The Sethites and the Red Hippo

 

Seth as a hippo. 

This figurine was found at Nekhen, the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

At Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship, archaeologists found hippos buried in the elite cemeteries (Nekhen News, Vol. 25, 2013, p. 20). They also found numerous carved and sculpted figurines of hippos, some with red coloration. They concluded that hippo imagery is "linked to local elites" (Nekhen News Vol. 27, 2015, pp. 8-9). Cain's brother Seth/Seti is often shown in ancient images as a red hippo. The hippo figurines likely indicate that there were Sethite Hebrew at Nekhen as well as Horite Hebrew.

That Sethites were living among the Horites of Nekhen is not surprising given that these two groups represent a moiety structure of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. The term "moiety" refers to one people organized into two ritual groups. Analysis of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the lines of Cain and Seth indicate that their descendants intermarried (endogamy). This diagram shows the pattern of cousin marriage in which the cousin bride names her first-born son after her father.

The Adam of Genesis is the father of three sons: Cain/Kain, Abel, and Seth. Seth is said to be in the image of his father Adam (Gen. 5:1). This likely means that he had a red skin tone. The word “Adam” refers to blood ("dam" in Hebrew, "dammu" in Ancient Akkadian) and the color red. Adam is derived from the root אדם (A.D.M), meaning "to be red or ruddy" (Strong’s #119).

The rulers listed in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36 practiced endogamy and certain genetic traits were inherited by their descendants. Apparently, a red skin tone was one of those traits. Seth is a founder of the Sethite Hebrew who are mentioned in texts from 2400 BC. This means that the historical Adam probably lived between c.4600-4000 B.C.

Seth is often portrayed in ancient images as a red hippo. Seth’s homeland is the land of Seti, at the northern edge of the Upper Nile. This region is sometimes referred to as the land of red earth. The connection between "adam" and "adamah" (soil) is evident in Genesis 2:7 which states that "the adam" (human) was formed out of the "adamah". The region of the Nile under consideration has a cambic B horizon. Chromic cambisols have a strong red brown color. Before Egypt and Sudan became political entities, the homeland of Seth included part of the Green Sahara, an area prone to flooding. Later, the Egyptians referred to that region as Deshret (dshrt) or the "Red Land". Today deserts comprise most of Egypt and Sudan, but that was not the case in Adam’s time.

The autochthonous origin of humans is a common theme in the creation stories of Africa. It speaks of humans being made from the soil (humus) of the region where their first parents were created. It is an explanation for why people look different. The genetic diversity of humans was explained by a connection between the people and the land where they resided. There are as many skin tones among humans as there are soil colors.

The autochthonous origin of humans is expressed in the Shilluk creation story. The Shilluk of Sudan call the Creator Jouk. Jouk made white people out of white sand and the Shilluk out of black soil. When the Creator came to Egypt, he made the people there out of the red silt of the Nile.

The rulers listed in Genesis 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36 practiced endogamy and certain genetic traits were inherited by their descendants. Apparently, a red skin tone was one of those traits.

The Geographical Range of the Sethites

The Sethites ranged from the Upper Nile Valley (Nubia) to the land of Canaan. The ancient Egyptians referred to a man of the Nubian Desert as An-ti Set. They called the dwellers in the Eastern Desert of Egypt An-tiu Sett, according to the archaeologist E. A. Wallis Budge. Budge claims in his Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary (1920) that the An-tiu Sett lived as far north as the land of Canaan. This is not surprising because Seth’s descendants living in Canaan would have intermarried with Cain’s descendants living in Canaan.

Eve’s son Cain left his homeland and settled “east of Eden” (Gen. 4:16-26), probably on the east side of the Red Sea. That would be the land of Canaan where Cain’s metal-working descendants lived. They are known as the “Kenites.” The names Cain, Canaan, Kenan, and Kenite are linguistically equivalent.

One of Cain’s daughters married her cousin Enosh and named their firstborn son Kenan, after her father. This is an example of the cousin bride’s naming prerogative, a feature of the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the early Hebrew.

Related reading: Hierakonpolis Hippo Round Up; Adam Was a Red Man; Edom and the Horites; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Hippopotami in Ancient Egypt; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 5; Seth the Divine Trickster