Egypt possessed yet another god of warlike tendencies, SET.
Few gods are so famous as he is, and yet his
origin is entirely unknown to us. Tradition
has introduced him as well as Horus, the
ancient sun god, into the Osiris myth, and has
blurred and confusedboth presentments. Horus
becomes the son, and Set the wicked brother
of Osiris, who is defeated by Horus, but it is
exactly in this apposition of the two gods, that
we find an indication of an earlier character for
Set, t o which we possess other clues. When
we find the two divisions of the country
designated as The two halves of HOTUS and Set,
and when according to an ancient title the
ruler of these two divisions is styled HOTUS and
Set, it appears that we have met with some of
the numerous survivals of that far-distant time
when Egypt was divided into two opposing kingdompr. Probably
Set was then the protector of the kings of Upper Egypt and
F ~ ~ . 25. **,.
(Berlin, 13186.)2 0 A HANDBOOK OF EGYPTIAN RELIGION
Horus of those of Lower Egypt. The animal by which Set is
represented or whose head he wears, was considered in later
times to be a donkey, although at least it could only have been
a caricature of one. Probably it was intended for some animal
with which the Egyptians of historical times were not familiar.

A handbook of Ancient Egyptian Religion (via the-typhonian)