1. Ibrahim al Koni, The Seven Veils of Seth (2003)
1– Seth, God of thunder, violence,

2. Overview Religion and Mythology
Ibrahim al Koni, The Seven Veils of Seth
The homeland, the nation, individual space
Ibrahim Aslan, The Heron
Elias Khoury, City Gates
Abdel Rahman Munif, Endings
Hanna Mina, Fragments of Memory

3. Seth (Set)

4. Ancient Egypt Set: Protector of Lower Egypt
Horus: Protector of Upper Egypt
Unification under King Narmer in 3150BC resulted in vilification of Set who was depicted as the evil enemy of Horus

7. Genealogy Isis (♀), Osiris (♂), Nephtys(♀), Seth (♂) (siblings)
Isis + Osiris = Horus
Nephtys + Osiris = Anubis
Seth had no children (Osiris was ridiculously fertile!)
Seth commits fratricide
A counsel of the Gods is called; King Re, God Thoth at its head
Isis uses cunning strategies (twice)

8. The Contendings of Horus and Seth
Chester Beatty Papyrus no.1 (Hieroglyphic text)
the pattern of inheritance for Kingship in Ancient Egypt: father to son
Divine kingship: triad of Osiris (dead King), Horus (living King on earth), Isis (King’s mother)

9. Seth: Chtonic God

10. Seth Associated with the fringes of civilised life
“stranger-god par excellence” (Langdon and Gardiner)
Plutarch: “The power of Typhon [Seth] resists the deeds which proceed in good order and pursue a worthy end” (De Iside et Osiride)

11. Cultural / geographic context
Kal-Tamashaq
Territories has been claimed by various colonial powers over the centuries
Native language is Tamajaq, not Arabic
Religion: Suni Muslims with beliefs from African and pagan traditions
They prefer to be called Imashaghen: Free People
“Tuareg” was given to them by Leo the African

14. Tuareg men wear veils

16. Afrique Occidentale, Postcard From 1092

19. Touareg
Touareg wedding
Podcast by Thomas Seligman

20. The Seven Veils of Seth (2003)
Anubis: A Desert Novel (2002)
Intertextual references
Allusion
Intertextuality
Tuareg folklore
Ancient Egyptian mythology
Christianity
Russian Literature
Medieval European thought

21. Tuareg’s system of beliefs
Drawn from Islam (Shari’ah)
Affected by ancient Egyptian myths and pagan ritulas
Reliant on the Tuareg’s code of Law: the Naamuus

22. Source texts The Contendings of Horus and Seth (handout on website)
Cave Paintings

28. Source texts
Goddess Tanit
(handout on website)

29. Tofet of Tanit in Carthage

30. Tofet in the children’s necropolis, Byblos, Lebanon

31. Sign of Tanit

32. Tomb with Tanit Symbol

33. Source text
Young Ramses the Great
Ozymandias

34. “Ozymandias” Percy Shelley (1818)
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. (on website)

36. Source texts The Jinn Depictions of Heaven (on module website)
Surat Al Jinn (on module website)
Angels = Overworld
Human = World
Jinn = Underworld
Depictions of Heaven (on module website)
From Genesis
From the Haddith
From Ancient Egyptian mythology
From Judaism

37. CLOSE READING Handout online P21-23 Chapter 4: Longing
P45-52 Chapter 2: Elelli
P59-61 Chapter 1: The Burden
P75-78 Chapter 5: Deliverance
P Part III, Section 2

38. Questions
Think of the animals that are associated with Isan and the effect that
they have on people
What role does water play in this narrative?
What role does laughter play in this text?
Consider the role of the supernatural in this text
Pick out moments of the carnivalesque and analyse their significance
Identify instances depicting the concrete and the symbolic meaning of
the desert
What are the Seven Veils of Seth?

39. My desert is the metaphorical desert, the desert as synonym for the entirety of human existence. By which I mean that human existence is in every particular a desert as long as it remains a meaningless talisman. But on the day upon which this secular world takes on significance, on the day upon which the world bears down to tell us of its truth—on that day, and not before, shall we witness the separation of the world from the world-as-desert. And on that day, and not before, will I allow myself to rest from speaking about the desert in its function as symbol of existential alienation, what is known in religious discourse as “sin”. That is why it is obscurantist to see any connection between writing about the desert and living in the desert.