The Legend of Osiris

The Egyptian goddess Isis is one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt, and she remains one of the most well known goddesses of this age. Isis is most well known for her role as devoted wife and mother. In the Osiris legend we can see the reasoning behind this pattern of thought.

Isis is one of the five children of Nut, the sky goddess. When Isis was very young she was determined to increase her powers. In order to do so, she would have to get the secret name out from Ra. Isis was clever and used Ra’s own saliva to create an invisible snake that bit him. The God was poisoned and could not heal himself because he didn’t know the nature of the wound. Ra was weak and near the end of his reign, and Isis took advantage of this time. Isis offered to heal Ra if he would tell her his secret name. Faced with death from the unknown wound, Ra told Isis the name and in doing so he transferred his knowledge and power to her.

Isis later married Osiris, and together they ruled over Egypt. Due to Set’s jealousy over the throne Osiris was tricked into climbing in a box. Once he was inside the box, the lid was slammed closed and nailed shut. The box was then covered with melted lead and thrown into the Nile. Isis was furious and grieved for her husband.

Eventually, word reached Isis that Osiris was found in Byblos. Isis traveled to Byblos where she used the magic taught to her by Thoth to bring her husband back to life long enough to conceive a child by him. She hid on the island until she gave birth to her son, Horus.

While Isis was away one day Set found the body of Osiris. He had the body cut into 14 pieces and had them scattered throughout Egypt. Isis returned and was grief stricken. Isis began her search for the body parts of her beloved Osiris. She found all of the pieces except for his manhood, which had been eaten by a crab. With help from several other deities Isis performed the needed magic to rejoin the body parts of her departed husband, Osiris. Isis performed the Rite of Rebirth in order to give Osiris eternal life, at which time Osiris ascended to the immortal world.

Isis stayed in hiding with Horus as he grew and trained. She knew he would need to be strong to regain control of the throne, which was rightfully his. Isis exposed Horus to wild animals and scorpion bites in an effort to give him strength. Each time he was attacked or poisoned he was protected. Osiris, his father, came down to teach him weaponry.

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