Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt Part A
Bibliography
"The Death of Osiris" from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie | Read it here
Reading through the Ancient Egyptian myths was really interesting and definitely helped me gain a better understanding of Egyptian folklore in general, which is good because Egyptian mythology is a big part of my planned Storybook topic!
Most of the stories were all related and told a general history of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. The story that I found most interesting was the story of how the god Osiris was essentially murdered by his brother Set, which is how he becomes one of the gods of the underworld.
So Set and Osiris were brothers, and Osiris became acting ruler after Ra left the world of the living. As a result, Set became very jealous of Osiris and always schemed against him in order to try and gain Osiris's position as ruler. However, Isis, Set and Osiris's sister and Osiris's wife, was a very powerful and clever goddess and always managed to prevent Set from harming Osiris.
However, Set was finally successful when he used trickery to defeat Osiris at a celebration party after Osiris came back victorious from a battle. Seemingly Isis is busy and isn't at the party and thus isn't able to stop Set when he brings in a coffin sized perfectly for Osiris. Set tricks Osiris into getting into the coffin by making up a game where the person who fits perfectly in the coffin is the winner. No one at the party thinks this is suspicious at all, and they all try one by one until it's Osiris's turn.
Osiris lays down in the coffin, and unsurprisingly, Set's followers all rush up and nail the coffin shut so Osiris is trapped. Set and his followers then kill a bunch of people at the party and leave hastily, taking Osiris in the coffin with them.
They send Osiris down the river, and I think it is just assumed that being trapped in the coffin has killed him through suffocation or lack of oxygen, even though Osiris is a god. Sometime later, Isis hears about all that happened and is stricken with grief. Isis searches all over for Osiris leaving the throne/kingdom of Egypt unattended, so Set finally gets his way and takes over as ruler.
As Isis is looking for Osiris and questioning people about his whereabouts, seven scorpions protect her and Ra also helps her by sending Anubis to be her guide, since Anubis is Osiris's son. While Isis is searching, she stays at the house of a local woman, but the woman is scared of the scorpions and one kills her son by stinging him. Isis saves the son through magic, and the woman is so thankful that she takes care of Isis's every need while Isis stays with the woman.
From here the events continue in another story, where eventually Osiris becomes lord of the underworld and Isis has her son Horus who is destined to take the throne back from Set.
I thought this story was interesting because it plays with the balance of immortal god and human body that each of the Egyptian gods has. Although the gods and goddesses are incredibly powerful, they also seem very vulnerable which is unique from many other cultures' conceptions of gods. I also think the story is really useful in understanding the many characters of Egyptian mythology.
"The Death of Osiris" from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie | Read it here
Reading through the Ancient Egyptian myths was really interesting and definitely helped me gain a better understanding of Egyptian folklore in general, which is good because Egyptian mythology is a big part of my planned Storybook topic!
Most of the stories were all related and told a general history of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. The story that I found most interesting was the story of how the god Osiris was essentially murdered by his brother Set, which is how he becomes one of the gods of the underworld.
So Set and Osiris were brothers, and Osiris became acting ruler after Ra left the world of the living. As a result, Set became very jealous of Osiris and always schemed against him in order to try and gain Osiris's position as ruler. However, Isis, Set and Osiris's sister and Osiris's wife, was a very powerful and clever goddess and always managed to prevent Set from harming Osiris.
However, Set was finally successful when he used trickery to defeat Osiris at a celebration party after Osiris came back victorious from a battle. Seemingly Isis is busy and isn't at the party and thus isn't able to stop Set when he brings in a coffin sized perfectly for Osiris. Set tricks Osiris into getting into the coffin by making up a game where the person who fits perfectly in the coffin is the winner. No one at the party thinks this is suspicious at all, and they all try one by one until it's Osiris's turn.
Osiris lays down in the coffin, and unsurprisingly, Set's followers all rush up and nail the coffin shut so Osiris is trapped. Set and his followers then kill a bunch of people at the party and leave hastily, taking Osiris in the coffin with them.
They send Osiris down the river, and I think it is just assumed that being trapped in the coffin has killed him through suffocation or lack of oxygen, even though Osiris is a god. Sometime later, Isis hears about all that happened and is stricken with grief. Isis searches all over for Osiris leaving the throne/kingdom of Egypt unattended, so Set finally gets his way and takes over as ruler.
As Isis is looking for Osiris and questioning people about his whereabouts, seven scorpions protect her and Ra also helps her by sending Anubis to be her guide, since Anubis is Osiris's son. While Isis is searching, she stays at the house of a local woman, but the woman is scared of the scorpions and one kills her son by stinging him. Isis saves the son through magic, and the woman is so thankful that she takes care of Isis's every need while Isis stays with the woman.
From here the events continue in another story, where eventually Osiris becomes lord of the underworld and Isis has her son Horus who is destined to take the throne back from Set.
I thought this story was interesting because it plays with the balance of immortal god and human body that each of the Egyptian gods has. Although the gods and goddesses are incredibly powerful, they also seem very vulnerable which is unique from many other cultures' conceptions of gods. I also think the story is really useful in understanding the many characters of Egyptian mythology.
Depiction of Osiris on fragment of a wall painting
(Image source: Hyspaosines on Flickr)
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