Obverse. Image Courtesy of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS.com)
  • 50 Pounds 1994, KM# 782, Egypt, Pharaonic Treasure / Ancient Egyptian Art, God Set
  • 50 Pounds 1994, KM# 782, Egypt, Pharaonic Treasure / Ancient Egyptian Art, God Set
Description

Set is a god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion.   Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on his barque to repel Apep, the serpent of Chaos.  Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant.  He was lord of the Red Land, where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the Black Land.

In the Osiris myth, the most important Egyptian myth, Set is portrayed as the usurper who killed and mutilated his own brother, Osiris. Osiris's sister-wife, Isis, reassembled his corpse and resurrected her dead brother-husband with the help of the goddess Nephthys. The resurrection lasted long enough to conceive his son and heir, Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set and many of the ancient Egyptian myths describe their conflicts.

Obverse

Depicts standing god Set.

In art, Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal, a beast not identified with any known animal, although it could be seen as a resembling an aardvark, an African wild dog, a donkey, a hyena, a jackal, a pig, an antelope, a giraffe, an okapi, a saluki, or a fennec fox. The animal has a downward curving snout; long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; and a slender canine body. Sometimes, Set is depicted as a human with the distinctive head. Some early Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped "horns" which correspond to a giraffe's ossicones. The Egyptians themselves, however used distinct depictions for the giraffe and the Set animal. During the Late Period, Set is depicted as a donkey or as a man wearing a donkey's-head mask.

Reverse

Stylized state name (Arab Republic of Egypt) divides denomination in Arabic and English and abbreviation of state name (A.R.E.) below, the date in Arabic (Hijri) and Western (Georgian) divides by a vulture with open wings. Engraver's initials (ECC) below.

In Ancient Egypt, the vulture hieroglyph was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (/ɑː/). The bird was held sacred to Isis in ancient Egyptian religion. The use of the vulture as a symbol of royalty in Egyptian culture and their protection by Pharaonic law made the species common on the streets of Egypt and gave rise to the name "pharaoh's chicken".

50 ٥٠ جمهورية مصر العربية
LE جـ
A.R.E.
1415 1994 ECC ١٤١٥ ١٩٩٤

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Gold
Fineness 0.900
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 24 mm
Thickness -
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Mexican Mint (Mo)

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