"The Victory of Horus"
Act I, "The Harpoon Ritual"
Scene 1: The First Strike against Seth

N.B., column numbers in the drawing reflect verse numbers in Fairman's transcription of the text.

Description: At center stage, Horus of Behdet, left (stage center right)) and Horus of Mesen, right (stage center left) are shown sailing two boats on the Sacred Lake of Edfu Temple. Each wears a shendyt-kilt and on his head, a nemes-headdress and the red and white Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. When they are assailed by the god Seth (here a hippopotamus), they lasso his hind legs with ropes and thrust harpoons at him.

The Behdetite, who has pierced the forehead of the hippo, is accompanied by (what is probably) a lion-headed deity named Offerer-who-Apportions-His-Offerings. The Mesenite, who has pierced the snout, is accompanied by a baboon-headed deity named Chief-of-the-Two-Lands. Both deities carry a spare harpoon and butcher's knife for each Horus, and we understand them as assisting the gods in their attacks. During the action, the chorus (not depicted) exhorts the two gods onward. Struck with two harpoons, Seth is wounded but not killed.

Standing on a podium at the left (stage right) is King Ptolemy IX. He wears the so-called Blue Crown, and he watches the action with his arms stretched at his side, and his hands turned palm backward in reverential respect.

Although two boats and two hippos are depicted simultaneously, we are probably to understand that the two gods are attacking a single hippo simultaneously. Or else, first Horus of Behdet attacks Seth from his boat, followed by Horus of Mesen attacking separately.


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