The Osiris Legend
©
1996-2008 Deurer
All Rights Reserved
. . . . The story of Osiris is one of
Egypts most ancient myths. So old, it's origins have been lost in
time. It was an important story to the Egyptians because of Osiris'
role as the king of Egypt who is resurrected as the "King of the
dead". A king that every Egyptian, from the mightiest pharaoh to the
lowliest peasant, hoped to join in the afterlife. Other important
themes that we find in the story are; the trials of Isis in which she
is idolized as a dutiful wife and protective mother. And the revenge
of Horus the son of Osiris against his evil uncle Seth, which is a
powerful
struggle of good verses evil. In an effort
to avoid confusion you should be aware that there are two forms of
the god Horus in
this story, first we find him as the brother of Osiris, then later we
find him called Harpocrates or Horus the infant son of Osiris.
. . . . It may be worth noting that in
all the vast amount of text that we have from the ancient Egyptians,
we find no complete version of this tale. We find only pieces,
references and additions to it. This version of the story comes to us
from a Greek writer named, Plutarch, who lived in the first century
A.D.
Ideas in the Osiris
myth.
These links are within the legend of
Osiris.
Cast of Deities:
Ra..............King of the gods.
Nut............Sky goddess, mother of Osiris.
Geb............Earth God, father of Osiris.
Thoth..........God of wisdom.
Silene..........Moon goddess.
Osiris..........King of the dead
Horus..........Brother of Osiris.
Seth............Evil brother of Osiris.
Harpocrates...Horus the infant, son of Osiris.
Isis............Sister & wife of Osiris.
Nephthys......Sister of Osiris.
The lord of all the earth is born.
In the beginning,
there was the mighty god Ra and his wife
Nut. Nut was
in love with the god Geb. When Ra found out about this union he was furious. In
his rage, he forbid Nut to have children on any of the 360 days
that currently made up the year. Nut was very sad. She called on
her friend, Thoth, to help her. He knew that Ra's curse must be
fulfilled, but he had an idea. Thoth engaged the moon goddess,
Silene, in a
wager. At the time, Silene's light (the moon) rivaled the light of
Ra (the sun). Thoth was victorious, he was rewarded with one
seventh of Silene's light. This is why the moon now wanes each
month. Thoth took this light and added five days to the calender,
bringing the year from 360 days to 365. This gave Nut 5 days on
which she could have children, while at the same time obeying Ra's
commandment. On the first of these days, Nut gave birth to Osiris.
On the second day Horus was born, Seth on the third, Isis the
fourth, and Nephthys on the fifth day. At the time of Osiris'
birth, a loud voice was heard all over the world, saying, "The
lord of all the earth is born."
Osiris the mighty king.
Osiris grew and
became a mighty king. He went about the job of civilizing his
people. He taught them agriculture and animal husbandry. He gave
them a code of laws to live by and showed them the proper ways in
which to worship the gods. Egypt became a mighty land under his
kind and gentle rule. His subjects gladly worshiped the ground on
which he walked. When Egypt was civilized, Osiris left to bring
his teachings to other lands. While Osiris was away, he left his
wife, Isis, in charge. She ruled
the country in the same fashion. But Osiris had an enemy, his
bitter and jealous brother Seth.
Seth plots against the king.
Seth began scheming
against the great king. He aligned himself with Aso, the queen of
Ethiopia, and 72 other conspirators. But nothing could be done
while Isis ruled the country, Her authority was unquestionable.
Upon Osiris' return, an evil plot was put into motion. Seth
secretly acquired the measurements of Osiris and began having a
wonderfully decorated box built to fit those measurements. When
the box was finished, Seth had a great feast to which he invited
Osiris and the 72 conspirators. Having absolutely no evil in him,
Osiris suspected nothing. When the feasting was done, Seth had the
box brought out. He offered it as a gift to anyone whom the box
fit. One at a time they tried to fit into the box until it was
Osiris' turn. He layed in the box suspecting nothing. The
conspirators slammed the lid, nailed it closed, and poured molten
lead in the seam to seal his fate. They threw the great chest into
the Nile river. Osiris was never seen again, walking in the land
of the living.
Isis grieves for Osiris.
This news reached
Isis and she was grief stricken. She put on her dress of mourning
and set about trying to find the body of her husband. She knew
well, the dead could not rest until they have had a proper
funeral. Isis searched long, but found nothing. She asked every
man and every woman if they had seen the giant box that contained
her husband, but no one had. Finally, Isis asked some children who
were playing by the Nile. They told her where Seth and the
conspirators had thrown the chest into the river. After further
investigation, and consultation with some demons, Isis learns that
the chest had floated out to sea, to the land of Byblos and become
lodged in a tamarisk bush. As if by magic the bush shot up and
became a magnificent tree. The towering tree enclosed the ornate
box within its huge trunk. The king of Byblos admired the great
tree so much that he had it cut down and made into a giant pillar
to support the roof of his palace.
Isis in the land of Byblos.
Meanwhile, Isis
makes her way to the land of Byblos to recover the body of her
husband. In Byblos Isis sits by a fountain and talks to no one,
except the queen of Byblos' maidens. To these maidens she is quite
pleasant, she braids their hair and breaths on them a wonderful
perfume sweeter then the most fragrant flowers. Upon their return
to the palace, the queen asks them, how they came by such
wonderful perfume. They told her of the beautiful stranger they
had met. The queen requested that Isis be brought to the palace
where she was treated most graciously. She was appointed to be the
nurse of one of the young princes.
Isis fed the
young prince by giving him her finger to suck. Each night when the
palace had retired Isis piled logs on a great fire, into which she
would thrust the child. Then she would change into a swallow and
flutter about mournfully chirping for her dead husband. Word of
these strange happenings reached the queen. She could not believe
these tales, so she decided to see for herself. That night, she
hid herself, and sure enough, Isis built a fire and thrust the
child in it. The queen squealed in terror and scrambled to save
the child. Isis turned on the queen and rebuking her sternly,
revealed her true identity. Explaining to the queen that with her
magic she was tempering the child to be a god. But now his
immortality was lost. Isis explained to the queen why she had made
the journey to Byblos and her desire to have the giant pillar in
which her husband was encased. The queen granted her wish.
Isis Returns to Egypt.
The pillar was taken
down, cut open, and the great box was revealed. Isis took the
chest and returned to Egypt but the mighty pillar remained in
Byblos and was worshiped from that day forward. When she arrived,
she opened the box and wept over her dead husband. She was joined
by her sister, Nephthys in her sorrow. The sisters turn into Kites and circle
the chest screeching in mournful tones. But Isis' thoughts soon
turned to her infant son, Harpocrates, Horus the
younger. She had left him in Buto and now had to retrieve him. She
hid the box in a secret place, and went after her son.
Seth's evil revisited.
That night, while
hunting by the light of the moon, Seth stumbled upon the finely
decorated box. He was blinded with rage at the sight of his
brother. He ripped Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered them
throughout Egypt. Isis learns of this new crime, and her grief is
renewed. She once again sets out to find her husbands remains. She
used a boat made out of papyrus reeds to conduct her search. It
was believed that, because of this, a crocodile would never attack
a papyrus boat, fearing that it might contain the mighty goddess.
Where ever she finds a piece of Osiris, she buries it, and builds
a shrine in that place. This is the reason that Osiris has so many
tombs in Egypt.
The revenge of Horus.
