Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [42]
Mourning the loss of her beloved husband-brother, Isis was inconsolable, and her endless stream of tears was said to cause the flooding of the Nile. She began to search for Osiris, accompanied by the jackal-headed Anubis, the son of Osiris and his other sister, Nephthys. Hearing about the tree and its wonderful fragrance, Isis realized its significance. She retrieved the box and hid it in the swampy Nile Delta. When Isis finally opened the lid, she turned into a bird—either a sparrow or a hawk, depending on the version—and the flapping of her wings forced the breath back into Osiris’s lifeless body. Her beloved husband was alive briefly, just long enough for them to make love before Osiris died once again. Isis became pregnant and the child she conceived was Horus, the falcon-headed sky god. The dead Osiris was returned to his tomb, which Isis guarded.
After killing his brother, Seth had become pharaoh of Egypt. Learning that Osiris was lying in a tomb, Seth was unsatisfied. He discovered the box containing Osiris in the tomb, and, in a rage, cut Osiris’s remains into fourteen pieces, scattering the parts all over Egypt. In the myth, however, the distraught Isis searched for all the pieces with the assistance of her mother, Nut, the sky goddess, and the jackal-headed Anubis.
Although Isis was able to gather up almost all the pieces, she could not find Osiris’s phallus, which had been swallowed by three kinds of fish. (Eating these varieties of fish was considered taboo by some Egyptians.) In one version of this myth, Isis buried these thirteen parts of Osiris where she found them, and each of these became the site of a major Osiris temple. Temples to Osiris throughout Egypt staked a claim to being the burial site of these remnants of Osiris. They attracted devoted worshippers, just as certain Christian churches that claim to possess “relics,” such as a piece of the “true cross” or remains of saints, become pilgrimage destinations.
In the more significant version of the myth, Isis once again resurrected Osiris’s body. Alive, but unable to reproduce because his phallus had been lost, Osiris went to the other gods to discredit Seth. Now infertile, Osiris was made lord of the dead, given to rule over the land that existed beyond the western desert horizon. To prepare Osiris for his journey to the land of the dead, Isis invented embalming and mummification, which was carried out by her loyal assistant, the jackal-headed Anubis. The preservation of the body of the dead person was thought to be essential for survival after death. As lord of the dead, Osiris was the god who gave permission to enter the underground kingdom. This was the beginning of the elaborate rituals that formed the essence of Egyptian religion—the burial rites that ensured immortality. In many ways, while Osiris did not supplant Re in power, he became Egypt’s most popular deity, with a cult following that lasted over two thousand years.
Who was Egypt’s most significant goddess?
The family feud did not end there. This epic story continued with the conflict between Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, and his uncle Seth. With Osiris in the underworld, evil Seth remained the king. But when Horus reached manhood, he vowed to avenge his father and challenged his uncle for the throne. In one version of the myth, Isis disguised herself and convinced Seth that Horus deserved to be the king. But other versions detail a lengthy series of battles, in which Horus castrated and killed Seth