The Myth of Osiris - 1. Chapter 1 - the story in prose

In the beginning, there was the king of Egypt, Ra, and his consort, Nut; Nut however, was in love with the god Geb. When Ra discovered this secret union, he was furious. In his rage, he cursed Nut to never bear Geb any children on any of the three hundred and sixty days and nights that made up the year.

Nut was saddened by Ra’s vengeful curse and so she enlisted the services of her friend, Thoth, the god of wisdom and knowledge, to help her in her quest to have children. Sadly, Thoth knew that Ra's curse must be fulfilled as promised, but he also gave hope to Nut as he had an idea about how to circumvent Ra’s curse.

Thoth challenged the moon god, Khonsu, a well known gambler and a lover of games of chance, to a wager on the game of Senet (Senet is an ancient board game which although the rules are not fully understood since no writings concerning game play survived, it is believed that it was somewhat akin to the modern day game of backgammon). At the time, Khonsu's light of the moon, rivalled the brightness of the light of the sun. Thoth was victorious in his wager and he claimed his prize, which was one-seventh of Khonsu's light (according to Egyptian legend, this is the reason why the moon waxes and wanes each month).

Thoth took this light and created five new days, which he added to the calendar in between the end of one year and the beginning of the next; there by ensuring that they did not comprise “any days of the year” (by adding these five new days, Thoth brought the year from three hundred and sixty days to the modern three hundred and sixty-five days). This gave Nut five days on which she could freely have children, whilst at the same time fulfilling the curse of her husband, Ra.

On the first of these days Nut gave birth to Osiris and a loud voice proclaimed all over the world, “The lord of all the Earth is born”. On the second day Horus was born, then Seth (also known as Set, Setekh and Setesh at varying times) was born on the third day, Isis on the fourth, and finally Nephthys on the fifth day.

As the children grew up Osiris married his sister Isis, and Seth married his sister Nephthys. Ra eventually ascended to the heavens; where he now sails across the sky each day in his sun barge. With Ra gone, Osiris took the throne of Egypt and became a mighty king.

Egypt flourished under his tutelage and he went about the job of civilizing his people. He taught them about farming, animal husbandry, he gave them a code of laws which to live by and he showed them the proper ways in which to pay homage to, and to worship, all of the gods and the goddesses of the heavens. The people of Egypt in turn worshiped the ground on which he walked, and loved him for all he had done for them. Then finally once Egypt was truly civilized, Osiris left to bring his teachings to other lands.

While Osiris was away, he left his wife, Isis, to rule in his name. She ruled the country in the same fashion as her husband had, and as a result her people were fiercely loyal to her and the land continued to flourish. However, through no faults of his own, Osiris had made himself a powerful enemy; his bitter and jealous brother Seth. (In some versions of the story, Osiris incurred the wrath of Seth through misdeeds. In some versions Osiris was cruel to his brother and would often kick him, in other versions Osiris is said to have had sex with Nephthys [Seth’s wife]. Although these aspects of the myth eventually died out, hence why there is no mention of it in Plutarch’s account; most likely because the Egyptian people did not want their love of Osiris to be tainted).

Seth began plotting how he could become ruler of Egypt. His first solo attempt failed, and so he aligned himself with Aso, the wicked queen of Ethiopia, and seventy two other conspirators; who were just as wicked and cruel as Queen Aso. However, nothing could be done though while Isis sat in the throne, since her authority was absolute; they could only wait for the return of Osiris. However, they used this time to their advantage and came up with a plan which they believed could not fail but to lead them to the throne of Egypt.

Upon Osiris’ return to Egypt, Seth set his devious plan into motion. Seth had secretly acquired the measurements of Osiris’ body and had ordered a wonderfully decorated chest built to fit those measurements exactly. As soon as the chest was completed, Seth announced that a great feast would take place at his villa.

He invited his brother Osiris, Queen Aso and his fellow conspirators; Osiris suspecting nothing in this feast, willingly attended. As soon as the feasting was done, Seth had the ornate chest brought out, and all those in attendance said that the chest was wonderful and that they each desired to own it in order to further enhance their own homes; he therefore offered it as a gift to anyone whom the box fit.

One at a time, all of those in attendance tried to fit into the box, but without success. When it was Osiris’ turn, he lay down in the box suspecting nothing; and lo, it was a perfect fit. The conspirators slammed the lid shut, nailed it closed, and then poured molten copper into the seam to seal his fate. They rushed to the banks of the Nile and they hurled the great chest into the river and Osiris was never seen walking in the land of the living ever again.

With Osiris dead and Isis in a distant land, Seth sat on the throne of Egypt, and it was a dark time for Egyptians everywhere. The news of Osiris’ death reached Isis and she was grief stricken. She put on her mourning clothes and set about trying to find the body of her husband. She knew full well that the gods and the goddesses would not allow the deceased to journey to The Land of the Dead, unless they have had a proper funeral according to custom.

Isis searched all over the land of Egypt but found nothing. She asked every man and every woman if they had seen the giant box that contained her husband’s corpse, but no one had. Finally, Isis saw some children who were playing by the Nile and she asked them about the box, and they told her where Seth and the conspirators had thrown the chest into the Nile. However, Isis was now heavily with child, and so she journeyed to Buto on the island of Chemmis in order to give birth to her son; whom she named Horus. Isis then used her great magic to ensure that the evil Seth will never be able to locate the island or her child; the rightful heir to the throne.

After a consultation with some demons, Isis learns that the chest had floated out to sea, to the land of Byblos in Syria, and there it had become lodged in a tamarisk bush. As if by magic the bush shot up and became a magnificent tree, which enclosed the ornate box within its huge trunk. The King of Byblos was so taken with the great tree that he ordered it to be cut down and made into a giant pillar that would adorn his palace.

So, Isis travelled to the land of Byblos to recover the body of her husband. Once she arrives in Byblos, Isis sits by a fountain and there she meets some of the hand maidens of the Queen of Byblos. Isis talks to them, she braids their hair and she breaths on them a wonderful perfume sweeter than even the most fragrant of flowers. Upon their return to the palace, the queen asks how they came by such a wonderful scent, and so the hand maidens tell the queen of the beautiful stranger they had met at the fountain. The queen requested that Isis be brought to the palace so that she can thank Isis for her kindness and generosity toward the hand maidens.

Isis was quickly appointed to be the nurse of one of the young princes. Isis did not suckle the child herself, but instead fed the young prince by giving him her finger to suck on. Each and every night as soon as the palace staff had retired, Isis would build a log fire and she would put the child into the fire. She would then change into a swallow and she would fly about the palace and would sorrowfully chirp for her dead husband.

Word of these strange occurrences reached the queen, but she could not bring herself to believe these tales of Isis, for she had become genuinely fond of Isis; therefore, the queen resolved to see these events for herself. That night, after everybody else had gone to bed, she hid herself just outside the great hall, and sure enough, Isis built a fire and placed the child in it. The queen shrieked in abject terror and scrambled across the room to try and save her child.

Isis then turned on the queen and revealed her true identity. She proceeded to explain to the queen, that with her magic she was in the process of transforming the child into a god, but with the queen’s interference the magic had been broken and 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; the pillar was taken down, cut open, and the great box was revealed. Isis took the chest and returned to Egypt, but the pillar remained in the land of Byblos and was worshiped by all from that day forward.

When she arrived back in Egypt, she opened the box and wept over her dead husband. She was joined in her mourning by her sister, Nephthys. The sisters would transform themselves into kites and they would circle high above the chest, screeching in mournful tones for all the land to hear. But Isis’ thoughts soon turned to her infant son, Horus (the younger). She had left him in Buto while she was searching for her husband’s body, and now she had to retrieve him; as he was now the heir to the throne of Egypt. Isis concealed the box in a secret place to avoid Osiris’ body from being discovered by the evil Seth, and then she went after her son.

That night, whilst out hunting by the light of Khonsu, Seth stumbled upon the finely decorated box. He was enraged at the sight of Osiris’ corpse, and in his fury he ripped Osiris asunder with his bare hands. So great was his fury, that he tore the body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout the lands of Egypt.

Isis’ grief was renewed when she heard about Seth’s latest act of defiling her husband’s body; however, once again she is forced to set forth to find Osiris’ remains in order for him to be buried in accordance with tradition. She travelled the length of the Nile in a boat made from papyrus reeds to conduct her search (according to legend, because of this, a crocodile will never attack a papyrus boat out of fear that the goddess herself is in it), and wherever she found a piece of Osiris’ body, she buried it, and then she erected a shrine in that place in his honour (this is said to be the reason that Osiris has so many tombs, shrines and temples in Egypt).

In the meantime, the boy Horus had grown into an adult, and Osiris had been resurrected as the King of the Dead, and now resided in the underworld. One day, Osiris appeared to his son Horus in the land of the living, and he convinced his son to avenge the wrongs that have been committed by Seth. So, Horus tracked down Seth and a massive battle ensued.

The battle was hard fought and it took many twists and turns, with neither side gaining an advantage for very long. It is said that this battle of Horus verses Seth, of good versus evil, still rages to this day. It is foretold that one day Horus will finally be victorious over the wicked Seth and on that most sacred day, Osiris will return from the underworld to rule over the Earth.