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Today's Topics: 

Osiris, Isis, and Horus (continued)

After Horus apologizes to his mother and relinquishes her head, he rests outside, only to be attacked by Set, who plucks out his eyes.  Hathor comes to the rescue and cures Horus before they re-enter the court chambers.  The Ennead tell both Horus and Set to make nice and to celebrate together.  Horus and Set throw a party, where Set eats only lettuce and Horus drinks too much.  Set convinces Horus that they should share the same bed, especially if they are supposed to rule together side-by-side.  After all, they spent 16,000 years sleeping beside each other in Nut's cosmic womb, so what harm could one more night bring?  However, in the middle of the night, Set sexually violates Horus by placing his semen into Horus' cupped hands.  When Horus awakens, he is horrified at the sight and runs to his mother, who cuts off his hands, discards them into the river, and cleanses his body.  She also stimulates her son so that she can collect his semen, which she pours into the lettuce patch.  When Set eats the lettuce, he becomes "pregnant," but does not know it.

Interestingly, these ancient cultures considered lettuce to be an aphrodisiac (sexual stimulant).  It really isn't, but the Egyptians and Mesopotamians thought that it was based on the milky substance that oozes out of the pores in the lettuce when it is plucked from the base of the plant.  The milky substance resembles both mother's milk and a man's seminal fluids.  Eat all the lettuce you want!

In court, Set believes that he will finally attain the throne after he tells the Ennead that Horus has received the "labor of the male," causing the Ennead to spit and hiss at Horus.  However, Horus asks Thoth to "call" the semen of each god.  When Thoth calls for Set's semen, it answers from the marshy bog, where Isis had discarded it.  When Thoth calls Horus' semen, it asks where it should exit Set's body.  Emerging as a gold sun disk, the semen rises above Set to represent the power of life and regeneration.  The Ennead, of course, side with Horus.  Set, not to be defeated, then suggests racing in stone boats.  He clearly doesn't "get it," does he?

In the section entitled "The Slaughter of Set's Monsters," Horus embarks on the boat of Ra to use as a battleship against Set and his army.  At the prow is Horus, whose two eyes emerge as two warrior goddesses -- Nekhebet (the vulture goddess) and Utachet (the cobra goddess), both of whom attack and enemies that are directly in front of the boat.  This is very similar to Set's main duty at the front of the solar barque, attacking the monsters that attempt to steal the sun disk.  The demonic appearance is supposed to evoke fear, and can be described as Horus' "game face."

As the battle continues, Horus captures Set, whose body is beheaded and dragged in disgrace around town.  This scene was the inspiration of the horrific episode in Homer's Iliad, where Achilles drags the beaten body of Hector around Troy for a week before he runs out of energy.  Why is Horus allowed to desecrate Set's body with the Ennead's blessing?  Good question.  However, just when you want the story to conclude -- surprise!  The dead Set was really an impostor!

In the final battle, the real Set transforms into a giant hippo that straddles the Nile.  Horus himself grows larger and becomes a giant version of himself (sounds like a bad Godzilla movie, eh?).  Against the wishes of the Ennead, Horus thrusts his harpoon into Set's hippo body, killing the antagonist at last.  His body is then fed to the dogs and the vultures, similar to how the evil souls are discarded to the jackals in the Hall of Judgment.

We discussed why the Ennead asks Horus NOT to kill Set in the final battle scene, when the giant Horus slew the red hippo (Set) in the Nile to finish him off (at least until the next page when Set appears again in court).  Why would the Ennead make such a request?  Likewise, why would they not punish Horus after he overtly disobeyed their command?  Several students suggested that Horus was battling set to seek vengeance on his father's death, and therefore he must complete his quest, regardless of what the ineffective court of his elders might say.  This may suggest that family bonds are always stronger than our connection to the state or the law.  Perhaps the Ennead simply wanted to promote a peaceful ending to this war, perhaps fearing that Set would simply return to court with another cock-eyed scheme to steal the throne.

Back one last time in the Hall of Judgment, Horus once again presents his case ... but so does Set!  Why?  As much as we may want him to, Set will never die.  If he did, there would be no dark side of the dualities, and life as we know it would be nonexistent.  Remember that Set plays the role of the destroyer, so he MUST play this role for eternity.

Anyway, Isis complains again, and, like before, the Ennead ferry off to an island without Isis, who once again bribes the ferryman, changes into a young woman, tells Set an analogous story, and Set once again steps into the trap.  This is the last straw for Ra, who finally turns on Set and tells him to give up.  In a bizarre twist, Osiris is then asked who should receive the throne (guess who he wants!).  Set then challenges Osiris to a fight as well.  Seemingly without end, Thoth then breaks out the balance scales, where Osiris' judgment is found to be superior to Set's, finally forcing a contrite Set to step aside.  Horus is then awarded the dual crowns (white and red), he gives his Udjat eye to Osiris, who then completes his journey to the Duat, becoming a god in the heavens with the others.

Set is then given the task of holding one side of the ladder to heaven, with Horus on the other side.  A soul must pass between Horus and Set before climbing the ladder, symbolizing how we all must live through the dualities of this world before we can become unified in the afterlife.  In the end, Set becomes just as important as Horus.  More importantly, Set is allowed to work in a position where he can utilize his strengths in a productive way to the universe.  If his nature is to be combative, then placing him at the front of the solar barque will allow him to protect the sun boat by destroying its fierce enemies who seek to destroy the boat (and the universe as well).  Whenever you see a troublemaker kid (or some rebellious young person who constantly gets in trouble), what we really see is someone who has not found himself or his place/purpose in the world.  Set pushes the limits, causes a lot of heartache, but eventually finds his rightful place amongst the gods.

The Journey to the Duat

This story is something that I cobbled together a few summers ago when I first organized these stories for the unit.  I came across hundreds of little text snippets from pyramids and coffins in ancient Egypt.  When placed in sequence, I found that they told a story of the journey into the afterlife, into the realm of Osiris in the constellation of Orion.  This is called the Duat.

First, we need to see the distinctions amongst the different states of the soul -- the ba, the ka, and the akh.  The BA is the personality of a person, or the memories and influences left behind by someone.  The BA can travel across time and space, just like we still influence others long after they are gone.  For example, the Founding Fathers still leave their thumbprints on America over 225 years later.  The ka is really the "soul" or spirit force that animates the person's body.  It must be nourished after the body's death with food offerings while it waits around for the 70 days before the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony is performed, which releases the ka skyward.  In the heavens, the ka is reformed with a "double" version of the body, so that the pharaoh can become a complete identity once again (akh).

After death, the pharaoh's body would have been mummified.  First, four major organs would be removed from the body and stored in canopic jars for safekeeping.  These jars were decorated with the heads and symbols of the four sons of Horus (which we did not see in any of our stories).  The purposes and explanations of these jars can be seen on the following web page: http://www.akhet.co.uk/4sons.htm

Notice that the initial section, "At the Moment of Death," makes many references to the Great Wheel of the universe, constantly turning.  Time and motion are constant in this journey, and nothing stays the same for very long.  Once liberated from the tomb, the ka soul will be directed skyward, through the channels in the pyramids, that point the spirit to the Duat.  On the upward journey, the soul is offered a ladder to climb.  This ladder is the gateway to the heavens, and it is guarded by both Horus and Set, who hold the ladder steady, one on each side.  This implies that a person must pass through the world of dualities before ascending into the heavens where the king can become unified with the gods.

As the journey begins, we see the king being placed into the Solar Barque, the sun boat of Ra (also called the Boat of a Million Years -- "million" was the Egyptian concept for "eternity").  The boat departs on the abundant water as the sun has set and the twilight ensues. The first five hours of the trip become increasingly dangerous, with serpents and monsters attacking the boat in an attempt to stop its progress.  Set is one of the gods on the boat who uses his daggers to fend off the tyrants who threaten its movement.  Although the first few hours depict oceans of grain being harvested (an agricultural metaphor for dying), the vegetation and water quickly dry up until the boat can no longer float.  It must be dragged across a zig-zag pattern of obstacles that make the journey more difficult and frightening, especially since winged serpents are crawling everywhere.  By the fourth hour, the boat itself transforms into a giant serpent who is better equipped to navigate in the dust.

During the sixth hour, the real fun begins.  At the sixth hour -- or midnight -- we see the world at its darkest and most frightening.  Now the real work begins for the dead king, who must confront hundreds of characters, questions, and quizzes before he is allowed to pass through to the east.  Notice that the boat is constantly traveling to the east.  The boat (sun) sets in the west, but is always moving toward the east, round and round.  Remember when Inanna descended into the underworld?  She traveled to the east in that story too.  We had questioned why death and the east were associated together, but now it makes more sense -- death is a rebirth, not an ending; hence, the easterly flow.

Also during the sixth hour, the king faces many gods who serve as judges and juries.  The king must perfectly name the gods and tell them exactly what they want to hear, lest they be devoured into nonexistence.  The king faces four separate examinations, the last by Thoth who announces the king's presence into the Hall of judgment.  During the "Weighing of the Heart," the king will have his conscience weighed against the white ostrich  feather of Ma'at (justice), and the outcome will be either eternal life or destruction by the Ammut, the "Devourer of the Dead."  Notice that this promotes the greatest of all dualities -- eternal life vs. nonexistence.

Then, the king must face two courts: one where he declares his innocence, and the other where he must name each juror and tell each one what each wants to hear (called the Negative Confessions).  Notice some of the behaviors the king has to tell the judges.  He has to convince them that he has not caused pain, agony, or destruction on earth.  He also has to inform the council that he has not acted or spoken deceitfully or stolen from another person.  A few of these seem impossible for humans to achieve, such as never being angry or increasing his wealth.  If you thought that heaven was difficult to attain in your religion .... try explaining to your God why you committed the sin of "wading in water" or "babbling."

Once the judgment has passed, the king then can relax a bit and enjoy the ride to the sunrise.  The monsters, however, still attempt to attack the boat, but they are warded off by Isis and Set who work together to cast spells to vanquish the foes against the solar barque.  By the eighth hour, the king begins to don his robes of purity so as to be more presentable to the gods in the later hours.

By the eleventh hour, the solar barque arrives at a place where the riders witness the uncoiling of Metwi, the world serpent who encircles the world.  After defeating Apophis, the grand serpent tormentor, a life-giving serpent awaits the king, showing again that serpents are not always bad guys.  The king and the other gods are guided through the serpent through the tail, and then they are birthed out of its mouth on their way to the sunrise.  The boat turns around, sails backwards, lifts up the sun (by the scarab beetle), pushes the solar disk into Shu (the air), and the whole cycle occurs once again.  The pharaoh is welcomed into the Duat with open arms and praises, Osiris once again becomes reborn, and the sun is again journeying across the sky to illuminate and inspire the living one more time.  It all comes full circle, and it won't end for a million years (an Egyptian term meaning forever).

Notice that the aspect of personal responsibility is evident in this culture, a sharp contrast to the more fatalistic views of the Mesopotamians.  Although eternal life was originally relegated to the pharaohs (believed to be the descendants of the gods) the common people gradually began to believe that they too could rise into the skies as gods and live eternally with Osiris.  In order for this to take, the journey had to be filled with danger and various "tests."  Whereas the Mesopotamians thought that they were at the total mercy of the gods, the Egyptians came to understand the god within us all.

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Test 3 Study Guide

Due Next Time:

 

The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor (374-377)

The Tale of the Two Brothers (378-385)

The Book of Thoth (386-392)

Quiz 8

The Story of the Green Jewel (393)

The Wax Crocodile (394)

Tale of the Doomed Prince (395-398)

Egyptian Poetry (399)

Egyptian Love Songs (400-407)

COLOR CODES:
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