Heru-sa-Aset

(G/R Harseisis) - "Heru, son of Aset" Probably the best-known and most widely worshipped of the Names of Heru, Heru-sa-Aset, the miraculous child of Aset and Wesir, is symbolized directly in the ruler of Kemet - as the caretaker of the legacy of his predecessor (called "Wesir" upon death in honor of the Lord of the Deceased), and as the defender of the weak and the innocent against outside forces (symbolized in Set, Lord of foreign lands, strength and violence). During some periods the rulers were believed to be incarnations or avatars of Heru-sa-Aset, and their wives incarnations of Hethert (Heru's consort at Idfu/Edfu and Ta-Netjer/Dendera), or Aset. Even female rulers of Kemet, such as Hatshepsut and Twosret of the New Kingdom, were referred to as "the (Living) Heru." Heru-sa-Aset is usually depicted as a hawk-headed man wearing the Double Crown and a breastplate over His kilt. Heru-sa-Aset's rise to kingship, embodied in a series of popular tales which are referred to in English as "the Contendings of Heru and Set," probably echoes the process of Kemet's unification undertaken by the early Upper Kemetic Predynastic chiefs, who considered themselves "Shemsu Heru" or "Followers of Horus."