Osiris was the god who once ruled over Egypt at a time when death had not yet come into the world. People knew nothing about sins; there was no violence, no greed, no envy, no hatred, no other strife between people. People spoke among themselves in the sweet language of poetry; they were always honest and meek. Osiris loved people and taught them the arts of agriculture and irrigation, the wisdom and laws of the gods.

Geb (Earth) and Nut (Sky) were the parents of Osiris and his wife Isis. Since they were gods, there was no sin in their being husband and wife and sister and brother at the same time. The two of them ruled the country, and it prospered; they caused the Nile to flood, leaving fertile silt in the fields, on which crops grew. Their devoted assistant was the god of wisdom, Thoth, who invented writing and numbers, teaching these arts to the first people.

But the gods also had an evil brother, Seth, who reigned in the lifeless desert. Osiris was the ruler of life and creativity, Seth was the ruler of destruction. Seth was so cruel by nature that even at birth he tore a hole in his mother's side. When people learned to irrigate the lands, Seth was angry that Osiris thus reduced his desert possessions. Day by day he became more and more envious of his brother.

Seth looked around his kingdom and saw only sand dunes, scorpions and rocks. He had plenty of time to think, for nothing was happening in his domain. Once he measured the height of Osiris, noticing the shadow of his brother, and built for him a beautiful chest of fragrant wood.

On the eve of the dry season (of course, Set's favorite time of the year), Set gathered the gods for a great feast, placing a chest in the center of the hallway. All the gods admired the chest: it exuded aromas of balsam, cedar and incense. The gods started a game, climbing into the chest in turn. Osiris was late for the feast, and when he arrived, all the other gods were already sitting in the banquet hall. So, Seth and Osiris were alone in the hallway, where there was a chest. Seth persuaded his honest and trusting brother to try to get into the chest. But as soon as Osiris was in the chest, the servants of Set came running, hammered the lid with nails and sealed it with red-hot lead.

Other gods heard the sound of hammers and looked up from the feast. But when they entered the hallway, Set and his minions were already running with the chest into the desert under cover of night. The gods tried to catch up with them, realizing that Osiris was in the chest, but it was too late. In the end, the villains threw the chest into the Nile; by this time Osiris had already died of asphyxiation.

After the death of Osiris, hitherto unknown misfortunes fell upon Egypt. The desert of Set surrounded the fertile lands on all sides; people were in danger of starvation. Then people began to fight among themselves for food and steal. Mothers could not sleep at night because of the crying of hungry children. With the decline of agriculture and irrigation, the sand kingdom of Seth began to grow and almost reached the banks of the Nile. The despair was so great that people began to envy the dead.

Isis, her sister Nephthys (who was Seth's wife) and the wise Thoth set off in search of Osiris through all of Egypt, following the course of the Nile. The chest went down the river, passed the delta and ended up in the Mediterranean Sea. He finally sailed to Byblos, which was ruled by King Melqart and Queen Astarte.

After some time, a tree grew next to the chest. It grew and turned into a large tree, the roots of which sprouted through the chest. Thanks to the fragrant wood from which the chest was made, the tree began to exude a fragrance that glorified it throughout the world. Isis heard about this miracle and realized that the description of this fragrance resembles the fragrance of a chest.

On the way to Byblos, Isis cut off a lock of her hair as a sign of grief. He advised her to rest on an island in the papyrus-covered swamps in the Nile Delta. Seven scorpions accompanied Isis on her journey. While she was resting in the house of a pious woman, one of the scorpions bit the woman's son, and the boy died. Touched by the mother's weeping, the goddess revived the child.

Before Isis reached Byblos, King Melqart and Queen Astarte decided that the famous tree was one of the treasures of their kingdom and ordered it cut down. They made a column out of it in the royal palace. So, when Isis arrived in Byblos, only a fragrant stump remained from the tree. The goddess sat on this stump for many months without saying a word.

When Melqart and Astarte heard of the beautiful outlander—perhaps a goddess—they immediately sent for her. Isis came to the royal palace and laid her hand on the head of the queen; and immediately the body of Astarte began to exude a sweet aroma. Isis began to feed the queen's child with her finger, just as other women breastfeed their children. She became the nurse of the king's son and remained to live in the palace.

One night, Isis furtively cut the wood from the pillar containing Osiris and threw them into the fire. The wood from contact with the body of Osiris was miraculously transformed, so that when it burned, it was possible to touch this fire without any harm. Isis lowered the king's son into the fire to warm him, and the child remained unharmed.

But then Queen Astarte entered the hall and, horrified at the sight of her child in the fire, snatched him from the hearth. Isis took the form of a swallow and began to fly around the column. She spoke to Astarte's heart, explaining to her that if the child had remained in the fire a little longer, he would have become immortal; now he will be granted simply a long life. Then Isis again took on human form and told Astarte the whole story of Osiris. In the morning, King Melkart ordered to split the column and get the chest.

Isis returned to Egypt with a chest. Opening it, she found that the body of Osiris had not decayed, but was perfectly preserved. She embraced the lifeless body of her husband, kissed him, breathing life into him, and Osiris came to life. Still fearful of the cruel Set, they hid from him and lived hidden.

But Seth quickly learned that Osiris had revived, for the sands immediately receded and the harvest began to grow again. People again began to live in peace with their neighbors. Of course, Set began to plot a new murder of his brother. One day, under the guise of hunting gazelles, Set approached the sleeping Osiris and cut his brother's body into fourteen pieces, scattering them all over the earth. To this day, these fourteen places are considered in Egypt to be the "tombs" of Osiris. With the death of Osiris, evil returned to the country again, although to a lesser extent than last time.

Isis traveled throughout Egypt to collect the fourteen pieces of the dismembered body of Osiris. She found them and put them together on an island in the middle of the Nile. When the parts of Osiris' body were reunited, the world returned to Egypt again. But Isis heard a voice that told her that this world would not last: Set had already poisoned the hearts of people. But still, evil will never completely take possession of people. The soul of Osiris went to the land of the dead, where he became the King of the Dead and the Great Judge, and from now on, mortal men and women could achieve soul immortality after death, so that their bodies and souls would be reunited at resurrection. While Set brought sin into the world, Osiris brought hope.

Shortly after Osiris became king of the Underworld, Isis gave birth to a child who was named Horus. Nephthys and Thoth took care of her and raised her child. Horus was destined to avenge his father by leading a campaign of gods and men against Set. After the birth of Horus, the power of Set was no longer undivided. But Set sent a scorpion that bit Horus and killed him.

Isis began to pray to Ra, the god of the Sun, who sent Thoth to teach her spells that could revive the boy. The fact that Horus spent some time in the land of the dead did him good: after all, he was able to meet his father Osiris there and learn wisdom from him. Horus is considered the patron of the reigning pharaoh and the guardian of the welfare of Egypt.

Laws of Osiris

Osiris instituted the laws that governed the land of the dead. Each person has three parts - the body, the spirit - "ka" and the spirit - "ba". After death, the "ka" continues to live, and the body is preserved through mummification, for this is the property and abode of the "ka". When Osiris calls the dead to resurrection, the "ka" will completely take over the body.

At the moment of death, the "ka" leaves the body and goes to judgment. The soul wanders through the halls of the palace of Osiris, where the evidence of the life of the soul is first examined by forty-two officials. These officials are absolutely impartial: the position that a person held during his lifetime does not in any way affect the decision of the posthumous court. But the final verdict on the soul is passed by the three judges of the dead, seated in the Hall of Two Truths.

These judges are the gods Horus, Anubis and Thoth. Thoth, the god of wisdom, puts on one scale, against the evidence of the life of the soul, pure white feather, symbolizing Maat - "truth". If the soul honestly declares that it is not guilty of any of the forty-two sins, He takes it to the throne of Osiris, who from now on rules over this soul, which is in eternal bliss, and who will one day resurrect the body of this person, reuniting it with the soul.

If a person is guilty of less than half of the forty-two sins, He turns to Osiris with a request to allow this soul to eternal bliss. In such cases, the decisive evidence will be the testimony of the heart - the intention of a person. Some even claim that hot and cold hearts are weighed on different scales.

If the soul has committed more than half of the forty-two sins and if a person has a cold heart, Osiris either orders her to incarnate again and pay for her sins with hard work on earth, or send her to hell, where she must be cleansed of sins, and then undergo a second judgment. .

In Egyptian burials, food and personal items are found that were placed there along with the body. This was necessary to maintain the life of the “ka” spirit, which does not require much food, and also for the day when Osiris resurrects the body. The body was mummified in imitation of the undecayed body of Osiris.

The Egyptians, when referring to recently deceased people, often referred to them as "Osiris", just as modern people they are called "the dead".

Osiris and his wife, the goddess Isis, are undoubtedly the most important and colorful figures of the Egyptian pantheon, and the legend about them, according to Turaev (Boris Alexandrovich Turaev is a Russian historian, creator of the national school of history of the Ancient East, in particular, Ancient Egypt and Nubia), - "The main myth of the Egyptian religion, which is central to the entire culture of the Egyptians." There is a voluminous research literature about Osiris, containing few contradictory judgments and conclusions. It is necessary to say about what we know about the surviving sources about these deities. These are the “texts of the pyramids”, “texts of sarcophagi”, “the book of the dead”, “the tale of Horus and Set”, the Bremner-Rind papyrus, where there is a cry of Isis and Nephthys for the deceased Osiris; a stele known in science as "Horus on Crocodiles", containing two interesting information: about Isis and 7 scorpions, and about the stay of Isis and her son Horus in the swamps of the Delta. It is also impossible to mention the “monument of Mimphic theology”, which was mentioned in the chapter on Memphis and the god Ptah. The listed and other Egyptian texts contain very interesting, highly informative, but, unfortunately, fragmentary material about Osiris. Nevertheless, this myth is well known from the famous work of Plutarch "On Osiris and Isis" written already at the beginning of our era, in the first century.

Main actors

Osiris is one of ancient gods Egypt, originally a chthonic deity of fertility, associated with grain, plant growth, the flood of the Nile. The cult of the god comes from the city of Jeddu (Busiris) in the Delta, where he was identified with the local deity Anejti, who originally owned the scepter and whip of Osiris. The centers of the cult of Osiris, whose body parts are said to have been scattered throughout the country by his murderer Seth, were traditionally founded by the goddess Isis where she found fragments of his flesh. Thus, Busiris was considered the seat of the Osiris spine, or the pillar of Djed, the famous symbol, one of the main meanings of which was stability and inviolability, and the island of Abaton - "forbidden", located next to the island of Isis Philae - the receptacle of the heart of God.

The main cult center of Osiris in the south of the country is the ancient Abydos Abjiu, which in the era of the Middle Kingdom was penetrated by the cult of the god who displaced and absorbed the ancient Khentimentiu. Abydos is the city where the god's head was buried.

Osiris was depicted as a mummy holding the royal scepters heket and nekhekhu. An important attribute of Osiris is the atef crown, consisting of a high pin-shaped central part, framed by two ostrich feathers and sometimes supplemented with ram's horns and a solar disk. The body color of Osiris can be white, like burial shrouds, and more often black, like the fertile Egyptian land, or green, as a sign of the rebirth of the forces of nature.

For all the significance of the functions of Osiris as the ruler of fertility and the funeral cult, the most important aspect of his essence was the revival of vitality as a result of the victory over death and the acquisition of eternal life. Already from the era of the V dynasty (2504 - 2347 BC), the deceased king was identified with Osiris, while the living ruler was identified with his son and heir Horus. Over time, in the process of democratization of views on the funeral cult, by the First Intermediate Period (2170 - 2025 BC), each deceased received the opportunity to be reborn in the guise of Osiris, according to the Texts of the sarcophagi. The famous address "Osiris such and such", usually referring to the deceased, identified him with the deity.

Isis

Isis (Isis) - one of the greatest goddesses of antiquity, who became a model for understanding the Egyptian ideal of femininity and motherhood. She was revered as the sister and wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus, and, accordingly, of the Egyptian kings, who were originally considered the earthly incarnations of the god Thoth. Initially, Isis was revered in the northern part of the Nile Delta and the center of her cult was the city of Buto. She probably personified the sky, and her very name (Egypt. Iset, “throne”, “place”) hinted at the birth of the solar god Horus by her. The symbol of Isis was the royal throne, the sign of which is often placed on the head of the goddess. From the era of the New Kingdom, the cult of the goddess began to be closely intertwined with the cult of Hathor, as a result of which Isis sometimes wears a headdress in the form of a solar disk framed by cow horns. The sacred animal of Isis as the mother goddess was considered the "great white cow of Heliopolis" - the mother of the Memphis bull Apis. Very ancient, the cult of Isis probably comes from the Delta. Here was one of the oldest cult centers of the goddess, Hebet, called by the Greeks Iseum (modern Behbeit el-Hagar), which is currently in ruins. In the Heliopolis theological system, Isis was revered as the daughter of the god Geb and the goddess Nut.

As the wife of Osiris, Isis sometimes perceives his functions. According to the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (who followed the Egyptian tradition), she taught people how to reap, grind grains; The Greeks identified Isis with the goddess Demeter. However, as a rule, Osiris himself performs the functions of the farmer. Along with the idea of ​​the waters of the Nile flowing from the body of Osiris, there was an idea of ​​the flood of the great river, overflowing with the tears of Isis, grieving for her husband.

Isis was the goddess of witchcraft and magic. Together with Thoth, she taught people to perform religious rites, perform miraculous spells and make amulets that save them from troubles. The good goddess explained to women how to properly manage the household.

Initially, he was revered as a Germanic deity who did not belong to the Ogdoad, and as the god of the moon and time, but later he was represented, first of all, as the wisest god who gave people knowledge and writing and was the scribe of the god Ra (in this capacity he was present at the court dead Osiris). In the original belief system, Thoth-Moon was considered the left eye of Horus (the Sun was considered the right eye of Horus), damaged during the battle with Set. Later, in the era of the Old Kingdom, Thoth transformed into a self-sufficient god, who was sometimes called the son of Ra. Being the god of the moon (these functions were increasingly taken over by the son of Amon Khonsu), Thoth, through the phases of this celestial body, was associated with any astronomical or astrological observations, which eventually caused Thoth to turn into the god of wisdom and magic.

In the developed ancient Egyptian mythology He was considered the patron of education and writing. In addition to writing, he was considered the inventor or founder of most religious and daily rituals. Therefore, he took care of the measurements and various events taking place in the world. He was also revered, along with Heh, as the god of time. In the pantheon of the gods, he occupied the place of honor of the scribe, secretary and vizier. supreme god Ra, and together with the goddess of justice and order Maat during the heavenly journey, Ra stood immediately behind him.

The god of chaos and disorder, most often depicted as a man with the head of a mysterious animal, possibly an anteater, but most likely some creature that does not belong to this world. The places of the initial distribution of his cult are considered to be the city of Ombos in the south of Egypt (there he was subsequently supplanted by Khnum), in the north - near Heracleopolis - the Delta. During the period of the Old Kingdom, Set, along with Horus, was considered the patron god of royal power, which is reflected in the Pyramid Texts and in the titles of the pharaohs of the II dynasty (the combination of the names S. and Horus means "king"). Under the Hyksos, Set was identified with their god Baal, the city of Avaris became the place of his cult as the main god. At the beginning of the New Kingdom period, the names "Network" are still quite common; these names were worn by the pharaohs of the 19th dynasty: Seti, Setnakht; Seth was given the epithet "mighty". In the treaty between Ramesses II and the Hittites, Set is mentioned along with the Hittite gods. The set can also appear completely in the form of an animal - with the body of a jackal, a forked tail held high. Set can also take the form of a donkey, a pig, or a hippo. The earliest depiction of Seth is preserved on an ivory carving found in one of the tombs of el-Mahasna, dated to the era of Nagada I (4000-3500 BC). The figure of the sacred animal Set is also preserved on the mace of the archaic king Scorpion (c. 3150 BC)

According to one version, he was born in the area of ​​the city of Su (Fayum). Seth's birthday, which fell on the third of the five epagomenal days, was considered especially unlucky. Pharaoh on this day did not conduct almost any business. Seth was considered the lord of the deserts, everything hostile to the Nile Valley, was revered as the patron of distant countries and foreigners, along with the Syro-Phoenician goddesses Anat and Ashtoret (Astarte), who in the New Kingdom were considered his wives (papyrus Chester-Beatty I).

Symbolism: scepter of Uas and ankh; element - desert, sandstorms.

The color associated with Seth is red-red, the cardinal direction subject to him is south, the plants are lettuce, melons and watermelons. Planet Mercury.

Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris. His name means "height", "heaven". Since Horus was born when Osiris had already died from the machinations of Set, who seized the power of Osiris, the main task of Horus was to restore justice. Like his father, Horus patronizes the power of the pharaoh. The pharaohs are the "servants of Horus", successors to his rule over Egypt. Horus guards the king with his wings. Horus was depicted as a falcon, a man with a falcon's head, a winged sun. Its symbol is a solar disk with outstretched wings. In many areas of Egypt, the veneration of falcon gods has long been widespread, bearing various names, but, as a rule, associated with the sky and the sun. Initially, Horus was revered as a predatory god of hunting, claws digging into prey. When Isis conceived Horus, she retired to the swamps of the Nile Delta. Horus was born there, and Isis raised him. When Horus became an adult, he wanted to force Set to recognize himself as the sole heir of Osiris. In the battle with the killer of his father, Horus lost an eye, but he himself deprived Seth of his masculinity. The eye torn out by Seth, which was miraculous, Horus gave his father to swallow, and he came to life. The resurrected Osiris gave his throne in Egypt to Horus, and he himself became the king of the underworld.

Osiris and Isis are the gods of Ancient Egypt. The myth of Osiris and Isis is one of the more interesting and elaborate in Egyptian mythology. The famous Russian orientalist B. Turaev called it "the main myth of the Egyptian religion, which occupies a central place in the entire culture of the Egyptians."

The myth arose, obviously, in the period of the Old Kingdom (III millennium BC). Its various variants are contained in magical inscriptions on the walls of pyramids and sarcophagi. A more complete and complete presentation of it was made at the beginning of our era by the Greek writer Plutarch.

Osiris

Osiris is one of the ancient Egyptian gods, the god of rebirth, the king of the underworld in ancient Egyptian mythology and the judge of the souls of the dead, originally a chthonic deity of fertility, which was associated with grain, plant growth, and the flood of the Nile. The centers of the cult of Osiris, whose body parts, according to legend, were scattered throughout the country by his killer Set, were traditionally founded by the goddess Isis where she found parts of his flesh. As a rule, he was depicted as a green-skinned mummy wrapped in a white cloth, with free hands, in which he held the symbols of royal power heket and nekhehu.

The image of Osiris is extremely complex and multifaceted. This was noted by the ancient Egyptians themselves. In one of the ancient Egyptian hymns dedicated to Osiris, it is said: "Your nature, O Osiris, is darker than that of other gods." The son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut Osiris was the first Egyptian king. He taught the Egyptians to cultivate the land and bake bread, grow grapes and make wine, mine ore, build cities, heal diseases, play musical instruments, worship the gods.

Set

Set (Seth, Seti) - in the mythology of Ancient Egypt, the god of rage, sandstorms, destruction, chaos, war and death, was part of the Heliopolis Ennead. Initially, he was revered as the "protector of the sun-Ra", the patron of royal power. Brother of Osiris.

Killing Osiris

Evil and treacherous Seth, decided to destroy him. Secretly, he measured the height of Osiris and ordered a box made to measure with a beautiful finish. Then he invited Osiris to his feast. The guests at this feast were at the same time with Seth. At his instigation, they began to admire the box, and Seth said that he would give it to someone who would have it in size. Everyone in turn began to lie down in the box, but it did not fit anyone. When it was Osiris's turn and he lay down in a box made to his measurements, Seth closed the lid, locked the lock, and his accomplices took the box to the Nile and threw it into the water.

Isis

Isis (Isis) - the greatest goddess of antiquity, who became a model for understanding the Egyptian ideal of femininity and motherhood. She was revered as the sister and wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus, and, accordingly, of the kings of Egypt, who were originally considered the earthly incarnations of the god Thoth. Initially, Isis was revered in the northern part of the Nile Delta and the center of her cult was the city of Buto.

Wanderings of Isis

Osiris and Isis fell in love with each other in their mother's womb. In ancient Egypt, marriages between blood relatives were not uncommon, and the Egyptians revered Isis as the embodiment of a faithful, selfless wife.

Upon learning of the death of her husband, Isis went in search of his body in order to bury it in a worthy manner.

The box with the body of Osiris was washed ashore by the waves near the city of Byblos. A large tree grew above him, hiding the box inside its trunk. The local king ordered to cut down a tree and make a column out of it for his palace.

Isis reached the city of Byblos, removed the body of Osiris from the column and took him away by boat to the Nile Delta. There, in solitude, in the middle of the swamps, she began to mourn her husband. Isis' lament for Osiris was translated by Anna Akhmatova:

“... Darkness is around us, although Ra is in heaven,
The sky mingled with the earth, a shadow fell on the earth.
My heart burns with evil separation.
My heart is on fire, because the wall
You cut yourself off from me…”

According to one Egyptian belief, the Nile floods because of the tears of Isis.

Once Seth went hunting and stumbled upon a chest, seeing that it contained the body of his brother, he cut it into 14 pieces and scattered it all over the country. The search for parts of the body of Osiris lasted 12 days. At every place where Isis found any of the parts of the body, she erected a tomb stele so that the cult of Osiris spread throughout Egypt.

The world's first mummy

According to another version of the myth, Isis gathered his body together and said:

“Oh, bright Osiris! Your bones are collected, your body is collected, given your heart your body!"

The god Anubis embalmed the body of Osiris and made the world's first mummy. Since that time, the Egyptians had a custom to mummify the dead, while the priest who oversaw the embalming process had to be in the mask of Anubis - a dog or a jackal.

Isis was miraculously able to conceive a son, Horus, from the deceased Osiris. When Horus grew up, he avenged his father by defeating Set and becoming king of Egypt.

And Osiris became the lord of the underworld and the heavenly judge.

Osiris - god of rebirth, king of the underworld

In the temples dedicated to Osiris, wooden frames were installed, repeating the contours of his body, covered with fertile soil and sown with grain. In the spring, the "body of Osiris" sprouted with young shoots.

The functions of the god-king and the god of vegetation do not contradict each other. According to the idea of ​​the ancient peoples, the leader or king of the tribe was magically connected with earthly fertility. This explains the custom according to which the king should take part in agricultural work at the beginning and end of the annual cycle.

Difficult to understand is the role of Osiris as the ruler of the underworld. The Egyptians believed that all the dead, resurrected behind the grave, not only become like Osiris, but, as it were, turn into him. In funeral texts, the name of the deceased is preceded by the name of Osiris - “Osiris is the name”.

After the wise Thoth won five days from the Moon and added them to solar year, the goddess Nut gained the opportunity to give birth to one child on each of the five New Year's Eve days.

On the first day she gave birth to Osiris. When the baby was born, he cried so loudly that it could mean only one thing: the greatest of gods appeared in the world! At that moment, a voice from above announced:

People and gods! The Lord of All has come to the world!

On the second day, the Choir of Bekhdetsky was born. Horus and Osiris were the sons of Ra.

On the third day, Set (son of Geb), a god in the form of a man with an animal face, with red eyes and red hair (the color of sand), the lord of natural disasters and wars, the god of the dead desert, was born. He emerged from the side of Nut's mother ahead of schedule.

On the fourth day, Isis (Egypt. Iset), the daughter of Thoth, the goddess of marital fidelity, motherhood and love, the protector of the dead at the Afterlife Court, was born. Isis loved her brother and husband Osiris even before birth, when she was in the womb of the goddess Nut.

On the fifth day, the daughter Hebe was born, the sister and wife of Seth Nephthys (Egypt. Nebtoth), who was destined to become, like Isis, the patroness of the dead.

When Osiris matured, he inherited the throne of Geb and became the earthly ruler. The Egyptians in those days were still barbarians and cannibals, so Osiris took up their training. He explained to them what to eat and what not to eat, with the help of Thoth, he established laws, taught them to build irrigation canals, irrigate fields, grow crops and worship the gods.

Wise Thoth helped Osiris in this noble activity: he gave people a language and writing, invented names for them, and names for things; taught the Egyptians crafts, architecture and arts.

Osiris and Thoth ruled in Egypt without any violence against people and never allowed bloodshed. Those were the best times of the Golden Age!

When all the inhabitants of Egypt became literate and order pleasing to the gods was established throughout the country, Osiris decided to go on a missionary journey to neighboring countries, since the rest of the peoples were still in a state of barbarism. Leaving the throne in the care of his wife and sister Isis, he set off, accompanied by singers, musicians and a retinue of minor deities.

God and his retinue walked the earth, singing hymns, and after long wanderings, they transformed the whole world, just as Egypt had once been transformed. Never using force, conquering people only by eloquence and noble deeds, Osiris soon subjugated everything neighboring nations and tribes.

As long as the god traveled, Isis remained in Egypt and ruled the country. Therefore, Isis is considered the incarnation of the throne of Osiris.

Isis and Thoth taught people magic, medicine, sacred spells, taught them to collect medicinal herbs. The goddess passed on to women her ability to run a household and take care of a family.

After Osiris returned from his missionary journey, Seth, secretly in love with Isis, planned to kill Osiris and seize the earthly throne. He entered into an agreement with the queen of Ethiopia, Aso, who supported his intention, and they were joined by 72 more demons who were dissatisfied with the rule of Osiris.

Seth secretly measured the height of Osiris and, according to the measurements taken, made a chest, decorated with gold and patterns from ornamental stones. When the chest was ready, Seth and the rest of the conspirators arranged a grand feast, to which Osiris was also invited.

In the midst of the festivities, Seth brought the chest into the hall. The guests vied with each other to express their admiration for the magnificent product. Then Seth, as if in jest, said:

Lie down in turn in the chest! To whom it fits, he will receive it as a gift.

Drunken guests began to climb into the chest, but for some it turned out to be too big, for others - too small, for others - too wide or too narrow. Finally it was Osiris's turn. Without suspecting anything, the god lay down in the chest. At the same moment, the conspirators slammed the lid, tied the chest with straps, carried it to the River and threw it into the waters of the Tanis mouth. Since then, this mouth was considered by the Egyptians to be hated and cursed.

This happened in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Osiris on the seventeenth day of the month of Atyr.

Upon learning of what had happened, Isis cut her hair, put on mourning clothes and went to look for the chest with the body of Osiris. Beside herself with grief, the goddess lamented.

Crying, Isis went from end to end and asked everyone she met if he had seen the chest. But no one could say anything comforting to the grief-stricken goddess. Isis traveled many roads, went around many villages and cities, asked many people before she met those who helped her - a noisy gang of children who saw the chest float down the river to the sea.

Thanking the children, Isis cast a magic spell that her father had taught her, wise god He, and immediately guessed that the chest should be looked for on the coast of Waj-Ur, in the Phoenician city of Gebal (Byblos), where it was washed by the current.

River waves carried the chest with the corpse of Osiris to the banks of Gebal, threw it on land, and the chest remained lying on a young sprout of heather. While Isis wandered, the heather managed to grow, became tall, surrounded the chest and hid it inside its trunk. And after some time, King Gebal Malakavdr, walking, saw a beautiful tree and ordered him to cut down and make a column out of it for his palace.

When Isis, having come to Gebal, found out about this, she sat exhaustedly by the spring and wept from hopeless despair.

At this time, the servants of Astarte, the queen of Gebal, came to the source. They heard the goddess crying, approached her and asked why she was crying. Isis entered into a conversation with them. The girls turned out to be kind and sympathetic, the goddess liked them, and she, wanting to do something pleasant for them, braided their hair and saturated their skin with a divine aroma.

When the girls returned to the palace and told everything to Astarte, the queen was inflamed with a desire to see a stranger whose hair and skin smelled like ambrosia. They sent for Isis, and the goddess, accompanied by the royal servants, soon came to the palace.

Astarte liked her very much, and Queen Gebala appointed her the main nanny and nurse of her recently born son.

Isis fell in love with the king's sons and decided to grant immortality to the baby. She did not nurse him, but let him suck the finger of her divine hand; at night, she lowered the little prince into a magical flame, which she kindled in the hearth, and the fire burned the mortal parts of his body. While the child was lying in the fire, Isis, turning into a swallow, flew around the heather column crying.

This went on for many nights in a row. But one day, Queen Astarte wanted to see how a foreigner was caring for her child. Creeping up to the chambers where the little prince was, Astarte slightly opened the door, carefully looked inside and, seeing that her beloved child was on fire, let out a heart-rending cry. This cry destroyed the magical spell of Isis, and the opportunity to grant immortality to the child was lost forever.

The angry queen demanded immediate explanations from Isis, and the goddess had no choice but to open up to Astarte.

Unhappy! Isis exclaimed. - Why did you disturb me? Know: I am Isis, the great goddess of magic, charms and sorcery. I wanted to make your son immortal; woe to you! Because of you, my spell has lost its power, and your son, like all people, will grow old and die.

Now give me the pillar that adorns your palace, and I will leave Gebal.

Frightened to death, the queen fell prostrate before the goddess. Isis easily tore the heather column out of the ground, cut the wood and removed the chest. She leaned her face against him and screamed so piercingly that the youngest royal son could not bear her cry and immediately died.

So Astarte was punished for interfering with the goddess.

Isis poured sweet oil on the chopped heather trunk, covered it with flax, and gave it to Malacandra and Astarte. Since then, the wooden pillar of Djed has been the symbol of Osiris.

King Malacandus equipped a ship for Isis and sent his eldest son to accompany the goddess on the voyage. When the ship set sail from the shore, Isis opened the chest and, seeing the dead Osiris, burst into tears. The son of Malacandra, out of curiosity, approached the goddess: he wanted to see what was in the chest. Isis turned to the prince and fixed him with such an angry look that the young man immediately collapsed dead.

Upon returning to Egypt, Isis hid the chest with the body of Osiris in the Nile Delta, in the reeds.

Even before Set killed his brother, Set's wife, Nephthys, fell in love with Osiris. Having assumed the form of Isis, she came at night to his bed, and from this connection the great god Duat Anubis (Egypt. Inpu) was born.

Fearing that Set would avenge her betrayal and kill the baby Anubis, Nephthys deceived her husband, assuring him that he, Set, was the father of Anubis.

When Set killed Osiris, Nephthys fled from him and joined Isis.

One day, Seth went on a night hunt in the Nile Delta and there, wandering through the reeds, he accidentally stumbled upon a chest hidden by Isis. He untied the straps, threw back the lid and, seeing the dead Osiris, became furious. Spouting curses, the villain drew his sword, cut his brother's body into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt.

Having learned about a new trouble, Isis went in search of the remains of her beloved husband. She made a papyrus boat and sailed in it through rivers and swamps. Isis was helped in everything by Nephthys, who fled from Seth.

The search for parts of the body of Osiris continued for twelve days. At every place where Isis found any of the parts, she placed a grave stele, so that Set would think that Osiris was buried, and so that the cult of Osiris would spread throughout Egypt.

The only part of the body that Isis could not find was the phallus: it was eaten by fish - lepidotus, oxirhynchus and frag. Since then, the Egyptians despise these fish and disdain them.

Isis fashioned the phallus out of clay, consecrated it, and attached it to the collected body of Osiris.
Then Isis smeared the corpse of Osiris with divine oils, thereby protecting it from decay. In the creation of this first mummy on earth, Isis was helped by Nephthys, Thoth and Anubis, an expert on the secrets of embalming.

After 70 days, the mummy was made. Isis and Nephthys began to mourn for their beloved husband and brother.

Isis was very sad because during the life of Osiris she did not have time to give birth to his son. But, knowing the magic and secrets of witchcraft, she was able to conceive a child from a dead husband. Turning into a female kite - the bird Hut, Isis spread her wings over the mummy of Osiris, uttered magic words and became pregnant.

Upon learning that Isis had betrayed the remains of Osiris to burial, Seth went berserk and ordered her to be imprisoned. Even the very thought that Osiris was given funeral honors was unbearable for the villain, but he did not suspect that the body of Osiris was restored.

With the help of Thoth, Isis managed to escape from custody. She hid in the swamps of the Delta of the Great River and there she bore Horus, the rightful heir to the throne of Osiris.

Literature: Rak I.V. "Myths of Ancient Egypt", St. Petersburg: Petro-RIF Publishing House, 1993. Translations of fragments of ancient Egyptian texts - Mathieu M.E. and Pavlova O.I.

Quoted from: Plutarch. 12-17 with additional details from various ancient Egyptian texts

The earthly reign of Osiris and the conspiracy of Set

After the wise Thoth won five days from the Moon and added them to the solar year, the sky goddess gained the opportunity to give birth to one child on each of the five New Year's Eve days.

On the first day she gave birth to Osiris (Egypt. Us And p(e)). When the baby was born, he cried so loudly that it could mean only one thing: the greatest of gods appeared in the world! At that moment, a voice from above announced:

People and gods! The Lord of All has come to the world!

ill. 84. Set in the form of a stylized animal (giraffe?). Alabaster figurine; XXVI dynasty; Pushkin Museum.

At every place where Isis found any of the parts, she erected a tomb stele so that Set could not find a real tomb and so that Osiris would be revered in all the nomes of Egypt and in all cities. The only part that Isis could not find was the phallus: it was eaten by fish - oxirhynchus (Greek; Egyptian. Hut; ill. 171 on p. 241), lepidotus (ill. 172 on p. 242) and farg. Since then, the Egyptians despise these fish and disdain them.

ill. 94. Mummification and mourning of the deceased, identified with Osiris. On burial bed- a mummy, a priest - Anubis - puts on shrouds, mourners are depicted with hieroglyphs of Isis (on the right) and Nephthys. Drawing of a relief from the western wall of the rock tomb of the dignitary Pennut in Anibe; XX dynasty.

Isis fashioned the phallus out of clay, consecrated it, and attached it to the collected body of Osiris. Therefore, the Egyptians celebrate a festival in honor of the phallus (Appendix II-D).

Then the goddess smeared the corpse of Osiris with divine oils, thereby protecting it from decay. In the creation of this first mummy on earth, Isis was helped by her sister Nephthys and the son of Nephthys, an expert on healing herbs and the secrets of embalming Anubis (ill. 94).

After 70 days, the mummy was ready. Isis and Nephthys began to mourn their beloved brother (ill. 95, 96):

ill. 95. Isis and Nephthys mourn for Osiris.
ill. 96. Isis and Nephthys in the form of birds mourn Osiris.

Together with the two sisters, the spirits of the city of Pe were grieving. Hearing the lamentations of Isis and Nephthys, they came to the body of Osiris and became dance[dance of sadness, beating]<...> their bodies[hitting]<...> clap[tore] their hair*.

Isis was very sad because during the life of Osiris she did not have time to give birth to a son. But, knowing the secrets of magic and witchcraft, she could conceive a child from her husband's mummy. Turning into a female kite - the bird Hut, Isis spread her wings over the mummy of Osiris, uttered magic words and became pregnant.

See note. 17 on p. 34. According to Plutarch, Haroeris (Egypt. Harver) is born on the second day. In the same fragment (12), Plutarch calls Haroeris the son of Isis and Osiris, thus identifying him with Horus, the son of Isis.

“Some say that this is the period of his life, and not his reign” ( Plutarch. 13).

Greek mourning custom. Compare, however, Herodotus. II. 65 - App. II-E.

Waj-Ur - literally: "Great Greenery" - the sea, in this case the Mediterranean.

Plutarch has heather (a rare variety of tree-like heather).

Different sources give a different number of days during which Isis collected the remains of Osiris. Together, the search and mummification lasted 70 days (the time during which Sirius is not visible).