for the ancient egyptians the cycle of
life itself began and ended with isis
and osiris their story is one of the
oldest known myths and it informs
spiritual beliefs power structures and
gender roles in ancient egypt and beyond
and who wouldn't be drawn to a tale that
has it all and by all i mean devious
party tricks sibling rivalry
shape-shifting quest true love and a
missing penis
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in 1922 the unsealing of king
tutankhamun's tomb opened a portal to
ancient egypt in the burial chamber
carvings on the wall showed the young
pharaoh traveling to the afterlife
here he is welcomed by isis mother of
pharaohs and goddess of protection and
osiris king of the underworld
two of egypt's most powerful gods isis
and osiris appear throughout funerary
texts and art
king tut's iconic death mask bears
osiris likeness while symbols of isis
are etched across his coffin
the influence of these two deities
extends far beyond mummies and tombs
long before isis and osiris there was
the creator god a tomb some accounts
identify him as the creator of shu god
of dry air and tiffnut goddess of
moisture who are the parents of geb the
earth in nut the sky
other versions say that a tomb fashioned
geb and nut himself separating earth
from sky when he discovered their
illicit affair
either way it's a formidable family tree
geb and nut had four children isis
osiris set and nephthys these deities
paired off in the womb with isis and
osiris falling for each other and set in
nephthys forming their own bond as
firstborn osiris became ruler of the
earth he was essentially the creator of
society who brought law farming religion
and education to the people
not to be outdone isis brought medicine
healing and beer brewing
if osiris stood for order seth stood for
chaos even with the restrained nephthis
by his side he couldn't contain his
desire to destroy his brother
seth was known for causing storms war
and general malaise but his most vicious
plan began with a party
at this gathering set produced an ornate
chest and proposed a game whoever could
fit inside the chest could keep it all
the gods tried to squeeze in but none
succeeded for set had designed the chest
for osiris body alone as his brother
settled in seth slammed the chest shut
sealed it and flung it in the nile
as seth ceased power over egypt the
chest floated down the nile and washed
up at the kingdom of biblos here it
merged the trunk of a cedar tree which
the king promptly cut down and used to
prop up his palace not knowing that
osiris body was inside
the image of this pillar containing the
imprisoned god became the jed a symbol
of stability in egyptian architecture
back with the gods things were anything
but stable
furious isis vowed to find her husband
and put an end to set's rule she and
nephthys took flight as falcons
questioning everyone they could find for
news of osiris
eventually a group of children pointed
them in the right direction
landing on the shores of biblos isis
transformed into a human and set about
charming the palace maids eventually
gaining the favor of the queen now an
undercover nanny isis took to bathing
the infant prince in fire in order to
instill some godly strength but when the
king discovered her actions he was so
terrified that he promised to give her
anything in exchange for safety of
course isis demanded the chest she
brought osiris body back to the banks of
the nile hiding it in the reeds until
she could figure out how to revive him
but seth found the body hacking it into
14 pieces and scattering them across
egypt
once again isis set out in search of
osiris she soon tracked down 13 parts of
the body which she lovingly stitched
back together
but they had a little problem osiris
penis had been eaten by a fish isis had
come too far to be thwarted by this some
say that she fashioned a new member for
osiris with others adding that she drew
out his last sexual powers with her
beating wings
either way the two used osiris final
moments on earth to conceive an heir
by the power of isis osiris was briefly
revived given a proper burial and sent
safely to the realm of the dead
here he was resurrected as the king of
the afterlife or duat where he would
rule for eternity
in the wake of osiris departure isis
raised their son horus in hiding under
her guidance he grew into a strapping
young god who defeated set to assume his
rightful rule over egypt the epic battle
between horus and set was sometimes used
as a metaphor for the war between upper
and lower egypt with horus triumphs
standing for the unification of the
region
the story served as a guide to death for
all ancient egyptians isis retrieval of
the chest from biblos informed the
belief that egyptians should only be
laid to rest on egyptian soil and the
second part of her quest highlights the
importance of protecting the body after
death
isis painstakingly searched for and
reassembled osiris body thus
constructing what can be considered the
first mummy
her recreation of the penis corresponds
to the belief that the body should be
buried intact during mummification
embalmers would construct absent body
parts for the dead
this ensured that they would travel to
the underworld in the best possible
shape
for king tut this meant being buried
with his penis propped at a 90 degree
angle a feature which scholars have
linked to osiris's postmortem fertility
embalmers often place the dead in
decorated coffins which eventually
became anthropoid or human shaped to
resemble osiris chest
many bore the face of the god and were
decorated with the wings of isis and
nephthys
the pyramid texts of the old kingdom
frame osiris as judge and king of the
afterlife these writings were a set of
utterances and hymns intended for
royalty to ensure safe passage to the
afterlife
to reach paradise or the field of reeds
you had to meet with osiris in the hall
of truth
here he weighed your heart against the
feather of truth which you'd hopefully
kept nice and light by steering clear of
bad thoughts and actions if your heart
wasn't weighed down osiris let you pass
this encounter between god and mortals
was extended in the coffin texts of the
middle kingdom which emphasized osiris
as the judge of all people regardless of
class
in the new kingdom which occurred
between the 16th and 11th century bce
the book of the dead became the most
popular guide to the afterlife
a collection of funerary spells and
guidelines written over hundreds of
years the book guided the dead through
face-offs with demons confessions to
gods the wane of the heart and other
judgments of the spirit
isis and osiris appear throughout these
texts judging or guiding the dead
through their spiritual reckonings
while osiris reveals the challenges and
promises of the afterlife isis stands
for life itself
from food and water to the nourishing
powers of medicine and maternal
instincts ice has presided over living
things
she was widely worshipped as the
protectors and mother of all pharaohs
and is referred to as the great one in
the pyramid texts
her behavior following the death of
osiris epitomizes the ingenuity and
perseverance that she was beloved for
this triumph indicates her possession of
mighty magic which allows her to
shapeshift revive the dead and protect
the vulnerable
the awe-inspiring powers of isis can be
linked to the elevated role of women in
ancient egypt women had autonomy over
marriage property and finances and could
be pharaohs in their own right
non-royal women also served as scribes
doctors and religious officials carrying
out different forms of protection that
isis also embodied
over time isis became the supreme
egyptian god her temples were erected
across north africa as well as crete
pompei in northern europe
the roman cult of isis is still shrouded
in mystery but we do know that her
followers launched a model ship filled
with offerings to the goddess every year
in the classical world she was more
generally associated with the goddess of
food and fertility demeter and her cult
in rome came to rival that of
christianity
it's also been noted that christian
iconography of the madonna and child
borrows from the image of isis
protecting the infant horus
from mummification to mothering she
informed a host of practices and ideals
from temple paintings to burial
practices to secret rituals osiris and
isis infused ancient iconography and
beliefs
our knowledge of their story myth comes
from a similarly diverse range of
sources
found on the walls of ancient pyramids
and aptly named the pyramid texts the
oldest religious writings in the world
reference the grisly murder of osiris
later texts like the chester baby
papyrus and the chewbacca stone also
allude to this event and its fallout
while classical historians like plutarch
and diodorus siculus wrote their own
versions of the myth
while the premature death of osiris and
his separation from isis could be seen
as a tragic tale the story reveals the
ancient egyptian belief that the
boundaries between material and
spiritual life and death are porous for
the ancient egyptians osiris offered a
poignant reminder that life was fragile
even for a god as the great protector
isis offered guidance on that fragile
path and ensured that the channels
between the living and the lost were
always open
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