The Myth of Isis and Osiris
After the crime, the assassin of Osiris, his brother, usurped the throne. At the same time, ISIS struck the ground in search of her husband's body until she found it in Byblos, but set succeeded in stealing the body cutting it into forty-two parts, and distributing it to the regions of Egypt. ISIS did not give up and managed to collect the remains of her husband, she became pregnant and ISIS subsequently gave birth to a son, Horus, and Osiris became king of the Kingdom of the Dead. Set's conflict with Horus, which was dominated by violence, ended in Horus ' victory, restoring to Egypt the order that it had lacked under Set's rule. This myth, including its complex symbols, complements the Egyptian concepts of the monarchy, the succession of Kings, the struggle between order and chaos, and in particular death and rebirth after death. Moreover, the legend illustrates the distinctive features of each of the four gods at the center of the story and how many cults in ancient Egyptian religions have their origin in this legend.
The basic form of the myth of ISIS and Osiris was completed in the twenty-fourth century BC, or perhaps even earlier. Many elements of the myth stem from religious ideas, but the conflict between Horus and the set may have occurred in part because of the regional conflict in early-historic or prehistoric Egypt. Scientists have tried to figure out the nature of the events that provoked this story, but their attempts have not brought conclusive results.
Fragments of The Legend are found in a variety of ancient Egyptian texts, ranging from funerary texts and magic spells to short stories. In this way, the story is more detailed and coherent than any other pharaonic legend. But there is no Egyptian source that gives a complete, adequate idea of the legend, and the events also vary greatly depending on the sources. Although the Greek and Roman writings, and specifically the book "On Customs and Customs" by its author Plutarch, provide more information about the myth, they do not always accurately reflect Egyptian beliefs. Thanks to these writings, the myth of ISIS and oozes persisted even after the demise of most pharaonic beliefs. And this legend is still known to the present day.
Sources of the legend
this legend appears more often than any other in ancient texts, and exceptionally in a wide variety of colors of ancient Egyptian literature. These sources also provide an extraordinary amount of detail. Ancient Egyptian mythology is characterized by disintegration and ambiguity, because the religious aesthetic images within the myths were too important for the narrative to be coherent. And to some extent the myth of ISIS and Osiris looks disjointed and rich in a lot of symbols. But compared to other legends they are more like coherent novels.
The legend was first mentioned in the texts of the pyramids, which are considered the first ancient Egyptian funerary texts that appeared on the walls of the burial chambers of the pyramids at the end of the Fifth Dynasty during the twenty-fourth century BC. These texts, consisting of various spells or "sayings", contain ideas that supposedly date back to earlier epochs. These texts are specialized to mention the afterlife of the Kings buried in the pyramids, so they often refer to the myth of ISIS and Osiris, which delves into the system of monarchy and the afterlife.
The most complete story about the legend is on the inscription "the great hymn of Osiris", which dates back to the XVIII dynasty (1550-1292 BC.M.), and gives a summary of the whole story in a few details. Another important source of the legend is the representation of a solo found on the Shpaka Stone, a religious story that includes the tale of the death of Osiris and how the conflict between Horus and the set ended. This allegory connects the monarchy system represented by Osiris and Horus, with the god Ptah, the creator of MANF. It has long been believed that this charade dates back to the Old Kingdom (2686 - 2181 BC.M). Accordingly, it was treated as a source of information about the early stages of the development of the legend. But since the seventies of the twentieth century, Egyptologists have concluded that it is attributed to the modern state on the farthest.
Information about the OSIRIS rituals comes from the walls of Egyptian temples dating back to the New Kingdom and even the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which lasted from the year 323 to 30 BC.M. These ritual texts are another major source of information about the legend.
Talismans connect a sick person and Horus spiritually so that this other person benefits from the efforts of the gods. The parchment is known from papyrus copies that served as guidelines for healing rituals and also came from a special type of engraved stele stones known as Cebas. The one who sought healing would pour water on the Cebas stones, which were believed to supply water with the healing power found in the text engraved on the stone. Then the patient drinks water in the hope of a cure for his illness. The theme of protecting a small child using magic spells also appears on engraved scepters used in rituals dating back to the Middle Kingdom. These wands were made several centuries before the healing asceticism associated with the theme of the myth of ISIS and Osiris.
Episodes from The Legend were also recorded in writings whose purpose was entertainment. One of the most notable of these texts is the "Conflicts between Horus and Set", which is an account of the multiple episodes of the conflict between the two gods, which dates back to the Twentieth Dynasty (1190-1070 BC.M). This text vividly depicts the figure of the gods at the center of the myth; according to Egyptologist Donald B. Redford: Horus looks physically weak, but he is an intelligent goblin-like character, but set is a strong-built man in the form of a clown with limited intelligence, ra in the form of a sullen, biased judge, and Osiris in a picture that turns out to be rude and with a caustic tongue. Despite the anomalous nature of the text of the "conflicts", it contains many ancient episodes of the divine conflict, and many of the events in it appear in the same order in other later sources, which makes it likely that this traditional sequence of events corresponded to the time when the story was written.
Many ancient Greek and Roman writers, describing the religion of the late Egyptians, recorded a lot about the myth of ISIS and Osiris. Also in the V century BC, Herodotus mentioned parts of the myth in his description of Egypt in his work known as The Histories, In the early II century AD, Plutarch wrote the most complete and ancient story about the myth in his book on Customs and Customs, which is an analysis of ancient Egyptian beliefs. And the story given by Plutarch is the one that is most often told in popular modern writings. However such writings of classical authors can distort the picture of ancient Egyptian beliefs. The scientist Griffiths concluded that many elements of this story are taken from Greek mythology, and the whole work was not directly based on Egyptian sources. On the other hand, his colleague John Baines suggests that the temples may have preserved written stories about the myth that were later lost, and it is possible that Plutarch relied on these sources in writing his account.
Story summary
The death and resurrection of Osiris
There is little information about the reign of Osiris within the Egyptian texts; the emphasis in them is on his death and the events following his death. The mention of Osiris is associated with the life-giving power, the righteous monarchy, and the rule of Maat, which is based on the natural ideal order, the preservation of which remained a primary goal in ancient Egyptian culture. By contrast, six represents violence and chaos.
According to a magic spell in the pyramid texts, set takes revenge on Osiris because Osiris kicked him, however, in a late-era text, set's darkness lies in the fact that Osiris had a sexual relationship with set's wife Nephthys and the fourth child of Geb and nut. As for the murder itself, it was hinted at without any explanatory description at all. The Egyptians believed in the power of writing to influence reality and avoided direct writing in events with an extremely negative aspect, such as the death of Osiris. And they sometimes denied the death of Osiris in its entirety, although the accumulated heritage about him makes his murder an obvious fact. Sometimes the texts suggest that set incarnated in the form of a wild animal, similar to a crocodile or a bull, to kill Osiris. Other stories also indicate that the body of Osiris was thrown into the water or that he died by drowning, and this is due to the belief of the Egyptians that those who drowned in the Nile River were saints. Even the identity of the victim varies depending on the texts, sometimes the murdered one is the God haruris, the elder image of Horus, who was killed by six and avenged by another image of Horus, the son of haruris from ISIS.
The death of Osiris is followed by either a period of vacancy of the throne or a period in which Ste usurps the King. Meanwhile, ISIS is looking for her husband's body with the help of niftis. During the search for Osiris or his lament, the two goddesses are often symbolized by hawks or horseshoes, perhaps because the horseshoes travel great distances in search of carrion, or because the Egyptians always associated the cries of sadness made by birds with the crying of man in sorrow, or because of the connection of the goddess Osiris with Horus, symbolized by the Falcon. In the New Kingdom, when the death and resurrection of Osiris were associated with the annual feast of the fulfillment of the Nile, which made Egypt a fertile land.
The goddess found the body of Osiris and brought him back to life, often with the help of other gods, including Thoth, the God with great powers over Magic and healing, and Anubis, the God of embalming and funeral ceremonies. The efforts of these gods contributed to the foundation of Egyptian mythology about mummification, which sought through mummification to protect and preserve corpses from rotting after death. This segment often extends into episodes in which six or his henchmen try to destroy the corpse, while ISIS and its allies have to protect it. As soon as ISIS collects the fragments of Osiris and returns him a whole body, she, still in the image of the bird, blows the soul into his body with her wings, and then collects it. Apparently, the resurrection of Osiris was temporary, and after this point in the story Osiris is mentioned only as the ruler of Duat, the mysterious distant Kingdom of the dead. Nevertheless, with a short-term contact with Isis, Osiris was able to make her pregnant with his son and legitimate heir Horus. And although Osiris himself lives only in Duat, he and his right to the king will be reborn, in some way, in his son.
The coherent story of Plutarch belonging to this part of the legend is fundamentally different from that of the well-known Egyptian confiscation in many ways. Set, whom Plutarch referred to by the Greek name "typhus", conspired with seventy-three others against Osiris. He ordered set to make a detailed box so that it would fit the sizes of Osiris, and then announced at a table prepared by him that he would give the box a gift to whoever enters the box and fits his size. The guests, one by one, fell asleep in the shroud, but no one fit the shroud in size except Osiris. When OSIRIS lay in the box, six and his accomplices closed the lid of the box on Osiris and tightly closed it, throwing it into the Nile. The box, with the body of Osiris inside, floated into the sea and reached the city of Byblos where a tree grew around it. The king of Byblos ordered the tree to be cut down to make a pillar for the palace, and the box is still inside the tree. ISIS then had to remove the box from the tree in order to recover her husband's body. After taking the box, she left the tree in Byblos where it became an object of worship for the townspeople. This episode of the myth, which is not taken from Egyptian sources, gives an explanation for why groups belonging to ISIS and Osiris existed in Byblos in the era of Plutarch and, possibly, the history of these groups dates back to the New Kingdom.
Plutarch explains that set stole the body and dismembered it, only after ISIS brought him back to life. After that, ISIS found all the remains of her husband's body and buried it, except for his genital organ, which was eaten by fish in the river, so ISIS had to remake it with magic spells. According to Plutarch, this is why it was forbidden to eat fish among the ancient Egyptians. But in the Egyptian stories about the myth, ISIS finds the genital organ intact, and the only similarity with Plutarch's story is in the "Tale of the two brothers", the folk tale that goes back to the modern state and bears some similarities to the myth of ISIS and Osiris.
The image of Horus avenging his father existed and was born before the murder of Osiris. This image is of a second, prematurely born child, hypocrites, who was born as a result of intercourse between Osiris after his death and ISIS. Here, there are two separate images of Horus in the Egyptian heritage, each of which has a different location in Plutarch's version of the myth.
The birth and childhood of Horus
In Egyptian stories, the pregnant ISIS of the set, for whom the expected child is a threat, hides in a clump of papyrus in the Nile Delta. This place is called akhbati, and its meaning in Egyptian is "the papyrus Bush of the king of the Delta". The Greek writers call this place Khamis, and they point out that it is close to the city of Putu, but in the legend, the physical location is of no importance compared to its nature, which makes it a symbol of a place of solitude and safety. The special place of the Bush was indicated by its frequent description in Egyptian art And it is in this thicket that ISIS gives birth to Horus and raises him, hence the name "Horus nest". The image of ISIS breastfeeding Horus is also very often repeated in Egyptian art.
She travels among the general public unaware of her identity. She even begs these people to help her. This is also an unusual occurrence; in Egyptian mythology, the gods were usually isolated from humans. According to one of the magic spells, seven gods in the form of small Scorpions travel with ISIS and protect her when she asks for help to Horus. They even take revenge on a wealthy woman who refused to help ISIS, by biting this woman's son, which made it imperative for ISIS to heal this innocent child. This story sends a moral message that the poor can be more virtuous than the rich, and the story also shows the beautiful and kind nature of ISIS.
At this stage of the myth, Horus becomes a vulnerable child surrounded by dangers. The magical spell texts, which use Horus 'childhood as the basis for magic spells within the texts, diagnose Horus' disease in various ways, ranging from scorpion bites to minor stomach pains, and the choice of the disease is based on the spell in the magic text that is supposed to cure this disease. But the rumor is that the child God was bitten by a snake, reflecting the fear of the ancient Egyptians of a snake bite and the resulting poison. Some texts indicate that these aggressive creatures are six-legged. ISIS could then use her magical powers to save her child, appeal to gods such as Ra and Geb, or threaten her to cure him. Since she is the archetype of the lamentation in the first part of the story, during the childhood of Horus she plays the role of an exemplary, dedicated mother. Through magical healing texts and spells, her efforts in healing her son extended to the point of curing any patient.
The conflict between Horus and the set
The next part of the legend begins with an adult Horus challenging set for the throne of Egypt. The competition between them is often violent, but it can also be described as a legitimate trial before the Holy Ninth, a group of Egyptian gods to decide who has the right to inherit the King. Other gods also perform important roles; the god Thoth performs the role of a conciliator in a dispute or an assistant to the divine judge. And in the book "Conflicts", ISIS uses her intelligence and magical powers to help her son.
This conflict includes several parts. The book "Conflicts" describes the two gods and each of them appeals to the other gods to settle the dispute between them, and they compete in various kinds of competitions such as a boat race or wrestling each other in the form of hippos, to determine the victor. The strife in the divine world also extends beyond the two adversaries. At one point, Isis tries to stab set with a bayonet while he and her son are engaged in a fight. Thoth replaces the head of a cow with the head of ISIS. In this way, this story gives an origin to why ISIS often wears a robe with a cow's head painted on it with horns. Therefore, some sources justify his subsequent constant assault on Horus as punishment for the Little God for the violence he directed at his mother.
In a key episode of the conflict, set sexually assaults Horus. Set is behind this assault intended to degrade his opponent, but in addition, it includes a homosexual desire, which adds to Set's main qualities of violence and non-sexism. This meeting puts Horus in danger because in Egyptian mythology sperm is a powerful and dangerous substance similar to poison. According to some texts, set's sperm penetrates Horus ' body and causes his illness, but in the book "Conflicts" Horus foils Set's intrigue by holding Set's sperm in his hand. ISIS retaliates by putting the sperm of Horus in the lettuce that Six eats. The defeat of St is manifested when this sperm appears on his corner in the form of a Golden Disk, this indicates that he was fertilized as a result of the sowing that his opponent sowed in him and as a result, this disk was "born". In the book "Conflicts", Thoth takes the disk and puts it on his head. In the older versions of the story, however, Thoth himself is the product of this abnormal birth.
Another important episode in the myth concerns the injuries inflicted by the rivals on each other; Horus injures or steals Set's testicles, while Set damages or gouges out one or both of Horus ' eyes. Sometimes it is said that the eye was cut into pieces. The injury of six symbolizes the loss of virility and strength, but the gouging out of the eyes of Horus is of much greater importance since this stolen eye of Horus represents many concepts in the ancient Egyptian religion. One of the main roles played by Horus is being the God of the sky, which is why it is said that his right eye is the sun and the left is the moon. Horus can recover his lost eye, or other gods, including ISIS, Thoth, and Hathor, return it to him or heal it. Egyptologist Hermann T. Felde suggests that the story of the missing testicles is a recent misrepresentation of Set's loss of his sperm on Horus and that the lunar-shaped disk that was located on Set's forehead after fertilization is the same as the eye of Horus. If this is true, then the part about injuries and sexual abuse forms a one-on-one story in which Set assaults Horus and wastes his sperm on him, then Horus retaliates and fertilizes Set, and Set gets Horus ' eye when she appears on Set's forehead. And since Thoth is the moon god besides his other functions, it is reasonable, according to T. Velde, for Thoth to produce the image of the eye and try to intervene to settle the dispute between the two opposing gods.
However, the restoration of the eye of Horus to his body represents the return of the moon to its full radiance, the return of the king to Horus, and many aspects of Maat. Sometimes the restoration of the eye of Horus is accompanied by the restoration of six testicles, so both gods become in their completed form by the end of the conflict.
The end of the legend
As is customary in many parts of the legend, the ending of the story is complex and diverse. In most of the stories, Horus and the set share the kingdom between them. This sharing can be equated to any of the multiple dualities that the Egyptians have experienced in their World. Horus ' share could contain the fertile land around the Nile, the heart of Egyptian civilization, in which case Set's share would be the barren desert or the foreign lands connected to it. The two gods can divide the two traditional halves of the country, namely Upper Egypt and the Delta, in which case either of the two gods can connect to either of the halves. But in Manaf's charade, the judge divides the kingdom between the claimants and then returns to his decision, leaving absolute control to Horus. In this peaceful union, Horus and Set reconcile, and the duality between them turns into a united whole. With this ending, the order returns after the Stormy conflict.
Another view of the end of the story focuses only on the victory of Horus. In this version set does not reconcile with his opponent, but is completely defeated, sometimes he is exiled from Egypt or it comes to being eliminated. More details of how he was defeated and humiliated are found in the later texts of Egyptian history, where he is increasingly seen as a symbol of chaos and evil and Egyptians do not see in him a complement to the natural order as they used to.
Origins of the legend
Since the myth of ISIS and Osiris first appeared in the texts of the pyramids, most of the basic features of them must have been formed before the texts were written. The characteristic parts in the story, from the death and resurrection of Osiris, the childhood of Horus, and his struggle with six, could originally have been separate mythological episodes. If this is true, then these episodes must have all merged into one story at the time of the Pyramid Texts, which loosely connect these parts. In any case, the story was formed as a result of a combination of influences. Many parts of the story are based on religious ideas, on the general nature of ancient Egyptian society from the divine nature of the King, the succession of one king to another, the struggle to keep Maat, and the effort to overcome death. For example, the lament of ISIS and Nephthys for their dead brother could represent the first traditions of the lament ritual.
But there are some important points of disagreement. The origins of the myth are the subject of great controversy, and the foundations of The Legend of the Death of Osiris are also in doubt. One of the influential assumptions was made by James Fraser, who in 1906 said that Osiris, like the "dying and resurrected god" of the ancient Near East, began as the embodiment of the plant. Thus, its death and revival depend on the death and regrowth of the plant annually. Many Egyptologists adopted this interpretation, but in the late twentieth century, C. Gwen Griffiths, who studied the legend very carefully, argued that Osiris originated as a Divine Ruler of the dead, and his connection with the plant is only a secondary development. At the same time, scholars of comparative religion sharply criticized Fraser's holistic concept of "gods who die and resurrect". More recently, Egyptologist Rosalie David adhered to her opinion that originally Osiris was "the personification of the annual growth of trees and plants after the Nile flooded them".
Another ongoing controversy is the rivalry between Horus and Set, which Egyptologists have long tried to connect with political events in the history of Egypt or prehistory. The cases of the division of the kingdom between the rivals, and the predominantly associated Union of Horus and Set and the Union of Upper Egypt and the Delta, suggest that the two gods represent a kind of division within the country. Traditional and archaeological evidence suggests that the unity of Egypt was at the beginning of its history when the kingdom of Upper Egypt in the North defeated the kingdom of the Delta in the South. The rulers of the kingdom of Upper Egypt called themselves "followers of Horus", and Horus became the patron god of the United Nations and its kings Both gods had several centers in both halves, and Horus was often associated with the Delta and set with Upper Egypt. One of the best-known explanations for these contradictions is the one given by Curt Seth in 1930. Likely, Osiris was originally the human ruler who united Egypt in prehistory, before the revolt of the satraps in Upper Egypt. Thus, it was the followers of Horus in the Delta who united the country by force, creating the myth of the victory of Horus, before Upper Egypt, now led by the slaves of Horus, became prominent again at the beginning of the dynastic era.
At the end of the twentieth century, Griffiths focused on the conflicting portrayal of Horus and set as brothers, or uncle and nephew. It has been suggested that in the early stages of Egyptian mythology, the conflict between Horus and set as equal brothers was originally separated from the murder of Osiris. Before the end of writing the texts of the pyramids, the two stories were combined into one legend-the myth of ISIS and Osiris. The independent fragments of the myth follow in terms of competing characters to come up with a kinship between them in the texts remains unrelated to the myth of ISIS and Osiris, making Horus the son of the goddess Nut or the goddess Hathor instead of ISIS and Osiris. Therefore, Griffiths rejected the possibility that the murder of Osiris was inherent in historical events. This assumption has been accepted by many modern scientists such as Jean Asaman and George Hart.
Griffiths sought to work out the historical origin of the competition between Horus and Set and assumed the existence of two unions of Egypt in the pre-dynastic era carried out by the slaves of Horus. This assumption is similar to set theory so that Griffith can interpret it along the same lines as the theory. Nevertheless, the case is not solved, to some extent due to other political connections between Horus and the set, which further complicates the picture. Even before there was a single ruler of Upper Egypt, there were two large cities, Nakhon in the far south and Naqada miles to the North. It is common that the rulers of Nakhon, where Horus was the patron god, United the Delta, including Naqada, under their dominion. Setti was associated with the Naqada, so it is possible that the divine conflict dimly reflects the rivalry between the cities in the distant past. Much later, by the end of the second dynasty (2890-2686 BC.M.), King Peribsen used a sheep set in writing his patronymic in place of the traditional Falcon in hieroglyphs representing Horus. His successor khasekhemwy then used Horus and set in writing his Sirik. This evidence pushes us to guess that the second dynasty witnessed a clash between the followers of King Horus and the slave set led by Peribsen. Khasekhemwy's use of the symbol of the two animals then represents the reconciliation of the two factions, as the end of the story says.
After observing the uncertainties surrounding the events so far, Hermann T. Felde suggests that the historical roots of the conflict are so obscure that they cannot be used to understand the legend as they have no meaning related to the meaning of the religious legend. Herman says: the origins of the myth of Horus and set are lost in the fog of prehistoric religious traditions.
The influence of the legend
The influence of the myth of ISIS and Osiris in ancient Egyptian culture was greater and more widespread than any other. In literature, the myth was based not only on the goal of telling, like "conflicts". But it also provides the basis for other stories that are remotely related to this legend. The "Tale of Two Brothers", a folk tale with human heroes, includes some elements similar to the myth of ISIS and Osiris. In it, a fish eats the genital organ of one of the characters, and later this character dies and is brought back to life. The" story of Truth and Lies " also adopts the conflict between Horus and is set in the form of an allegory in which the characters diagnose truth and lies directly instead of coming up with the gods associated with these concepts.
Since at least the time of the pyramid texts, Kings have wished that after their death they would emulate the resurrected Osiris and his rule of the kingdom of the dead. And at the beginning of the modern state (2055-1650 BC.M.), some Egyptians from outside the royal family believed that they, too, could overcome death as Osiris did, by worshiping Him and going through the same funeral rituals on which the legend was partially based. With this, Osiris became the most important God of the afterlife in Egypt. The myth also influenced the idea that spread in the modern state that only virtuous people reach the afterlife. Since the assembled gods decreed that Osiris and Horus were righteous in order to undo the injustice caused by the murder of Osiris, it was necessary to judge the goodness of the soul of the deceased so that his death could be annulled. As the ruling God of the land of the dead, Osiris, connected with Maat, became the judge in his trial after death, offering Life After Death to those who follow his example.
The increasing importance of Osiris increased his popularity. In the late Middle Kingdom, the Tomb of the ruler of the first dynasty, khent dejar, near the main center of Osiris worship in the city of Abydos, was considered the Tomb of Osiris. Hence, the necropolis became largely focused on the cult of Osiris. For the next thousand and five hundred years, annual processions traveled from the main temple of Osiris to the site of the Tomb. References are made in these processions to the lamentations of ISIS and Nephthys the process of restoring and bringing back to life their murdered brother, and the rituals they performed may have been reenacted. Kings and commoners throughout Egypt built temples that served as empty tombs near the procession route. By doing this they sought to strengthen the connection with Osiris in the afterlife. During the month of kyakhk a grandfather pillar, the emblem of Osiris, was raised to the upright position, symbolizing the revival of Osiris. In the era of the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305-30 BC. The month of kiahak also saw the planting of seeds in the" OSIRIS bed " made up of soil in the form of a mummy, a link between the revival of Osiris and the seasonal growth of plants.
The scope of the significance of the legend in religious terms has expanded beyond the funerary field. Offerings of food, made by family members or hired priests to the dead in the burial chamber, were logically associated with the offering of the eye of Horus to Osiris. By analogy, this episode of the myth was equated with other human-being interactions in the divine kingdom. In the ritual of offerings to the temple, the temple-based priest played the role of Horus, and the gifts presented to the deity became the eye of Horus, and any god receiving these gifts was considered momentarily equal to Osiris.
The ideology surrounding the living King was also influenced by the myth of ISIS and Osiris. The Egyptians believed that the events of the myth of ISIS and Osiris took place in the dark period of prehistory in Egypt and that Osiris, Horus, and their ancestors were among the list of the late Egyptian kings, as it was in the Turin papyrus. Horus, as an ancient king and the embodiment of the monarchy, was considered the ancestor and model of all the rulers of Egypt. Besides, his assumption that his father's throne and pious deeds would support his soul in the afterlife was a model to be followed by all his followers from the Pharaohs. It was believed that each new king renewed Maat after the death of his previous one, just like Horus did. At royal coronations, rituals marked the death of Osiris and hymns celebrated the new king and his being a counterpart of Horus.
On the other hand, the myth influenced the concepts of popular religion. An example of this is the healing magical asceticism based on the childhood of Horus. Another example is the use of the eye of Horus as a protective emblem in the form of a protective amulet. Her restoration in the legend made her suitable for this purpose, as a symbol of wellness.
Being the sixth opponent in the legend, he was not very popular. Although he had positive qualities in the myth of Osiris, the evil features prevailed over his character. However, he was presented with contradictory and contradictory feelings until in the first millennium BC he was considered a very malevolent god. The motivation for this transformation was further increased by the set's association with a foreign land than with the myth of ISIS and Osiris. However, in these times the widespread temple rituals involving the celebration of the extermination of the set were mostly associated with the legend.
ISIS and Nephthys were seen as protectors of the dead in the afterlife, given their role in protecting and restoring the body of Osiris. As the mother of Horus, ISIS was also the mother of every king according to the King's ideology, as it was said that the Kings suckled from her breast as a symbol of their divine legitimacy. The admiration of the masses for her was based on her personality, which was distinguished from others by her use of healing magic potions. Moreover, in the late era, she was endowed with even greater magical powers, and it was believed that her devotion to the role of Mother extended to everyone. The image of her holding her child was also fundamental to what worshiped her. For example, painting on panels was used in familiar shrines dedicated to her. The depiction of ISIS in these paintings was similar to modern Christian images of the Virgin Mary holding Christ, and these images may even have been influenced by the image of ISIS.
In the late centuries BC, the cult of ISIS spread from Egypt beyond the Mediterranean, becoming one of the most famous gods in these regions. Although this new multicultural image of ISIS took some of its inspiration from other gods, her original mythological nature as a wife and mother was a key point in gaining her admiration. The characters of Horus and Osiris spread with her, being the main characters in her story. Plutarch wrote his story about ISIS and Osiris for a Greek priestess, and ISIS continued to be important until the fourth century AD when it was overshadowed by Christianity. Christianity, for example, took the title of ISIS "mother of God" (and the God here is Horus), which influenced the title of the Virgin Mary and made it "mother of God" as well.
Thanks to the classical works of writers such as Plutarch, the myth was preserved even after the middle of the first millennium AD when the ancient Egyptian religion and the writing system originally used to record the myth disappeared. The legend remained part of the Western impression of ancient Egypt. In modern times, when Egyptian beliefs were understood by means of original Egyptian sources, the myth continued to influence and inspire new ideas, ranging from works of fiction and scientific speculation to new religious movements.
The Osiris Myth
Osiris assumed the rule of the land and presented it to the people from the righteous; which made him an example of good and taught people to plant, and he planned for their villages and cities, and he legislated laws and rulings for them, and people loved him, so his brother hated him "Seth", and asked him himself to kill his brother.
He prepared set plans, to kill his brother Osiris, where he held a big party called by Osiris, then he told Seth's guests that he prepared a surprise for them, which is a gift sarcophagus, a gift from gold that would be the share of those who come identical to his size, and the successive guests were lying in the coffin until the turn of Osiris (which was prepared for him).
The coffin, in particular, took the coffin at its bed. Seth and his followers took the initiative to tighten the lid on the sarcophagus and inside it Osiris, then they carried it and threw it in the Nile River, so the river dredged it to the Mediterranean, which was carried by its waves to Phenicia (Lebanon now), then the waves threw it to the coast of Thaghr Jbeil and it soon became A huge tree planted on the coffin hidden it from the eyes
Isis was searching for her husband until God guided her to the city of Jbeil and found the coffin, and she remained there until she managed to escape the body of her husband, and she returned to Egypt, and in Egypt, Isis emptied the corpse in a remote location of the Delta swamps and started crying and praying to God to return life to her husband Osiris, and God answered her, and Isis set out with shouts of joy there and set who happened to be hunting near them soon heard her, as soon as he heard the sound until he rushed toward them, so if he finds his brother alive, then he will revolt, and tear his body Osiris, and throw every part of it in the regions of Egypt Forty-two.
The ancient Egyptians believed that "Osiris" is the force that provides them with life and gives them sustenance in this world, and that it is the black earth from which green life emerges, and they drew the ears of love sprouting from his body, symbolizing the renewed life with a green tree. Each year, they held a large party in which they installed a tree, planted and decorated it with ornaments, and covered it with green leaves, as people do today with the Christmas tree.
The Babylonians named this tree a tree of life, and they believed that it bore the leaves of age on the head each year. Whoever turns his paper green lives are written for him throughout the year, and whoever withers his paper withers and authorizes the fall is dead one day. This custom went from east to west, so they celebrated the tree at Christmas and chose it from trees that kept green throughout the year, such as cypress and pine.
Thanks to classic works of a book such as Plutarch, the myth was preserved even after the middle of the first millennium A.D when the ancient Egyptian religion and writing system that was originally used to record the legend disappeared. The legend remained part of the Western impression of ancient Egypt. And in recent times, when Egyptian beliefs were understood by Egyptian sources, the myth continued to influence and inspire new ideas, from fictional works and scientific speculation to new religious movements.
The Gods of ancient Egypt were very just like people according to ancient Egyptians, they had feelings, they felt jealous and fought, they took revenge, killed, and also died during an amazing myth full of joyful, action, and dramatic events that inspired modern movie directors and producers to create world-famous movies about the grandeur of the Pharaohs and the Gods they worshipped.
