The Egyptian myth of the death of Osiris Alex Gendler
It was a feast like Egypt
had never seen before.
The warrior god Set and his wife,
the goddess Nephtys,
decorated an extravagant hall
for the occasion,
with a beautiful wooden chest
as the centerpiece.
They invited all the most important gods,
dozens of lesser deities,
and foreign monarchs.
But no one caused as big a stir as Set
and Nephtys’s older brother Osiris,
the god who ruled all of Egypt
and had brought prosperity to everyone.
Set announced a game—
whoever could fit perfectly in the chest
could have it as a gift.
One by one, the guests clambered in,
but no one fit.
Finally, it was Osiris’s turn.
As he lay down, everyone could see
it was a perfect fit—
another win for the god
who could do no wrong.
Then Set slammed the lid down
with Osiris still inside, sealed it shut,
and tossed it into the Nile.
The chest was a coffin.
Set had constructed it specifically
to trap his brother
and planned the party to lure him into it.
Set had long been jealous
of his brother’s successful reign,
and hoped to replace
him as the ruler of all Egypt.
The Nile bore the coffin out to sea
and it drifted for many days
before washing ashore near Byblos,
where a great cedar grew around it.
The essence of the god within
gave the tree a divine aura,
and when the king of Byblos noticed it,
he ordered the tree cut down
and brought to his palace.
Unbeknownst to him,
the coffin containing Egypt’s
most powerful god was still inside.
Set’s victory seemed complete,
but he hadn’t counted on his sisters.
Set’s wife Nephtys was also his sister,
while their other sister,
the goddess Isis,
was married to their brother Osiris.
Isis was determined to find Osiris,
and enlisted Nephtys’s help
behind Set’s back.
The two sisters took the shape
of falcons and travelled far and wide.
Some children who had seen
the coffin float by
pointed them to the palace of Byblos.
Isis adopted a new disguise
and approached the palace.
The queen was so charmed
by the disguised goddess
that she entrusted her
with nursing the baby prince.
Isis decided to make the child immortal
by bathing him in flame.
When the horrified queen
came upon this scene,
Isis revealed herself
and demanded the tree.
When she cut the coffin from the trunk
and opened it,
Osiris was dead inside.
Weeping, she carried his body
back to Egypt and hid it in a swamp,
while she set off in search
of a means of resurrecting him.
But while she was gone,
Set found the body
and cut it into many pieces,
scattering them throughout Egypt.
Isis had lost Osiris for the second time,
but she did not give up.
She searched all over the land,
traveling in a boat of papyrus.
One by one, she tracked down
the parts
of her husband’s dismembered body
in every province of Egypt,
holding a funeral for each piece.
At long last, she had recovered
every piece but one—
his penis,
which a fish in the Nile had eaten.
Working with what she had, Isis
reconstructed and revived her husband.
But without his penis,
Osiris was incomplete.
He could not remain among the living,
could not return to his old position
as ruler of Egypt.
Instead, he would have to rule over Duat,
the realm of the dead.
Before he went, though, he and Isis
conceived a son to bear Osiris’s legacy—
and one day, avenge him.