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Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. 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 refers to Seth as the ancestor of Noah and hence the father of all mankind, all other humans having perished in the Great Flood. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the Kabbalah. The Zohar refers to Seth as "ancestor of all the generations of the Egyptians or Tsetsaudim" (Hebrew: tzaddikim).Zohar 1:36b According to Seder Olam Rabbah, based on Jewish reckoning, he was born in 2130 BC Anno Mundi. According to Aggadah, he had 2 sons and many wives. According to the Seder Olam Rabbah, he died in 1042 AM.
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 flood myth, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edifices far underground in the sediment of its waters. The perennialist writer Nigel Jackson identifies the land of Siriad in Josephus' account with Ancient Syria, citing related Mandaeism legends regarding the "Oriental Land of Shyr" in connection with the visionary mytho-geography of the prophetic traditions surrounding Seth."On the Prophethood of Seth in the Abrahamic Traditions", Sacred Web volume 25, Summer 2010
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 on July 26. He is also included in the Genealogy of Jesus, according to Luke 3:23–38.
The Sethians were a Christian Gnostic sect who may date their existence to before Christianity.Turner Sethian Gnosticism: Their thinking, although predominantly Judaism in foundation, was arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians were named for their veneration of Seth, depicted in their as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.
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 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.Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, Vol. I: Creation to the Flood Many traditional Islamic Sacred Art in the East and West, Titus Burckhardt, Suhail Academy Publishing, 1967, pg. 151: "Thus it is that the craft traditions, such as persisted in Islamic countries to the very threshold of our times, are generally said to have come down from certain pre-Islamic prophets, particularly from Seth, the third son of Adam." are traced back to Seth, such as the making of horn combs. Islam and The Destiny of Man, Gai Eaton, Islamic Texts Society, 1994, pgs. 211–212: (on the traditional making of horn combs) "This craft can be traced back from apprentice to master until one reaches... Seth... It was he who first taught men and what a prophet brings – and Seth was a prophet – must clearly have a special purpose, both outwardly and inwardly". Seth also plays a role in Sufism, 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 ( "The Prophet Seth") in the mountains above the Beqaa Valley 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, southwest of Ramla village. According to the Palestine Exploration Fund, Bashshit means Beit Shith, i.e. "House of Seth".Palestine Exploration Fund (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 Aseret built on the site. Another tomb in the city of Balkh, Afghanistan has been identified as the burial site of Seth.
Local Muslims in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh in India believe a grave in Hazrat Shees Jinnati Mosque to be the maqam of Hazrat Shees or the Prophet Seth. This belief is mentioned in a 16th-century Mughal Empire document Ain-i-Akbari and is also mentioned in the work India of Aurangzeb of Jadunath Sarkar.
According to Yazidism oral literature, Adam and Eve each deposited their seeds into separate jars. While Eve's seed developed into insects, Adam'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).
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