Legend of Osiris and Isis
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The legend of Osiris, Isis, Horus and Set is one of the most powerful in Egyptian mythology.
Osiris civilised the previously uncivilised Egyptians, with the assistance of Thoth's invention of writing, law, the arts, and science. Having improved the Egyptians, Osiris travelled to other lands, placing Isis as his regent. Set, Osiris' brother, being jealous, plotted with 72 conspirators, to take over and steal Isis for his wife. Set secretly had a sarcophagus made to his brother's measurements, and then held a party and said that he would give it away to whoever it fitted. A few people tried to fit in, but to no avail, until Set encouraged his brother Osiris to try. As soon as he lay back, the lid was slammed down and sealed shut.
With his assistants, Set carried the sarcophagus to the Nile and threw it in, drowning Osiris. This action came to represent the annual flooding of the Nile. However, Isis and Nephthys, her sister, found the sarcophagus and released Osiris. Incensed, Set next struck more brutally, murdering Osiris and chopping the body into 13 smaller pieces, so that they would not be found.
Isis and Nephthys found the pieces (except his penis, which had been eaten by the Oxyrhynchus fish) and gave wax models of them to the priests to worship. Ra sent Anubis and Thoth to mummify Osiris, and Isis brought life back into his body. Fashioning an artificial penis, Isis had sexual intercourse with the resurrected Osiris (an alternative version has it that she impregnated herself from semen removed from his testicles [1] (http://www.egyptiandreams.co.uk/keywords/osiris/horus%20the%20son%20of%20isis%20and%20osiris.php)), resulting in the birth of Horus. Unfortunately, the magic causing Osiris' resurrection was weak, and Osiris eventually had to return to the underworld, being appointed the king by Ra.
However, Horus who had been brought up in secret in the marshes of the Nile delta, sought revenge, and as soon as he was old enough he and Set met in battle. The fight was long and brutal, with Horus losing one of his eyes and Set losing a testicle. The conflict was finally brought before the other gods, who decided in favour of Horus, giving kingship of the country to him. Set was condemned as the evil one and banished to the outlands (although in other, less frequent versions, the two deities were reconciled and represented the union of Upper and Lower Egypt).
Origin
It is thought that the enmity between Set and Osiris is a reference to rival cults, reflecting the political allegiances during the era of the Hyksos. Meanwhile, aside from the explanation of the flooding of the Nile, it is thought that the remainder of the tale is astronomical in origin, with Set representing darkness, and Osiris the moon, and Set's chopping Osiris into 13 parts trying to explain the existance of the cycle of 13 lunar months per year, each part of Osiris representing one of the full moons, and the number 72 is the number of years involved in the precession of the constellations.
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Influences
Many skeptics of Christianity believe that the story of Osiris rising from the dead may have influenced Christianity and its story of the resurrection of Jesus or of Lazarus/Lazaros (the greek spelling) (which, if identified as a corruption of El-Azar-Os, i.e. a hebrew theophoric prefix and a greek suffix (i.e. graecisising (making greek) the name) is cognate with Osiris, who is Azar in demotic). Such skeptics usually also draw many parallels between Jesus and Horus, alleging they are syncretistic.
External links
- Egyptian Ministry of Tourism about Osiris (http://touregypt.net/osiris.htm)