Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [39]
Before Geb and Nut were separated, they produced children, and the Egyptian Creation continued as the four most important children of Geb and Nut were born: Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Osiris, their eldest child, became one of the most significant gods in the Egyptian pantheon. He was widely worshipped in popular religion as a god of fertility, death, and resurrection. Originally a god of vegetation, Osiris was credited with bringing plants and seasons to the earth, teaching humans to farm, and creating civilization. He abolished cannibalism, taught men to use tools, and showed them how to make wine and bread. He also ruled on earth and became the first pharaoh, instituting both religion and the legal system. Most significant, he later became the judge of the dead, a crucial role in a society so concerned with the afterlife. (See Isis-Osiris below.)
Geb and Nut’s second child was Isis, who was both the twin sister and wife of Osiris, and another of the most significant figures in Egyptian myth. In some versions of the myth, her story begins in the womb, where she first makes love to Osiris, her brother and husband. Credited with creating the Nile River with the tears she wept at the death of Osiris, she taught the Egyptians how to grind flour, spin, and weave and was a healer goddess who could cure illnesses. Isis was also credited with introducing marriage.
One of the most widely worshipped figures in all mythology, Isis became the focal point of a religious cult that survived for thousands of years and was passed on to other civilizations, including Greece and Rome. She was known as the Great Mother, devoted wife and a powerful source of magic, and Isis worship continued to flourish down to Christian times. When the Christianized Roman Emperor Theodosius I officially banned Isis worship in 378 CE, her temples were destroyed, often replaced by Christian churches.
The third child of Geb and Nut was the evil Seth (also Set), the brother and enemy of Osiris. A storm god who may have originated as a desert deity, he was sometimes regarded as the incarnation of evil, and the force of disturbances and discord in the world. An ill-tempered god, Seth personified rage, anger, and violence.
But Seth also played a positive role in the sun-god ritual. As a powerful deity, he was charged with protecting and defending the sun god during his nightly journey through the underworld. During the night, the sun god’s boat, or barque, was attacked by Apep (or Apophis), the serpent of chaos, sometimes also depicted as a crocodile. In an interesting parallel to the biblical serpent, Apep is called the “great Rebel” and “evil One.” Possibly based upon the deadly African python and then merged with the crocodile—two of the Nile’s most fearsome and deadly creatures—Apep may be one of the oldest versions of the dragon. Seth is often shown as the one who spears Apep, the lord of darkness, when he attacks the barque each night in its travels through the Duat.
But Seth’s most important role lies in the story of his hatred for his favorite brother. The profound jealousy resulting in blood feuds between brothers—sibling rivalry played out on a cosmic scale—is a common theme in mythical and biblical stories. Just as Cain was jealous of Abel and killed him, and Isaac cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance in Genesis, Seth resented his brother’s success and great stature. There is a suggestion that this mythical rivalry may have been a symbolic account of the political rivalry between two regions of Egypt. As a desert god of the “Red Land,” Seth was viewed as the force of destruction and chaos that threatened vegetation, and their conflict, played out in the saga of Isis