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Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity,
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of
Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain ''Qayīn'', in pausa ''Qāyīn''; gr, Κάϊν ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl / Qāyīn and Abel ''Heḇel'', in pausa ''Hāḇel''; gr, Ἅβελ ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hāb ...
, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, and Eve believed that God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel.


Genesis

According to the Book of Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (according to the Masoretic Text), or 230 years old (according to the Septuagint), "a son in his likeness and image". The genealogy is repeated at . states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. According to Genesis, Seth died at the age of 912 (that is, 14 years before
Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
's birth). (2962 BC)


Jewish tradition

Seth figures in the pseudepigraphical texts of the '' Life of Adam and Eve'' (the ''Apocalypse of Moses''). It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the
Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...
to their deaths. While the surviving versions were composed from the early 3rd to the 5th century, the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin. There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language in the 1st century AD/CE. In the Greek versions, Seth and Eve travel to the doors of the Garden to beg for some oil of the Tree of Mercy (i.e. the Tree of Life). On the way, Seth is attacked and bitten by a wild beast, which goes away when ordered by Seth.
Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
refuses to give them the oil at that time, but promises to give it at the end of time, when all flesh will be raised up, the delights of paradise will be given to the holy people and God will be in their midst. On their return, Adam says to Eve: "What hast thou done? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death." (chapters 5–14) Later, only Seth can witness the taking-up of Adam at his funeral in a divine chariot, which deposits him in the Garden of Eden. Genesis refers to Seth as the ancestor of
Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
and hence the father of all mankind, all other humans having perished in the Great Flood. Seth is seen by Eve as a replacement given by God for Abel, whom Cain had slain. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the Kabbalah. The
Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...
refers to Seth as "ancestor of all the generations of the tzaddikim" (Hebrew: righteous ones). According to Seder Olam Rabbah, based on Jewish reckoning, he was born in 130 AM. According to Aggadah, he had 33 sons and 23 daughters. According to the Seder Olam Rabbah, he died in 1042 AM.


Josephus

In the ''
Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the re ...
'', Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by
global flood A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...
, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing men that a pillar of brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day. William Whiston, a 17/18th-century translator of the ''Antiquities'', stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the pillar in Siriad (being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated, i.e. Egypt). He stated that there was no way for any pillars of Seth to survive the deluge, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edifices far underground in the sediment of its waters. The
perennialist The perennial philosophy ( la, philosophia perennis), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical trut ...
writer Nigel Jackson identifies the land of Siriad in Josephus' account with
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, citing related Mandaean legends regarding the "Oriental Land of Shyr" in connection with the visionary mytho-geography of the prophetic traditions surrounding Seth.


Christianity

The 2nd-century BC Book of Jubilees, regarded as noncanonical except in the Alexandrian Churches, also dates his birth to 130 AM.''The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament'', R.H. Charles, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913
Book of Jubilees
4:7–13. .
According to it, in 231 AM Seth married his sister, Azura, who was four years younger than he was. In the year 235 AM, Azura gave birth to Enos. Seth is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with Adam, Abel, and others, with a
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
on July 26. He is also included in the Genealogy of Jesus, according to Luke 3:23–38. The
Sethians The Sethians were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd and 3rd century CE, along with Valentinianism and Basilideanism. According to John D. Turner, it originated in the 2nd century CE as a fusion of two distinct Hellenistic ...
were a Christian Gnostic sect who may date their existence to before Christianity. Their thinking, although it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians are so called for their veneration of the biblical Seth, who is depicted in their
creation myth A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...
s as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.


Islam

Although the Quran makes no mention of Shēth ibn
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
, he is revered within Islamic tradition as the third and righteous son of Adam and Eve and seen as the gift bestowed on Adam after the death of Abel. The Sunni scholar and historian
ibn Kathir Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
in his '' tarikh'' (book of history), ''Al-Bidāya wa-n-nihāya'' (), records that Seth, a prophet like his father Adam, transfers God's Law to mankind after the death of Adam, and places him among the exalted antediluvian patriarchs of the
Generations of Adam "Generations of Adam" is a genealogical concept recorded in in the Hebrew Bible. It is typically taken as the name of Adam's line of descent going through Seth. Another view equates the generations of Adam with material about a second line of ...
. Some sources say that Seth was the receiver of scriptures. These scriptures are said to be the "first scriptures" mentioned in the Quran 87:18. Medieval historian and exegete
al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
and other scholars say that Seth buried Adam and the secret texts in the tomb of Adam, i.e., the "Cave of Treasures". The Islamic literature holds that Seth was born when Adam was past 100 and that Adam appointed Seth as guide to his people. The 11th-century Syrian historian and translator
Al-Mubashshir ibn Fātik Abu al-Wafa' al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik ( ar, ابو الوفاء المبشّر بن فاتك ) was an Arabs, Arab philosopher and scholar well versed in the mathematical sciences and also wrote on logic and medicine. He was born in Damascus but li ...
recorded the maxims and aphorisms of the ancient philosophers in his book ''Kitāb mukhtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim'' and included a chapter on Seth. Within Islamic tradition Seth holds wisdom of several kinds; knowledge of time, prophecy of the future Great Flood, and inspiration on the methods of night prayer. Islam, Judaism and Christianity trace the genealogy of mankind back to Seth since Abel left no heirs and Cain's heirs, according to tradition, were destroyed by the Great Flood. Many traditional Islamic crafts are traced back to Seth, such as the making of
horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
combs. Seth also plays a role in
Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
, and Ibn Arabi includes a chapter in his ''Bezels of Wisdom'' on Seth, entitled "The Wisdom of Expiration in the Word of Seth". Some traditions locate Seth's tomb in the village of
Al-Nabi Shayth Al-Nabi Shayth ( ar, ٱلنَّبِي شَيْت, An-Nabī Shayt, also ''Nabi Chit'' or ''Nabi Sheeth'' ( ar, ٱلنَّبِي شِيْت, An-Nabī Sheeth), literally "The Prophet Seth"), is a village in the Valley of Beqa' and District of Ba'al ...
( "The Prophet Seth") in the mountains above the
Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...
in Lebanon, where there is a mosque named after him. This tomb was described by the 12th-century geographer Ibn Jubayr. A rival tradition, mentioned by later medieval Arab geographers from the 13th century on, placed the tomb of ''Nabi Shith'' ("Prophet Seth") in the Palestinian village of
Bashshit Bashshayt ( ar, بشيت), also Beshshayt, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located southwest of Ramla about half a mile from wadi Bashshit. Archaeological artifacts from the village attest to habitation in the Early Is ...
, southwest of Ramla village. According to the
Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
, Bashshit means ''Beit Shith'', i.e. "House of Seth".
Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
(PEF), 1838
p. 84
The village was depopulated with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, but the three-domed structure said to be Seth's tomb survives in the Israeli
moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...
Aseret Aseret ( he, עֲשֶׂרֶת) is a community settlement on the coastal plain of south-central Israel. Located near Gedera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gederot Regional Council. It was founded in 1954 on the ruins of the depopulated Pal ...
built on the site. Another tomb in the city of
Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
Afghanistan has been identified as the burial sight of Seth
sheth Sheth (also Seth) is an Indian surname, found in northern India and in Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal. It derives from Sanskrit श्रेष्ठिन् (), meaning "banker/head of a guild". It may also be a variant of the Western Eu ...
Local Muslims in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh in India believe a grave in Hazrat Shees Jinnati Mosque to be of Hazrat Shees or the Prophet Seth.


Mandaeism

According to the Mandaean scriptures, including the
Qolastā The Qolastā, Qulasta, or Qolusta ( myz, ࡒࡅࡋࡀࡎࡕࡀ; mid, Qōlutā, script=Latn) is the canonical prayer book of the Mandaeans, a Gnostic ethnoreligious group from Iraq and Iran. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The p ...
, the Book of John and Genzā Rabbā, Seth is cognate with the angelic soteriological figure Sheetil (also spelled Shitil; myz, ࡔࡉࡕࡉࡋ, translit=Šitil), a son of
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
Kadmaya who taught John the Baptist with his brothers Anush (Enosh) and
Hibil Ziwa In Mandaeism, Hibil ( myz, ࡄࡉࡁࡉࡋ) or Hibil Ziwa ( myz, ࡄࡉࡁࡉࡋ ࡆࡉࡅࡀ) is an uthra (angel or guardian) from the World of Light. Hibil is considered to be the Mandaean equivalent of Abel. Prayers in the Qolasta frequently c ...
(Abel). He is variously spoken of as a son of Adam, a brother or son ote: this is book 10 in some other editions./ref> of Hibil, and the brother or father of Anush. Sheetil is one of the revealers of Mandaeism and a prophet, identified as the biblical Seth.


Yazidism

In Yazidism, Seth is known as
Shehid ibn Jerr Shehîd ibn Jerr ("Witness, son of the Jar"; also Shahîd ibn Jarr) is the name for Seth in Yazidism. Story According to a narrative among Yazidis, Adam and Eve each deposited their seeds into separate jars. While Eve's seed developed into insec ...
. According to Yazidi
oral literature Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used vary ...
, Adam and Eve each deposited their seeds into separate jars. While Eve's seed developed into insects,
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
's seed gave birth to Shehid ibn Jerr, the ancestor of the Yazidis. Yazidis thus believe that they have been created separately and differently from all other human beings (Kreyenbroek 2005: 31).


Family tree


Shrines


Iraq

On July 26, 2014, forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) blew up Nabi Shiyt (Prophet Seth) shrine in Mosul, Iraq. Sami al-Massoudi, the deputy head of the
Shiite Endowment Office The Shiite Endowment Office is an Iraqi administration created by the Iraqi Governing Council after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It was created from the dissolution of the Ministry of Awqaf and religious Affairs in former Baath rule, separa ...
overseeing holy sites, confirmed that destruction. He added, ISIL took some of the artifacts to an unknown location.


Lebanon

There is a village named after him in Lebanon, that is ''
Al-Nabi Shayth Al-Nabi Shayth ( ar, ٱلنَّبِي شَيْت, An-Nabī Shayt, also ''Nabi Chit'' or ''Nabi Sheeth'' ( ar, ٱلنَّبِي شِيْت, An-Nabī Sheeth), literally "The Prophet Seth"), is a village in the Valley of Beqa' and District of Ba'al ...
'' or ''Al-Nabi Sheeth'' (meaning "The Prophet Seth"), which is also considered to contain his shrine.


Israel

The tomb of
Bashshit Bashshayt ( ar, بشيت), also Beshshayt, was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located southwest of Ramla about half a mile from wadi Bashshit. Archaeological artifacts from the village attest to habitation in the Early Is ...
is believed to be the grave of Seth.Conder, 1877, p
93
/ref> The tomb now sits in
Aseret Aseret ( he, עֲשֶׂרֶת) is a community settlement on the coastal plain of south-central Israel. Located near Gedera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gederot Regional Council. It was founded in 1954 on the ruins of the depopulated Pal ...
.


See also

* Set (deity) or Seth, an Egyptian deity *
Seth (disambiguation) Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve in the Bible. Seth may also refer to: * Strong exponential time hypothesis *Seth (given name) *Seth (surname) *Seth (cartoonist) *Seth, Germany *Seth Material, a collection of writings allegedly from "Seth" a ...
*
Suteans The Suteans (Akkadian: ''Sutī’ū'', possibly from Amorite: ''Šetī’u'') were a Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan and Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. Unlike Amorites, they were not governed by a king. They w ...


Notes


References

{{Authority control Bereshit (parashah) Christian saints from the Old Testament Children of Adam and Eve Book of Jubilees Uthras