"The Victory of Horus"
Act III, "The Celebration of the Victory"
Scene 1: The First Dismemberment of Seth

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

Scene 1: 'The First Dismemberment of Seth'

Description: This scene takes place entirely on land. At first, Horus stands on the large bound-up carcass of the hippopotamus, and he pierces the head with a harpoon.

His mother, Isis, calls him down from the hippo, and she instructs him in the butchering and distribution of the meat. As she speaks, he dismembers the hippo with a knife (not depicted) and distributes the pieces to different cities in Egypt. There they will be consumed by the gods of those towns. In the wall-relief of the scene, these gods (with their individual offering tables before them) are depicted standing before Horus and witnessing the butchering activity. Each deity carries a long scepter in one hand and an ankh, the symbol of their divine life in the other hand.

According to Isis' words, Horus consigns the foreleg to Busiris for his father, Osiris-Wenennefer; the ribs to Iyet for Haroeris; the shank to Thinis (Abydos) for his father, Onuris; the shoulder to Yebet for his brother, Wepwawet; the breast to Assiut for the goddess Tefnut; the thigh to his brother, Khnum-Haroeris; the large portion of meat to Khnum of Elephantine; the rump to Nephthys (Isis' sister); and a piece of the forepart to Isis herself.

The remainder of the hippo is distributed to the following (who are not depicted): the bones to the cats; the suet to the Young Harpooners; the rest of the forepart to the children of the Young Harpooners; and the choicest meat of the legs to Horus' own followers and devotees.


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