Mythology Book

278

O

siris—son of the earth god

Geb and the sky goddess

Nut—originally ruled as

a king of mortals. It was he who

taught the Egyptians how to

survive, how to make and use tools,

and how to cultivate and harvest

wheat and barley. His sister and

wife, the goddess Isis, taught the

women how to spin and weave, and

how to make bread and beer from

grain. Isis herself was worshipped

throughout Egypt as the goddess

of mothers, fertility, magic, healing,

and funerary rites. Her cult later

spread to Greece and across the

Roman Empire.

Leaving Isis as his regent,

Osiris then traveled around the

world teaching his skills to the rest

of mankind, for which he earned

the title Wennefer, meaning “the

eternally good.” Osiris’s brother

Seth was jealous of his gifts and

acclaim, and was enraged that

Osiris had left Isis, rather than

him, to act as regent.

Seth’s cunning plan

When Osiris returned from his

travels, Seth plotted to kill him,

take his throne, and marry Isis

himself. He invited Osiris to a

great banquet, where he produced

a wonderful casket that was made

of cedar wood and inlaid with

ebony and ivory. Seth promised

to give this chest to whomever fit

exactly into it. His guests all tried

the chest for size, but it fit none of

them. At last Osiris took his turn,

and he fit perfectly—for Seth had

carefully constructed the chest to

Osiris’s precise measurements.

Before Osiris could get out of the

chest, Seth and his 72 accomplices

slammed down the lid and nailed it

shut. They sealed the chest with

molten lead and threw it into the

Nile. The chest—now Osiris’s

coffin—was washed down the river

to the coast and across the sea to

Phoenicia. A tamarisk tree grew up

around it, enclosing the chest in its

trunk, with the dead king inside.

The search for Osiris

The king of the city of Byblos saw

the tamarisk tree and admired its

size. He ordered it to be cut down

for use in his palace. The trunk,

with the chest still concealed in it,

was made into a pillar to support

the palace roof.

Meanwhile, Isis grieved for

Osiris and set out to find him.

After a long search, she arrived

in Byblos and sat weeping by a

spring. When the maidservants of

the queen of Byblos came to the

spring, Isis braided their hair and

gave it a lovely fragrance. The

queen sent for Isis, befriended her,

and made her nursemaid of her

baby. Isis nursed the child by

giving it her finger to suck, and

resolved to make the infant

immortal. At night, she enveloped

the child in flames to burn away

its mortal parts. In the form of a

swallow, she also searched for her

husband. The bird called plaintively

as she flew about the wooden pillar

where the chest was concealed,

knowing that Osiris was nearby.

OSIRIS AND THE UNDERWORLD

The Medjed fish, depicted here in

bronze, was said to have eaten Osiris’s

phallus when his body parts were

scattered. It was sacred to the city of

Per-Medjed, later called Oxyrhynchus.

IN BRIEF

THEME

Death and the afterlife

SOURCES

Book of the Dead, Anonymous,

ca. 1550–50 bce; The Book of

Am-Duat, Anonymous,

ca. 14 25 bce; The Contendings

of Horus and Seth,

Anonymous, ca. 1147–1143 bce;

De Iside et Osiride (“Isis and

Osiris”), Plutarch, lst century.

SETTING

Ancient Egypt, Phoenicia, and

the Underworld.

KEY FIGURES

Osiris Wise ruler and later

king of the Underworld.

Isis Sister and wife of Osiris.

Seth Jealous brother of Osiris.

Ra The sun god.

Nephthys Sister of Isis.

Horus Son of Osiris and Isis.

Anubis Jackal god associated

with mummification.

Isis, when the tidings

reached her, at once cut off

one of her tresses and put

on a garment of mourning.

De Iside et Osiride

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279

Isis and Nephthys are depicted

lamenting over the murdered Osiris.

The scene decorates a gilt coffin from

the Roman period of ancient Egypt,

ca. 1st century bce.

When the queen of Byblos saw her

baby on fire, she screamed in terror

and broke the magic, preventing

the child from becoming immortal.

Isis now revealed her true self and

pleaded with the queen for the

pillar with the chest inside to be

taken down. Isis then removed the

wood that had grown around the

chest containing the body of her

beloved Osiris. Throwing herself

upon his coffin, she uttered such

terrible cries that the queen’s

youngest son died of the shock.

Seth finds the body

Isis put the coffin on a boat and

sailed away across the sea back to

Egypt. When she landed and came

to a quiet spot, she opened up the

coffin and laid her face on the face

of Osiris, weeping. The goddess

then concealed the coffin, with

the corpse inside it, in a thicket

of papyrus reeds. Seth was out

hunting that night and found the

coffin. Wrenching it open, he cut

Osiris’s body into 14 pieces, which

he scattered across Egypt.

Isis and her sister Nepthys,

however, gathered up the parts of

Osiris’s body. Wherever they found

a piece, Isis magically made a

See also: The creation and the first gods 266–71 ■ The night barque of Ra 272–73 ■ Ra’s secret name 274–75

ANCIENT EGYPT AND AFRICA

Abydos

The cult center of Osiris was at

Abydos, in Upper Egypt, about

6 miles (10 km) from the Nile River.

Here, for more than 2,000 years,

the mysteries of the god were

celebrated annually in the last

month of the flooding, as the

waters receded. Although little

is known about the rituals of the

temple, their objective was to

ensure eternal life for the souls

of the dead when they entered

the Underworld, where Osiris

reigned. In a public ceremony,

priests would also carry an image

of the god from the temple to a

tomb believed to be the god’s,

attended by a great procession

of Osiris’s worshippers.

At the same time, a public

festival would reenact the story

of Osiris’s murder, the grief of

Isis and Nepthys, the trial of

Seth, and the battle between

the supporters of Seth and

Osiris. At the end of the drama,

the actor playing Osiris would

reappear in triumph in the

sacred barque, and the djed-

pillar, a stylized sheaf of corn

which symbolized his rebirth,

would be erected.

Colorful stone reliefs dating from

the 12th-century bce adorn the walls

of the impressive temple to Osiris at

Abydos, Egypt.

wax model of it and left the model

in the care of local priests, thereby

establishing shrines to Osiris

across the whole of Egypt.

When the sisters had gathered

together the god’s dismembered

body, they sat beside it and wept.

Ra, the sun god, took pity on them,

and sent the jackal god, Anubis, ❯❯

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