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The Murder of Osiris and his Rebirth
The ancient Egyptians were a well developed society and wrote this myth to explain their culture, many modern Egyptologists believe this to be true. Osiris is the king of gods, and the afterlife in Egyptian mythos. It was also probably written to talk about their knowledge of medicine. This myth has changed greatly since its origin in ancient Egypt, since then one of its most obvious changes is how Osiris was murdered.
The original myth was thought up in 24th century BCE (before current era). The myth comes in four parts: the death and resurrection of Osiris, the birth of Horus, the conflict between Horus and Sethe (Set), and the resolution. In the original version Osiris was murdered by Set while Set was in the form of a vicious monster. In the version we commonly know Set tricked Osiris into laying down into a coffin. Set then kicks the coffin down into the Nile. The pose that Osiris is always depicted in may be related to our version of the myth. Osiris is depicted as a someone in a straight posture with crook and flail crossed on his chest. In the chaos that ensues after the event Isis (the wife of Osiris ) escapes, in the original she escaped and searched for the body of Osiris and in one version of the myth revives him with the help of other gods and then copulates with him and so becomes pregnant with Horus. ( later to be known as the avenger). Yet in our version Horus was already born and also escaped. In both versions Isis nurtures Horus to maturity to face off against Set. In the original Isis was helped by many gods, such as Thoth, Set’s wife Nephthys, and Anubis. In Horus’s youth he was beset by many diseases. Isis would cast healing spells to help cure him which was very prevalent in Egyptian culture. In our rendition of the myth Horus and Isis just ran around a lot trying to escape the forces of Set.
Then when Horus was old enough to confront Set for dominance of the kingdom. In the original version the conflicts were generally challenges of some sort such as turning into hippos and fighting each other. In between one of the challenges Set asks Horus to have sex with him. Horus agrees as long as Set gives Horus some of his power. However according to Egyptian culture semen is a volatile and dangerous (which means they must have known something about sexually transmitted diseases). Horus becomes sick due to this but Isis cures him. In revenge Isis poisons Set’s lettuce with Horus’s semen. In the next conflict Set was impregnated. The child appears as a golden disk and shows that Set has lost. Thoth takes the golden disk and places it over his head. Our version does not even have this sequence of events in it, the fight between them is really condensed and not as many challenges happened. Another major event in the origin of this myth was when Horus injures or steals one of Sets testicles. In retaliation Set tears out one Horus’s eyes, because of what Horus rules over (the sky) and his eyes are considered to be the sun and the moon. This says why there are eclipses. Our version does not have this event in it.
Finally Horus is declared king, and even in the original there was differences in the stories. Due to how the Egyptians saw the world however it almost always had a duality in the story. In one of them Horus controlled the area by the Nile and Set controlled everything around that area (the desert). While in another one Horus controls the ground while Set controls the sky. In our version however Set controls nothing because as the ages went by the Egyptians started to consider him as completely evil and was sometimes even destroyed at the end of the story. Osiris becomes the king of the dead in parallel of Horus being the king of the living. This part has not changed that much since the origin of this story.
The story has greatly changed but much of the idea has stayed the same but it has become more condensed. Egyptologists are still trying to find the meaning of this myth but they are still thinking that it is written about the ancient Egyptians culture. With more information we could expand our understanding of this particular myth
The ancient Egyptians were a well developed society and wrote this myth to explain their culture, many modern Egyptologists believe this to be true. Osiris is the king of gods, and the afterlife in Egyptian mythos. It was also probably written to talk about their knowledge of medicine. This myth has changed greatly since its origin in ancient Egypt, since then one of its most obvious changes is how Osiris was murdered.
The original myth was thought up in 24th century BCE (before current era). The myth comes in four parts: the death and resurrection of Osiris, the birth of Horus, the conflict between Horus and Sethe (Set), and the resolution. In the original version Osiris was murdered by Set while Set was in the form of a vicious monster. In the version we commonly know Set tricked Osiris into laying down into a coffin. Set then kicks the coffin down into the Nile. The pose that Osiris is always depicted in may be related to our version of the myth. Osiris is depicted as a someone in a straight posture with crook and flail crossed on his chest. In the chaos that ensues after the event Isis (the wife of Osiris ) escapes, in the original she escaped and searched for the body of Osiris and in one version of the myth revives him with the help of other gods and then copulates with him and so becomes pregnant with Horus. ( later to be known as the avenger). Yet in our version Horus was already born and also escaped. In both versions Isis nurtures Horus to maturity to face off against Set. In the original Isis was helped by many gods, such as Thoth, Set’s wife Nephthys, and Anubis. In Horus’s youth he was beset by many diseases. Isis would cast healing spells to help cure him which was very prevalent in Egyptian culture. In our rendition of the myth Horus and Isis just ran around a lot trying to escape the forces of Set.
Then when Horus was old enough to confront Set for dominance of the kingdom. In the original version the conflicts were generally challenges of some sort such as turning into hippos and fighting each other. In between one of the challenges Set asks Horus to have sex with him. Horus agrees as long as Set gives Horus some of his power. However according to Egyptian culture semen is a volatile and dangerous (which means they must have known something about sexually transmitted diseases). Horus becomes sick due to this but Isis cures him. In revenge Isis poisons Set’s lettuce with Horus’s semen. In the next conflict Set was impregnated. The child appears as a golden disk and shows that Set has lost. Thoth takes the golden disk and places it over his head. Our version does not even have this sequence of events in it, the fight between them is really condensed and not as many challenges happened. Another major event in the origin of this myth was when Horus injures or steals one of Sets testicles. In retaliation Set tears out one Horus’s eyes, because of what Horus rules over (the sky) and his eyes are considered to be the sun and the moon. This says why there are eclipses. Our version does not have this event in it.
Finally Horus is declared king, and even in the original there was differences in the stories. Due to how the Egyptians saw the world however it almost always had a duality in the story. In one of them Horus controlled the area by the Nile and Set controlled everything around that area (the desert). While in another one Horus controls the ground while Set controls the sky. In our version however Set controls nothing because as the ages went by the Egyptians started to consider him as completely evil and was sometimes even destroyed at the end of the story. Osiris becomes the king of the dead in parallel of Horus being the king of the living. This part has not changed that much since the origin of this story.
The story has greatly changed but much of the idea has stayed the same but it has become more condensed. Egyptologists are still trying to find the meaning of this myth but they are still thinking that it is written about the ancient Egyptians culture. With more information we could expand our understanding of this particular myth
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