Today's Topics: 

We reviewed the second test. Please ask me to explain any questions that you still have regarding the test or how I scored it.

Also, I will post the Osiris, Isis, and Horus story for you online since several students waited until Monday to attempt to purchase their coursepackets. This is the last story that I will post.

Osiris, Isis, and Horus

As the story begins, we once again see Ra as an aging, distant god (Atum) who is jealous of the other gods usurping his power.  He curses Nut, who has become impregnated by three different gods (Ra, Geb, and Thoth), preventing her from giving birth for 16,000 years (imagine that)!  Nut asks Thoth, god of the divine words and wisdom, to help her out, and he does so by playing games with Khons, the moon god, winning tiny slivers of light with each victory at the gaming table.  Using this extra daylight, Thoth gathers enough of it to create five additional days that will be added to the calendar.  Ra's curse cannot apply to these newly created days, so Nut is allowed to give birth to one child on each day. 

The Egyptians, like the Mesopotamians, used magic numbers, including multiples of 6 (such as 6, 36, 360, etc.).  These cultures are still immortalized in the way that we tell time, use trigonometry, and navigate around the globe.  Our 60-second minutes, 60-minute hours, 24-hour day (6x2 hours of daylight and 6x2 hours of night), and the 360-degree compass.  Because 360 days falls five short of a workable calendar, these five extra days became holidays that celebrated each of the five godly children.  Elaborate festivals were thrown for the five divine children on each of these extra days, and any Egyptian who was born on these five special days was considered to be blessed (ironically, the Aztecs also incorporated a calendar with five extra days, but these days were considered to be bad omens, and any children born on these days were considered to be cursed).

First born was Osiris, the great teacher and cultivator of the law (Ma'at).  Osiris' name means "the black fertile land," so we see how this male force embodies the feminine ideals of fertility.  Combining the male and female forces makes Osiris a sort of "creator," and this represents itself during the two scenes where Osiris is brought back to life from the dead.  He used his powers of persuasion to civilize the barbarians (early cultures), teaching them language and the arts.  He represents the black soil -- the fertile and rich color that comes from the yearly floods.  We discussed how Osiris and Thoth used persuasion rather than commands (such as those we see in Genesis).  Persuasion does not guarantee that someone will listen to you, but by giving other people their own choice in the matter they can be held accountable for their own actions.  Thoth persuades the Moon to relinquish its light.  Osiris persuades the people to follow his lead and develop a commitment to agriculture.  

Next came Horus (the Elder), who is an early spiritual version of Horus, the great hero of the story.  Horus is called the "twice born" because he was born in heaven (as the Elder), then on earth (from the union of Osiris and Isis).  The name Osiris is also translated into other names later in history: Zeus and Dionysis (Greece) and Jesus (Christianity).  The name Horus is the root word of "hero" and "horizon," both of which apply to this character exactly, and Horus plays the role of the savior (the Jesus figure) to the letter.

Set was born third.  Many versions of the story show him cutting his way out of Isis' womb.  Set was angry at Ra for cursing Nut and keeping the kids bottled up inside the sky goddess.  He was supposed to be born last, but couldn't wait any longer.  Once born, he devoted his life to fighting against Ra (and then Osiris, since Osiris embodied the traits of Ra more than the others).  Set is the dark force in this story (chaos, evil, etc.).  He forces his way out of Nut's womb before his time, and his name derives two common names that we still use today: Seth and Satan. I have been reluctant to call various characters "evil," but this character personifies it convincingly.

Fourth, Isis, the great fertility goddess of the green crops.  She will marry Osiris and become a great hero of this myth.  Nephthys, the "lady of the house," is born last.  She will be a great assistant to Isis.  She will also play a role in The Journey to the Duat.  Nephthys married Set, who did not treat her well.

The section "The Birth of Anubis" begins with Nephthys dressing in Isis' robes and perfumes to attract Set, who has been out of the house causing trouble around the world.  When Set comes home and doesn't notice her, Nephthys runs out to the river and cries.  Osiris comes walking by and, thinking that he is consoling Isis, sings songs to cheer up the person whom he thinks is his wife.  They have relations, and Nephthys becomes pregnant.  Since she had to keep the child hidden from Set (who would have killed it), she gave birth to her child in the open desert.  She left the baby to a pack of jackals (wild dogs) to raise as their own.  Therefore, Anubis, the baby, was essentially raised by "wolves."  He is represented as a jackal-headed figure, and an important one during the Weighing of the Heart ceremony.

One day, when Isis was out of town, Set played a trick on Osiris during a party.  Set and his 72 demons (a "precessional number," if you recall) secretly measured Osiris' body and built a custom-made box for him to sleep in.  At the party, Set gets the merrymakers to attempt to fit inside the box, but to no avail.  Only Osiris, who tries it last, fits perfectly.  Once inside, Set and his henchmen seal the coffin with molten lead and cast it into the Nile River.  When Isis hears what happened, she becomes devasted and begins searching for his body everywhere.

Notice how Set uses persuasion to create chaos, unlike the better intentions of Thoth and Osiris.  He really plays the same role as the serpent in Eden, who persuades Eve to ignore a direct command from Yahweh.  Since the serpent and the idea of persuasion are feminine concepts, Eve is the natural recipient of the trick.  Adam obeys commands and is not as easily seduced.  More on this later ....

Set represents the desert landscape, thus his association with the red desert sands.  Historically, since the last Ice Age, Egypt has been transformed from plush rainforest to bone-dry desert.  Set represents the ever-encroaching desert, filled with death and desolation.  We can't get rid of this dark force, so we'll have to learn how to live with it.

Isis gets help from Sobek, a crocodile and friend of Set, who feels pity for Isis.  Nut, the cow, also tells Isis that her husband had sailed down through the Nile Delta, across the Mediterranean Sea, and washed up in a place called Byblos (Syria).  Once she arrives there, she sees a giant tamarisk tree that is miraculously growing in the shallow sands of the delta.  Osiris' coffin has lodged itself in there.  However, King Melcarthus has sent his workers over to the tree to cut it down, with plans to use it as a support beam in Melcarthus' palace.  Isis begs them not to, but to no avail.  Weeping on the river bank, Isis soon sees several handmaidens from the palace bathing in the river.  She cleverly walks over and braids their hair and offers them sweet-smelling perfume.  The girls are giddy, and when they return to the palace, Queen Astarte invites Isis inside and offers the position of caretaker of the children.  Notice that Isis also uses persuasion to gain entry into King Melcarthus' palace, where the box of Osiris' body lay wedged inside the great tree that he uses to support his palace ceiling (with the coffin still hidden inside).

Isis is given the charge of caring for Asarte's two children, the younger of which (Dictys) is very ill.  Isis casts her spells of life on the boy, and, at one point, places the baby in the roaring fire to enact a spell.  Isis transforms herself into a swallow and encircles the tamarisk tree, still housing Osiris' coffin.  Notice how this shows the straight lines (Osiris, male) and circles (Isis, female) interacting in a classic duality.  But Astarte hears the commotion, investigates the room, and finds a horrific scene -- her kid is in the fireplace and a crazy bird flying around.  Because Astarte interrupted the spell, Isis informs her that her son cannot become a god as she had hoped.  (Astarte, by the way, is the Syrian version of Ishtar, as we have seen in the previous unit).

Notice that Isis takes the body of Osiris into the desert.  Why?  She knows that no matter where she takes the body, Set is still lurking around the corner.  She assumes the qualities of a bird (the symbol for divine spirits) to breath life back into Osiris, but only temporarily.  Osiris is rejuvenated just long enough for him to implant his seed into Isis, this forming the hero child Horus (this will be his "earthly" birth, which follows his earlier "heavenly" birth as the brother of the other four divine siblings).  Recall that Isis gained these powers when she forced Ra to divulge his secret name in the story "Isis and the Name of Ra."

Since Osiris cannot remain alive, Isis closes the casket and hides it in a cave. 

Announcements:

The Bookstore has SOLD OUT of the coursepackets, so you will need to place a special order to receive yours. Please read the following if you have not done so already: Ordering the coursepackets.

Due Next Time:

 

Osiris, Isis, and Horus, chaps. 1-25 (295-340)

Quiz 7

The Power of Myth, chapter 7 (Campbell, 231-257)

Play with Metaphors (341)

 

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