In Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, tales circulated in Demotic, the latest cursive script, whose hero was a prince-priest passionate about ancient books and magical spells: Setna Khaemwaset. His adventures are among the liveliest pages of Egyptian literature and show us how the Egyptians themselves imagined magic, its dangers and its limits.
The historical figure
Setna is not an invention. Behind him stands Khaemwaset, one of the sons of Ramesses II, who lived in the thirteenth century BC. He was high priest of Ptah at Memphis and took charge of restoring monuments that were already ancient in his day, such as Old Kingdom pyramids and temples, having inscriptions carved on them to record his work. Because of this interest he has sometimes been called, with a little licence, "the first Egyptologist".
A thousand years later, his fame as a sage had turned into legend. The priestly title setem or sem became part of his name, and the restoring prince became a magician in search of forbidden books.
The first tale: the Book of Thoth
The tomb of Naneferkaptah
The first cycle, known from a papyrus kept in Cairo, tells how Setna learned of a book written by Thoth himself. Whoever read it could enchant the sky, the earth, the underworld, the mountains and the waters, understand the speech of birds and fish, and see the sun and the gods. The book lay in the tomb of an ancient prince, Naneferkaptah, in the necropolis of Memphis.
Setna enters the tomb and finds there the spirits of Naneferkaptah, his wife Ahwere and their son Merib. The wife tells him their story.
The book in the boxes
Naneferkaptah had learned that the book was kept at the bottom of the river near Coptos, enclosed in a series of boxes one inside another:
| Level | Material of the box |
|---|---|
| 1 | Iron |
| 2 | Copper |
| 3 | Juniper wood |
| 4 | Ivory and ebony |
| 5 | Silver |
| 6 | Gold, with the book inside |
Snakes and scorpions coiled around the boxes, and an undying serpent guarded them. Naneferkaptah overcame every obstacle by magic and seized the book. But Thoth complained to Ra, and the gods punished the thief: his wife and son drowned in the river, and in the end so did he.
Tabubu and the return
Setna is not deterred and carries off the book. Soon afterwards he meets a beautiful woman, Tabubu, who seduces him and demands ever graver sacrifices, until he gives up his property and his children. At the climax of the episode Setna finds himself naked in the street and discovers that it had all been an illusion. Understanding the warning, he returns the book to the tomb and undertakes to reunite the bodies of Naneferkaptah's family.
The second tale: Si-Osire
Another papyrus, now in the British Museum, tells of Si-Osire, Setna's prodigious son. The boy leads his father on a visit to the underworld, where he shows the opposite fates of a rich man honoured with a lavish funeral and a poor man buried without ceremony: in the afterlife the righteous poor man sits beside Osiris, while the unjust rich man is punished. It is a moral lesson on deeds prevailing over appearances.
Later Si-Osire confronts a Nubian magician who has come to challenge the pharaoh with a sealed letter to be read without opening it. The story unfolds into a duel of spells between Egyptian and Nubian magicians. At the end it is revealed that Si-Osire was the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian magician, returned to defend the land.
What these tales reveal
- Magic is associated with books: the greatest power lies in a text written by a god.
- Knowledge has a price: whoever takes it without right is punished.
- There is a hierarchy of knowledge: the god Thoth is the true owner of wisdom.
- Magic can be a duel between specialists, as in the older tales of the Westcar papyrus.
A lasting legacy
The tales of Setna bear witness to the image late Egypt had of itself: a land of sages guarding ancient and dangerous books. This image passed to the Greeks and, through them, to the Hermetic traditions. At Studio Esoterico Cornelio these texts are read as an ancient reflection on the relationship between knowledge and responsibility: not every book should be opened, and not every wisdom should be taken by force.
In short
- Setna Khaemwaset is the legendary form of Khaemwaset, son of Ramesses II and priest of Ptah.
- In the first tale he seeks the Book of Thoth in the tomb of Naneferkaptah at Memphis.
- The book was kept in six nested boxes at the bottom of the river near Coptos.
- The Tabubu episode leads him to return the stolen book.
- In the second tale his son Si-Osire visits the afterlife and defeats a Nubian magician.
