The Osiris Myth

The Reign of Osiris

In the age when gods still walked the black earth of Kemet, Osiris ruled as the first great king. He was the son of Geb the earth and Nut the sky, and he brought civilization to the people who had lived like beasts. He taught them the cultivation of grain and the pressing of grapes, gave them laws and customs, and showed them the proper rites for honoring the gods. Under his reign the land flourished, the Nile rose in its season, and Egypt knew a golden peace that would never be equaled.

Set's Treachery

But Set, his brother, burned with jealousy. Where Osiris brought order, Set craved chaos. Where Osiris was loved, Set was feared. He conspired in secret, taking the measure of his brother's body and commissioning a magnificent chest of cedar and ebony, inlaid with gold and lapis lazuli. At a great feast, Set presented the chest and declared that whoever fit inside it perfectly would receive it as a gift. One by one the guests tried, and one by one they failed. When Osiris lay down inside, the fit was exact.

The Coffin

Set's conspirators rushed forward. They slammed the lid shut, sealed it with molten lead, and hurled the chest into the Nile. The river carried it north to the Mediterranean, and the currents bore it across the sea to the coast of Byblos, where a great tamarisk tree grew around it, encasing the coffin within its trunk. The king of Byblos, marveling at the tree's beauty, had it cut down and made into a pillar for his palace, never knowing what lay within.

Isis's Search

Isis, wife and sister of Osiris, would not accept his death. She wandered the length of Egypt, weeping and searching, asking every person she met whether they had seen the chest. She cut her hair and tore her garments in mourning. At last she learned of the great tree in Byblos and traveled there disguised as a nursemaid. She revealed herself to the queen, claimed the pillar, and drew forth the coffin of her husband. She carried it back to the marshes of the Delta and hid it among the reeds.

"I am Isis. I am she who goes forth in the storm, and I will not rest until I have found that which is lost."

The Resurrection

But Set, hunting by moonlight in the marshes, discovered the coffin. In his fury he tore the body of Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered them across all of Egypt. Isis, undaunted, set out once more. With her sister Nephthys at her side, she searched every nome of the land. Piece by piece she recovered the body, and at each site where a fragment was found, a shrine was erected. When the body was reassembled, Anubis, the jackal-headed god, performed the first embalming, wrapping the body in linen and reciting the spells that would preserve it for eternity. Isis, in the form of a kite, hovered over the body of Osiris, and through her magic, breathed life into him long enough to conceive a child.

Birth of Horus

Osiris descended to the Duat, the underworld, where he became lord and judge of the dead, presiding over the weighing of hearts in the Hall of Two Truths. In the marshes of Khemmis, hidden from Set's wrath, Isis gave birth to Horus, the falcon-headed god who would grow to manhood with a single purpose: to avenge his father and reclaim the throne of Egypt. The child was raised in secrecy, protected by scorpions and serpents, nursed on his mother's magic and his father's legacy.