hey everyone welcome to mythology
explained in today's video we're going
to be discussing the resurrection of
osiris the myth of horus and set vying
for the kingship is both one of the best
known and most important in all of the
egyptian mythos the impetus for this
story is that age-old dynamic in which
one person has power and another person
coveting that power is driven to evil
action in this iteration osiris is king
of all he imparts on mankind the gifts
of civilization and agriculture and no
one with the exclusion of set wished
anything but for his reign to be long
and prosperous
admittedly there's a range of reasons
that supposedly drove seth to murder his
brother one as osiris kick set and yet
another as osiris bed neph this set's
wife but in this video we're just going
to stick to the version of set being
that archetypal power hungry tired of
always being number two person osiris
inherited his lofty position from
impeccable lineage ra the sun god was
the original king but as he grew older
he abdicated his throne ascended to the
heavens and began his eternal cyclical
journey across the stars and then
through the underworld his emergence
from the underworld brought the dawn and
night fell when he departed the mortal
plane his first successor was his son
shu the personification of air who in
turn was succeeded by his son geb the
personification of the earth was then
succeeded by one of his sons osiris
geb's other son was set and geb's two
daughters were isis and nephthys the
consort of osiris and set making two
brother-sister pairs
so osiris was king and set his younger
brother was jealous of him coveting the
kingship set used all his guile and
cunning to supplant his brother and take
the throne for himself
there are many accounts to detail how
exactly set killed osiris the most
popular version has him locked osiris in
a chest which is then cast into the nile
another version has set to transform
himself into a bull and trample osiris
into the ground
regardless of set's preferred method the
simple murder of osiris didn't go far
enough to satisfy him he carved up
osiris body dismembering him and then
scattered the pieces across the sands of
egypt this final act of jealous rage was
what finally and truly separated osiris
soul from his body when osiris's soul
transcended the living world to the
underworld he became the first living
thing to die
as the first resident of the underworld
it was only fitting that its rule be
bestowed upon him making osiris the king
of the underworld at this point set the
usurper was absconding himself on the
throne he was sitting high and mighty
resting back on his laurels thinking the
situation was all trust up he had
dispatched his brother and there was no
son of osiris to rise up and challenge
his rule
also he thought
you see unbeknownst to him set had
placed himself in a precarious position
isis grieving and infuriated had no
intentions of taking the murder of her
husband lying down she was a powerful
magic wielder and a plethora of spells
were at her disposal she enlisted the
aid of her sister nephthys and the two
of them searched every riverbank and
sand dune in all of egypt by canvassing
every inch of land and water all of
osiris's scattered body parts were
recovered that is every body part except
for osiris penis which was eaten by fish
isis had to use her magic to fashion a
new penis for her husband the two
sisters then implored the god anubis for
aid anubis offered sucker by performing
the first ever embalming ritual on
osiris
isis used her magic in concert with the
arts of anubis to resurrect her fallen
husband the resurrection wasn't
permanent though so osiris was only able
to grace the land of the living long
enough to impregnate isis with the sun
isis traveled to chemists in the nile
delta a place beyond the reach of seth's
rule and a place where she could raise
her infant son horus in relative safety
with them was the cow goddess hathor who
played wet nurse and weaned little horus
by letting him suckle on her utters when
horus had grown into manhood isis
brought him before the divine council of
assembled gods and demanded that they
renounce set as their ruler and
acknowledge horus birthright the throne
when it came to reaching a verdict as to
who would sit on the throne porous or
set the gods were split ra himself was
opposed to horus claiming the throne
underwhelmed by the prospect of a mere
boy replacing the mighty set not all the
gods shared his convictions though many
of the gods were sympathetic to horus
plight persuaded by the obvious
rightness of his claim among those who
sided with horus were ra's oldest son
shu the personification of the heir and
thoth the scribe god throughout the
convocation isis staunchly supported
horus advocating for him and her
arguments were so compelling that they
began to enrage seth who with vitriol
dripping from his lips vowed that he
would kill a god each day isis kept her
place on the council ra accurately
perceived that the situation was about
to boil over
so he decided to diffuse the escalating
hostility to let cooler heads prevail he
proposed that every member of the
council except for isis reconvene on a
nearby island to ensure that they would
not be disturbed once relocated he
ordered the pheromone to withhold
passage from isis so that she could not
follow isis was not deterred she
disguised herself as an old crone and
implored the ferryman to grant her
passage at first she was rejected but
the ferryman later obliged once isis
bribed him with a golden ring now
ferried across isis assumed a new form
that of a beautiful woman
knowing set to be lecherous and
insatiable when it came to matters of
the flesh she knew he would make an
advance as sure as a moth was lured to a
flame set took the bait and began to
flirt with her she used this opportunity
to ensnare set and make a hypocrite of
him in the guise of a beautiful woman
she supplicated set asking him to
intercede on her behalf she explained
that a stranger came by after her
husband died
the stranger staked claim to the cattle
herd that was bequeathed by rite of
blood to her son
when the boy protested the stranger
threatened him with violence she
proceeded to beg set to restore her
son's inheritance set spurred on by his
loins feigned indignation exclaiming
that someone couldn't claim that herd of
cattle while the sun was alive by
declaring these words set had just
condemned his own seizing of horus's
throne having extracted what she sought
isis promptly transformed herself into a
kite and let the wind blow her away
news of seth's hypocrisy reached the
other gods winning them over to horus's
side unfortunately though the struggle
was not destined to end so simply just
before horus was to be crowned set
barged in and challenged horus to a
series of contests to determine once and
for all who the rightful king of the
earth was for the first challenge horus
and seth transformed themselves into
hippos and fought each other in the
waters of the nile and set declared that
whoever was able to last for three
months would be declared the winner the
situation grew more complicated by
isis's inability to resist intervening
on her son's behalf she conjured a magic
harpoon and threw it with the intention
of impaling set but the two gods were
fighting furiously and the waters
churned around them she missed
accidentally striking horus using her
magic she quickly retrieved the weapon
and launched it a second time this time
the harpoon impaled set but he cried out
asking why it was that she was always
against him his words moved her and so
using her magic she retrieved the spear
for a second time horus interpreted this
act of compassion as a betrayal he flew
into a rage jumped up on the riverbank
and lopped off his mother's head with a
single slash of his dagger then
proceeded to take the head and wander
off into the mountains
isis who used her magic to restore
herself was more or less unfazed but ra
was infuriated he ordered the gods to
scour the land and find horus it would
happen that set was the one to find him
he descended upon horus while he was
sleeping under a tree and ripped out his
eyes leaving him blind and alone set
then buried horace's eyes in the desert
and a lotus flower blossomed where each
one was planted
zet returned and reported that he had
failed to locate horus as all the others
had only hathal refrained from calling
off her search she eventually found
horus in the desert and treated his
bleeding sockets with the milk of a
nearby gazelle restoring horus sight the
two of them returned to the other gods
and recounted what set had done
ra and the other gods were horrified but
by this time horus was also out of favor
on account of decapitating his mother
and so the struggle of a succession
continued at this juncture the
protracted contest between horus and set
had been going on for decades the gods
were fatigued by the incessant quarrel
so ra ordered there to be peace between
horus and set rather than being an
effective ceasefire this created an
opportunity that set conniving as ever
could exploit he played the part of the
object and invited horus to his home
under the pretense of friendship but of
course this was just a ruse meant to
lull horace's suspicions so that set
could get the better of him set attacked
horus when he was sleeping and raped him
horus wasn't wholly unprepared though
and he managed to catch set seed in his
hand horus fled and immediately sought
out his mother isis fully understood the
hazards of set seed she chopped off
horace's hand threw it into the nile and
then used her magic to instantly grow
him a new one now that horace's hand was
no longer contaminated isis had a moment
to collect her thoughts and hatch a plot
of her own she took some of horus's seed
and applied it to the favorite lettuces
that set eight each day and so seth
became pregnant the next time set and
horus were before the council zett
thought that he had gained an advantage
over his nephew he was eager to recount
his sexual domination of horus but this
was not to be his day horus asked the
council to cool forth both his and set
seed to set chagrin his seed answered
from the nile horus on the other hand
answered from within set thoth then drew
horus's seed to set's forehead where it
took on the appearance of a golden sun
which was interpreted as a divine symbol
of horus's right to rule this was not to
be the punctuating event in this
struggle though another challenge ensued
in which set proposed that he and horace
each craft a ship from stone and race
them down the nile
horus built a ship of pine and then
plastered over it to give the appearance
of stone
set lopped off a whole mountain and used
it to build a much larger ship as soon
as the race began set's ship sank to the
bottom however horace had little time to
enjoy his superior position because set
transformed into a hippo and charged
horus ship destroying it horace's
retaliation to this was to harpoon set
but the other gods intervened before the
situation could get any more out of
control following this altercation horus
presented himself before neath the
goddess of wisdom he begged guidance of
her saying that he was at his wit's end
with his contest for the throne that he
and seth had been vying for it for 80
years that he had notched his belt with
countless victories but was no nearer to
claiming the kingship than he was at the
start and that set showed disdain for
the council never adhering to what it
decreed
horus's words and the conviction behind
them found their way to the council's
ears the gods were moved by what they
had heard and besides they were all
eager for this contest to be put to rest
before any final decision was made thoth
counseled ra to consult osiris so a
messenger was dispatched to the
underworld having braved the perilous
journey both in and out of the
underworld the messenger returned with
osiris's reply osiris took the part of
his son unsurprisingly and then scolded
the gods for not supporting horus and
claiming his birthright
ra unaccustomed to being spoken to like
this sent back an angry reply to this
osiris responded that his realm was host
to many demons he threatened to unleash
them on the world of the living so that
they could bring back the hearts of the
unjust to him hearing this none wanted
to arouse osiris's ire horus was finally
proclaimed king and set was brought
before him bound in chains set finally
conceded as a constellation set is
allowed to join ra in the sky the god of
storms and that's it for this video if
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