The Osirion Myth

Osiris ruled Egypt and had a sister wife Isis. The legend tells us that his brother Set was jealous. He believed himself the honest ruler of the kingdom, however; instead of accepting the fact his brother Osiris ruled, he devised a plan to kill him and usurp the throne.

There are several versions of the story, however; the one I tell here was among the most popular tales that gained momentum during the end of the New Kingdom. It allows Osiris to embody all 42 noms (provinces) in Egypt in a sense. This started from cults of Osiris found all over Egypt claiming one of the parts of Osiris’ body were found near their headquarters.

Legend tells that Set had a party where he invited his brother Osiris. Unknown to Osiris his wicked brother had a special box made that only fit Osiris. (please note that there is another idea that Set transformed himself into a monster that killed his brother.) Either way, both stories have the same result. Osiris is killed, and Set cuts his body into pieces and distributes the pieces across Egypt.

Soon after Set killed his brother, he became the new king. Yet, Isis could not take life without her husband and transformed herself into a bird and went looking for the parts of his body throughout the land. After finding them and assembling his body, she breathed life into him and they were together. She became pregnant with their son Horus.

Osiris now ruled the underworld and his son was the true king of Egypt, and after Horus became older he challenged his uncle Set to a contest that would make the winner king. This contest was held in front of the other gods, but Set cheated and Isis set a trap for him in later contests between Horus and himself. The trap worked and captured Set in his attempt to cheat again, and he begged for his life from Isis. She felt sorry for him and granted his wish. This made Horus, her son, very angry and he raged against his mother Isis. Of course the gods this happened in front of held Horus in contempt for this anger.

The gods decided there would be one more contest between Horus and Set. Set chose a boat race. They were to race boats of stone. However, Set cheated again and used a disguised wooden boat of which was discovered and ended up sinking. After which, Set turned himself into a hippopotamus and attacked Horus. The gods stopped Horus from killing Set and called the race a draw.

Many were sympathetic to Horus and some for Set. They didn’t know who to make king so they wrote a letter to Osiris. He said the rightful king shall not become king through murder such as Set had done and that Horus would be king. All the stars in the sky descended into the underworld where Osiris was in support of his decision. The earth fell dark, and the gods ruled that Horus should be the new king.

The Real Temple of Osiris