#horua

The section of texts dealing with Horus and Seth working together as a duality is more problematic to isolate as the Predynastic themes have been assimilated into the later Old Kingdom Osiris texts. However, it is possible to discern three separate themes in which Horus and Seth operate as a duality. Although Osiris and the gods from the Heliopolitan Ennead are present, the underlying earlier Predynastic ideas can still be distinguished. The first of the themes deals with the purification of the two gods: in Spells W23 and W24 Horus and Seth are both purified with natron. In the second theme, they work together as a partnership. In Spell W178 Horus and Seth lead the deceased to the Duat, in Spell T7 the doors are opened for Horus and Seth and in Spell T260 they assist each other in dealing with the sriw snake, Horus fells it and Seth cuts it up. In Spell T265 they combine together to fight the siw snake and the deceased becomes the embodiment of Horus and Seth (Allen 2005, 96, note 39). This idea of the deceased representing both Horus and Seth is repeated in Spell W148.