All about history book of myths and legends. ( PDFDrive )

KEY CHARACTERS
The characters in the tragic story of the
murder of Osiris have a number of roles
in other aspects of Egyptian mythology.
After being killed by Set, Osiris became
the ruler of the Underworld, a very
important position in the Egyptian
cosmos, which meant that he was
widely worshipped. Isis was a
very prominent deity too, worshipped
as the goddess of magic and guardian of
the dead. She won great devotion as a
mother goddess, on account of the way
she cared for both Osiris and Horus.
Horus became a sky god who took the
form of a falcon, and his eyes were said
to be the sun and moon. The eye of
Horus, or the Wadjet Eye, became the
most popular of all Egyptian amulets.
Set, on the other hand, was a sinister
figure, a god of chaos and the desert.

THOTH

The ibis-headed Thoth was the god of time,

knowledge, writing, and the moon. His

curving beak resembled the crescent moon,

and his black and white feathers denoted the

moon’s waxing and waning. Certain accounts

of his origin say that he was the son of Ra, the

sun god, and that he either inherited his

wisdom from his father or found it in books

belonging to the sun god. Thoth was said

to have invented a range of intellectual

pursuits, including astronomy, law, music, and –

most relevant in the myth of Osiris and Horus

• medicine. He was also the inventor of the
  Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system, and since
  he was also a god of magic, hieroglyphs were
  said to have magical powers.

THE CULT OF OSIRIS

Osiris was revered by the Egyptians because his myth

gave hope of a life after death. He presided over the

Underworld, and along with other deities, such as

Anubis and Serket, he oversaw a series of

rituals through which the souls of the

dead passed into the afterlife. His cult

originated at Abydos, an important city in ancient

Egypt, where a festival was often held, re-enacting the

story of the god’s murder. The temple at Abydos also

held secret rituals that were not disclosed to those

outside Osiris’s priesthood. By the 1st millennium BCE,

other temples began to celebrate the god’s death and

rebirth, linking them with winter and the spring.

A KING’S MURDER

Temple of Osiris

The sanctuary of Osiris at the temple at Abydos is

decorated with inscriptions and murals illustrating various

scenes from the life story of this ancient Egyptian god.

Writing tools
The Egyptians used reed pens to write with, dipping them into ink and
making marks on papyrus, a material also made from reeds. The shape of
the reed pen was associated with Thoth’s narrow beak.

Serket

Thoth

Osiris

Wearing a crown of ostrich

feathers, Osiris is depicted as

a mummy with the king’s

symbols, the crook and flail.

Set

Set is seen as a mythical

beast with a long, curved

muzzle, a two-tufted head,

and a straight tail.

Isis

Isis wears a throne-shaped

crown, which indicates that

she originally personified the

throne of the pharaohs.

Horus

Horus is often depicted as a

falcon or a humanoid figure

with a falcon’s head, or as

a child in human form.

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