The story of Osiris is one of the more interesting ones in Egyptian mythology (at least to me). Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Two of the first Egyptian deities - Nut, goddess of the sky, and Geb, god of the earth - once had four children. These heavenly kids were Nepthys, Isis, Set, and Osiris. Once they had grown up, Osiris wound up being put in charge of the kingdom.
(As a note: before Osiris took the throne, the kids had split up into couples. Nepthys and Set had married, as had Isis and Osiris. Siblings getting married is actually pretty common in mythology - take a look at the Greek myths!)
Unfortunately, Osiris' rule was not to last. His brother Set became incredibly jealous at the power given to Osiris...power which he thought should belong to him. Set was quite cunning, and developed a plan to fool his brother. After much shenanigans and conniving he tricked Osiris into laying down in a box. Set then closed the box on his unsuspecting brother, nailed it shut, and sealed the edges with lead. Osiris, and his prison, were then thrown into the Nile River.
Ahhh, sibling quarrels. Always so much fun!
When she realized that something had happened to her husband, Isis immediately set out to look for him.
(By some accounts their sister Nepthys helped her search. Of course, by some accounts Set murdered Osiris for sleeping with Nepthys, so...) Eventually the box containing Osiris was found at the bottom of the river. Isis pried off the lid and was heartbroken to find her husband dead within.
Now, we'll talk a little more about Isis and her abilities in a post specifically about her, but it is important to know that Isis is the goddess of magic. When she discovered that Osiris was dead, instead of giving up she decided "There's a spell for that!"
Are you ready for the story to get really creepy? Tell me, how do you guys feel about necrophilia?
While taking Osiris' body back to Egypt for burial, Isis conceived a child - Horus. Now, according to some stories she used a magical scroll to raise Osiris from the dead for one night. According to others...let's just leave it at "the child was conceived through magic" and move away from the creepiness, shall we?
At any rate, Osiris' body was returned to Egypt, but Isis had to go into hiding to prevent Set from killing her unborn son. During the time she was hiding Set found Osiris' body and, in a rage, tore it into fourteen pieces. These pieces were scattered by the angry Set throughout all of Egypt.
(This, for the record, is Set. No one is entirely sure what animal Set's head is supposed to be based on. There have been actual debates about it.)
Poor pregnant Isis once again landed the task of finding her husband's body - albeit in 14 different locations this time. She managed to track down all of the pieces...save for one, a rather crucial part of male anatomy. That particular appendage had been eaten by a fish, and Isis was not able to recover it. Instead she reassembled her husband's body and had a golden phallus made in place of Osiris' missing flesh one.
Then Isis truly showed her mastery of magic. She used her abilities to resurrect Osiris, though perhaps not in the way most people would think. Osiris was returned to the realm of the living after a fashion, but was consigned to spend the rest of his new life in the Netherworld, the Egyptian afterlife. Because of this Osiris effectively became king of the Underworld. Unfortunately, that left him unable to reclaim his throne from Set, setting up (see what I did there?) a future conflict between Set and the rightful heir to the throne....Osiris' son, Horus.
(Yay, family photo time! Mostly because I think baby Horus is just too adorable.)
We'll get to that story in a future post.
What I find most interesting about Osiris' story is the connection it has to the Egyptian practice of mummification and the journey to the afterlife. Just about every detail in the tale of Osiris' resurrection has important ties to the process of mummification. All parts of the body are to be assembled in a certain way. Certain rituals (which are performed by Isis in the myth) must be performed. If all is done properly, the spirit of the deceased will journey to the afterlife, just as the god Osiris did.
How interesting is it to have a god who actually died, and then returned to rule? It's a motif not seen too often in mythology. Hades, in the Greek myths, was a living being who nonetheless ruled over the dead. Ereshkigal in Mesopotamia was also living. Izanami, the Japanese goddess of death, died before begin given that title...but her death changed her and made her into a terrifying being. Egyptian mythology is one of the only places where I have seen a god die, return, and reign without his nature changing - though it does have some interesting parallels to Christianity.
What did you guys think of Osiris?
I'll be back next week to tell the story of Isis and the birth of Horus, continuing the dramatic tale of this family's conflict. See you then!
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