents of this trail may encourage visitors to discover for themselves the rich vein of material in libraries, museums and galleries, which illustrate this alternative Egyptological approach.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Professor Stephen Quirke, Dr Debbie Challis and Ms Jan Picton, all of the Petrie Museum for their encouragement and assistance in developing this trail and the lectures preceding it. Finally, I wish to thank my partner, John Cunningham, for his unerring support.
The Objects
Osiris and Seth
Funerary Stela of Khonsuirdis before Isis and Osiris Location: Main Room IC8 Top Shelf (Inscriptions Cases), UC14506 Ptolemaic Period (305BC–30BC). Online Catalogue
Osiris, here represented as the King of the Dead and Isis, his consort, epitomise, with their son, Horus, the perfect ancient Egyptian nuclear family through whom many aspects of human experience: love, loyalty, birth and the darker elements, such as death, loss, rivalry, revenge, jealousy and violence are revealed and mythologized for consumption by the elite culture of ancient Egypt. Similarly, the tale of Osiris provides a starting point for the consideration of alternative sexuality in ancient Egypt.
Osiris is king of Egypt and like his siblings, including his sister-wife Isis, a god. However, his brother, Seth, is jealous of Osiris’ royal position and determines to be rid of him.
Seth organises a sumptuous banquet at which he holds a small competition. Under his instructions artisans have crafted the most beautiful and elegant wooden coffin. It is his intention that the coffin will be won by whichever of his guests it best fits. The guests are stunned not only by their host’s generosity but also by the magnificence of the casket and so each tries the coffin for size. Their efforts, however, are in vain as Seth has fashioned the coffin to Osiris’ precise measurements. Therefore, when Osiris tries the coffin for size, Seth slams shut the lid and hacks both coffin and brother to pieces before hurling them into the Nile.
Seth then begins his campaign to succeed Osiris as king of Egypt.
However, Isis, in the form, of a kite travels up and down the Nile gathering the pieces of her husband’s body. Although they are both gods, Isis’ magic cannot return the bandaged Osiris to life; nevertheless, he enjoys a form of rebirth and eternal life as King of the Underworld and succeeds in impregnating her, which results in the birth of their son, the falcon deity, Horus.
The stage is set for the battle between divine uncle and nephew for the throne of Egypt.
Papyrus Fragment: The Tale of Horus and Seth UC32158. Late Middle Kingdom (1850BC–1700BC). Found at Lahun. Online Catalogue.
The reverse of this torn and damaged sheet of papyrus contains fragments of one of the earliest known examples of the tale of Horus and Seth’s rivalry for the throne of Egypt. A later and more intact version of the tale is to be found on Papyrus Chester Beatty I, dated to the 20th Dynasty reign of Ramses V. This is usually referred to as ‘The Contendings of Horus and Seth’ (Lichtheim, 1976, 214–223) and, helpfully, provides a context for the Petrie fragment.
Horus and Seth, described as youths, have, nonetheless, been quarrelling for 80 years and the matter has now been placed before the divine court of Pre-Harakhti to decide upon the succession. However, he is becoming bored by this endless wrangling and Seth devises an alternative plan:
Then Seth said to Horus: ‘Come, let us have a feast day at my house.’ And Horus said to him: ‘I will, I will.’ Now when evening had come, a bed was prepared for them, and they lay down together. At night, Seth let his member become stiff and he inserted it between the thighs of Horus. And Horus placed his hands between his thighs and caught the semen of Seth.
Lichtheim, 1976, 219
When, the following day, Isis is shown Seth’s semen in Horus’ palm, she cuts off the offending hand and hurls it into the Nile, fashions a new one for her son and has him drop his own semen onto the lettuce growing in Seth’s garden, which Seth unwittingly eats.
On returning to the court, Seth states:
‘Let the office of ruler be given to me, for as regards Horus who stands here, I have done a man’s deed to him.’ Then the [Court] cried out aloud, and they spat out before Horus. And Horus laughed at them; and Horus took an oath by the god, saying: ‘What Seth has said is false. Let the semen of Seth be called, and let us see from where it will answer. Then let mine be called, and let us see from where it will answer.’
Lichtheim, 1976, 220
Of course, Seth’s semen answers from the waters where Isis has thrown Horus’ hand and Horus’ semen, which is in Seth’s stomach, emerges as a golden sun disk from his head, which the god Thoth then places as a crown on the head of Horus, the rightful heir to his father, Osiris’ throne.
The Petrie Museum fragment relates the same sexual encounter but it paints the protagonists as being rather more lustful in nature, including phrases, which have been described (Parkinson, 1995, 70) as the first recorded ‘chat-up’ line:
And then the Person of Seth said to the Person of Horus: ‘How lovely are your buttocks! And how muscular your thighs…’
In the Petrie version it is similarly evident that Seth views the penetrative act as more than the mere dominant behaviour of a conqueror: it will be ‘sweet to his heart’ (Quirke and Collier, 2004) to have carnal knowledge of Horus and the flirtatious nature of Seth’s approach suggests that Horus might also rather enjoy the activity.
Bronze Mount in the form of Seth UC63715. New Kingdom (1550BC–1350BC). Online Catalogue.
Although the regular form of Horus, that of the falcon, is generally well-known, it may be useful to briefly consider the nature and appearance of Seth. This unusual bronze shape shows the aegis of Seth: his head, perhaps that of a mythical creature, with curved snout and erect squared-off ears, atop a pectoral collar and surmounted by the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. Petrie thought this object might be a brand although it has also been suggested as a mount, which would have held coloured inlays of paste or stone. If the former, it raises interesting questions about what was being branded and why.
Seth represents the ‘outsider’, he is the lord of chaos and confusion and as such he is the antithesis of all things the Egyptians believed to be right and proper. As the god of storms, he represents the unfettered forces of nature, including, perhaps, human nature. This primal power is not all bad, however, as he is the only deity with the ability to protect the sun god, Re, from the monstrous serpent Apophis in his nightly journey through the heavens. Furthermore the Ramesside kings adopted Seth as their patron deity.
It is too easy, therefore, to identify Seth as a god of evil with homosexual proclivities. Seth and his proclivities were aspects of the Egyptian psyche and experience, which helped to keep the world of the Egyptians in balance (Velde, 1977).
Pink Limestone Hippopotamus
UC15195 Period: Pre-dynastic 5300–3100 BC
This pink limestone hippopotamus pendant was excavated at Gebelein and dates from Egypt’s Predynastic period, somewhere in the region of 5300BC–3100BC. The hippopotamus was one of the most ferocious creatures to share the Nile valley with the ancient Egyptians. From the earliest periods the animal’s nature earned it not only considerable respect and reverence but an association with Seth.
In the longer version of the ‘Contending of Horus and Seth’ from Papyrus Chester Beatty I, prior to Seth’s invitation, mentioned at ‘Object 2’, above, the two gods transform themselves into hippopotami and wrestle in the Nile, goring at each other with their sharp elongated tusks (Lichtheim, 1976, 218–9).
In Egyptian art, Seth is often depicted in the form of a hippopotamus, usually being speared by Horus or the king in the guise of Horus. This identification is usually thought to be due to the beast’s savagery and unpredictability. However, ongoing researches by the author seem to indicate that in a rare example of symbolic animal behaviour, a dominant male hippopotamus besting a rival will expect the loser to display his submission by yielding to an act of simulated anal intercourse by his rival. The parallels seem obvious with the sexualised, dominant behaviour of Seth and the observation of this behaviour in the wild may have contributed these elements of the tale.
Ostracon containing The Tale of Seth and Anat UC31942. New Kingdom 1550–1350 BC
This pottery ostracon reveals in eight lines of hieratic text, the cursive form of hieroglyphic writing, the tale of Anat and Seth. Anat was a Syrian warrior goddess, accepted into the Egyptian pantheon of deities in the New Kingdom. She has been described as, ‘some sort of Amazon’ (Manniche, 1987, 22), and is often depicted bare-breasted and brandishing weapons. There is a tradition, which this ostracon relates, that Seth attempted to force his attentions on her whilst she bathed, mounting the warrior goddess from behind, as though she were a man. This attempted rape, however, does not go well for Seth.
Interestingly, Anat is also usually depicted wearing the tall plumed Atef crown, more usually associated with Seth’s fratricidal victim, Osiris.
Bibliography
Collier, M. & S. Quirke (eds.), 2004. The UCL Lahun Papyri: Religious, Literary, Medical, Mathematical and Medical, Oxford: Archaeopress.
Lichtheim, M., 1976. Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume II: The New Kingdom, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Manniche, L., 1987. Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, London: Kegan Paul International.
Parkinson, R. B., 1995. ‘Homosexual’ Desire and Middle Kingdom Literature. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 81, 57–76.
Velde, T., 1977. Seth, God of Confusion: A Study in his Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion, Leiden: Brill.
Text © John J. Johnston 2010; Images © Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL
Part 2: The New Kingdom, Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt Next
