Isis and Osiris
The Sunboat of a Million Years
Hail Atum! You shine at dusk! Hail Khepri! You shine at dawn! Hail Re! You shine at noon! You are the First Hill! You give birth to yourself!In the primeval waters, Atum, the One, came into being. He lay in the dark waters listless and weary. Then his heart was stirred to create all kinds of beings. He deliberated in his mind. He entered his heart and the plan of the universe rose before him.Atum, the great He-She, joined with himself. He rubbed his phallus with his fist. He spat out from his mouth. Out came a son -- air, and a daughter -- moisture. Atum held his children in his embrace, imparting to them his ka, his life force. For at ime, his children rejoinced in the Nun, the dark waters. Then they disappeared.
Atum sent his Eye to find his children. For years, she searched for them. Then another Eye grew in Atum's forehead. At last, the first Eye returned with the children. Atum rejoiced to be with them again. He named his son Shu, meaning life, and his daughter, Tefnut, meaning order. In his gladness he wept, and from his tears the first men and women sprang into being. Then his heart was stirred again and he yearned to find a place to rest himself.
Nun, the dark waters, spoke to him and said, "Kiss your daughter, so your heart may be strengthened. Do not let Tefnut leave you, for she is order. Do not let Shu leave you, for he is a life. Let your son and daughter, life and order, remain together." With his breath, Shu raised Atum up. Atum kissed Tefnut. As he did so, he emerged from the waters in the form of the First Hill; the first light shone in the world.
When Atum's first Eye saw that Atum had grown a brighter, more radiant eye in her place, she was furious. She changed herself into a roaring cobra with a swollen neck. To appease her jealous wrath, Atum set her in the center of his forehead. There, in her wisdom, power and blazing light, she became the Lady of the Crown.
Atum's children, Shu and Tefunt, air and water, jointed together and gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth and the sky. The earth and the sky gave birth to Osiris, Seath and Isis, and Nephthys. From these gods, all the multitudes of gods which form the world came into being.
Geb gave to his firstborn son, Osiris, the black fertile land, the water, the plants, the cattle, and all the birds of the sky. To his younger son, Seth, he gave the storm, the winds, and the desert. In those early days, bandits roamed everywhere causing strife and hunger. Osiris overthrew the bandits and brought order to the land. He allowed the son to take the father's place. He taught the people to plant barley and emmer. He taught them to honor and respect the gods. Atum in the form of the sun god Re gave Osiris the kingship. Thoth, the god of justice, crowned Osiris with the Double Crown of the Two Lands.Osiris married Isis. When there was peace and abundance in the land, he entrusted Isis with the kingship and set out with a small band of musicians and priests to explore other countries. He hunted. He fought. He built cities. Everywhere he went he taught people to grow plants. He charmed the people with his voice and his songs, and in return, they gave him wonderful gifts. All of these -- ivory, gold, animals, jewels -- he sent home to Isis.
In Egypt, Osiris' younger brother, Seth, wanted to take the throne from Isis and many times he tried with guile to seduce her. But Isis' heart and mind were clear and she always understood Seth's intentions. As the gifts from other countries arrived, Isis began to long for the return of her husband. She had the court painter paint her portrait and sent it as a gift to Osiris. When he received her portrait, he wrote to her at once.
"Dearest one, sister without peer,Isis wrote back to Osiris:
when I gaze at you,
I see my heart's desire
shining before me
like the rising morning star
on the first day of the New Year.Your hair glitters like lapis
your eyes are radiant
your nipples alluring
your arms like burnished gold
your fingers as delicate as lotus blossoms.How firm are your thighs. How slender your waist.
How the men must turn their heads,
longingly, as you pass.
Fortune belongs to the man who can please you.
I will return soon, my dearest one."
"When I think of you, my heart flutters.Osiris:
I can not act sensibly anymore.
My heart leaps from its place--
I do not know which dress to put on
I can scarcely fasten my shawl
I forget to put on my eye-paint--Come quickly, my brother,
too many months have passed."
"My sister, I am riding north in the ferry.Isis:
I carry plants and roots.
The oarsmen dip their reeds in the water,
and the river pulls like wine.
"My eyese are fixed on the garden gate.Osiris:
My ears are straining.
I am waiting for you who neglected me.
I watch the road;
my heart no longer silent.Come quickly, my brother,
like a gazelle fleeing in the wild,
its feet reeling, its lims weary,
leaping from hill to hill, trembling
from fear of the hunter
"Isis has cast her net,Isis:
and ensnared me
in the noose of her hair.
I am held by her eyes
curbed by her necklace
imprisoned in the scent of her skin."
"My brother, you hold me in your armsOsiris:
and I do as you wish.
My longing for you is my eye-paint.
I press closer to you so I may gaze at you,
O let this hour go on forever.The smell of your breath stirs my heart.
You bring me sorrow and joy;
do not leave me.I belong to you, my brother, like htis black earth
growling with flowers and sweet-smelling herbs.
My melilote flower, your plants summon us.
The stream you dug with your own hand
flows by our side.
The north wind refreshes us.
How lovely it is to wanter hand in hand.The sound of your voice is pomegranate wine.
I live by hearing it.
Your looks -- each look -- sustain me
more than food or drink."
"My sister, my wife, my favorite,And so it was that Osiris returned to Egypt. With his coming, the waters of the Nile rose higher than they had in many years. There was peace and abundance. There were festivals and celebrations. The people adored Osiris.
I open my arms to hold you.
I kiss you -- your lips open.
My arms bound like a red fish in a pond.
O night, be mine forever
now that Isis is in my arms.
Seth despised him. He plotted against the brother who had been given everything. He brooded until he thought of a way to destroy the happiness of Osiris and Isis.
Set was married to Isis' sister, Nephthys, who resemebled Isis in many ways. The two sisters often exchanged visits. Set had fine linen robes woven for Nephthys that were identical to the ones that Isis wore. He braided his wife's hair to match Isis' hairstyle. He praised Nephthys, saying, "Every day, you grow more like your radiant sister, Isis." And the timid Nephthys, innocent of Seth's intentions, was pleased.
One evening at dusk, when Nephthys was in Isis' garden, Osiris came up behind her and, thinking that she was Isis, put one hand around her slender waist and fondled her bare breast with his other hand. Nephthys cried out in fright. But Osiris, thinking she was delighted, lifted her into the air and carried her protestinging to their secret place in the garden. As the wild goose shrilled, Osiris covered her with kisses, saying, "Delicious woman, you draw me to you. How can I resist? Mys sister, my wife, my favorite!"
Nephthys became pregnant. She did not dare tell Seth. She hid her pregnancy, telling only her servant and feigning illness. When the child was born, she and her servant took him far from the city and laid him to die in a bed of melilote flowers.
Isis was gathering herbs by the Nile when Nephythys' servants came up to her and asked permission to speak. The servant told her how Osiris had mistakenly consorted with her sister and that the child from that one meeting lay exposed at this moment in the wilderness. Isis called her dogs and went at once in the direction the girl had described. She heard the child's muffled cries and soon found the infant among the rocks, wrapped in royal linen, lying in a bed of melilote flowers. Isis brought the child back to the palace. She named him Anubis and raised him to be her guardian and attendant. She did not speak of the child's birth to either Nephthys or Osiris. After waiting so many months for his return, she did not want anything to disturb the love between herself and her husband.
Seth watched the love between Isis and Osiris deepen and his rage grew. Not only did Isis adore her husband, but whenever Osiris appeared in the streets, the people hailed him and cried with joy. Seth continued to brood, and in time he discovered there were other men in the kingdom who were also jealous of Osiris' power and fame. Seth mingled with them and carefully gathered together a group of seventy-two conspirators. Also, the queen of Ethiopia, a powerful and treacherous sorceress, who was visiting Seth, found out the measurements of Osiris' body and gave them to Seth. Seth then had a wooden chest made which fit the measurements of Osiris exactly. The chest was decorated with ivory, ebony, carnelian, lapis, and gold.In the month that the sun passes through Scorpio, when all was in readiness, Seth held a banquet in Osiris' honor. The carefree Osiris had no suspicions and arrived without guards or attendants. Osiris was gay and easy. He sang for the guests. Throughout the dinner, adoring and amusing toasts were offered to Osiris. Musicians accompanied him on the lure and drums. Dinner was sumptuous. Fish, fowl, salads, cheese, grapes, dates, melons, and every kind of bread were served.
After dinner, before the games began, Seth removed a fine linen cloth from a chest that was lying on the center of the room. Everyone admired the chest. Then Seth opened it and it was even more beautiful inside than out. It was a perfect coffin.
"I shall give this coffin to whomever it fits," Seth announced. One guest after another eagerly laid down in the coffin. It was larger than all the men who were present. Then Osiris laid down in the coffin. It fit him perfectly.
"The coffin belongs to Osiris!" Seth shouted and rang a bell which was a signal to the conspiriators. They ran to the chest and pushed down the lid. Osiris cried out and pushed against the lid. The men worked feverishly hammering nails into the coffin until it was shut.
With Osiris' cries in their ears, the men carried the coffin north for three days and three nights until they came to the mouth of the Tanitic River. There, at dawn, they placed the chest in the sea and as it floated away and gave their final toasts: "Hail Osiris! Son of Geb! Hail Osiris! Son of Nut! Lord of Abundance! Where is your power now? Where is your double-horned crown?"
When they couldno longer see the chest, they stoppd their toasts and hurried to their homes. Seth was content. Now he would rule Egypt.
When Isis learned of her husband's death, she wept. She tore her clothes. She covered her hair with dust. She put on mourning clothes. She cried out:
"Heaven weeps!Isis went in search of Osiris. She wandered over the Delta, asking everyone she met, even the children, if they had seen her husband's casket. Then three children, who had been playing at dawn near the Tanitic River, told her that they had seen a large group of men whispering together and carrying a shining box to the edge of the river and shouting, "Hail Osiris! Son of Geb! Hail Osiris! Son of Nut!" The children told her that they had crept to the river's edge and watched as the golden box had floated out to sea.
Earth trembles at this deed!
Re is in the heavens and yet it is dark.
The heavens and earth are one.
The earth is in shadow.My tears flood the land.
They burn my face.
Do not forsake me, Osiris.
Come to your sister.
Take away the pain in my body.
You who never found fault with me.
Do not leave me.Heaven has fallen through to earth.
I walk the roads searching for you.
Fire burns in my heart.
I grieve that you are alone.
I stretch out my arms to greet you."
Many months later, Isis learned that the coffin had been found in Byblos. The waves had thrust it into the trunk of a tamarisk tree. The bark had enfolded the casket and the tree had continued to grow. When the king of Byblos heard of this marvel, he visited the tree. He admired the width of the tree and ordered it to be cut down and the section containing the casket to be carved into a pillar to support the palace.Isis crossed the sea to Byblos. Before she went to the palace, she stopped at a spring. Suddenly, the grief she had felt all these months overwhelmed her and she wept until she could neither move nor speak. She feel asleep by the spring.
The next morning the sound of high sweet girlish voices woke her from her sleep. Isis opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by young servant girls singing and splashing each other with water. By mistake they splashed Isis who laughed with surprise and then offered to braid her hair. As she plaited their hair, the girls almost swooned at the soft tough of her hand the wonder fragrance which flowed from her body.
When the servant girls returned to the planace, such a sweet scent filled the air that the queen of Byblos asked where they had bathed. But they said they had not bathed, they had only drawn water from the spring and an Egyptian woman had plaited their hair. The queen sent for the foreign woman and, liking her manner, made her the nurse of her youngest child. Soon the queen's older children followed Isis, for she knew songs and spells and stories; most of all, they loved her smell.
Isis came to love the queen's children and wanted to make the infant boy immortal. She nursed him with her finger. And every evening, while the others slept, she brought the infant into the hall and set him over the coals and recited a spell. As part of his body burned, she changed herself into a kite and, wailing and lamenting, flitted about the pillar which held Osiris' casket.
One night, the queen aoke, and thinking she heard the cries of her child, went into the hall. When she saw her child lying in the coals, she screamed in horror. She seized him from the fire but he was unharmed. At once, Isis resumed her womanly form and stood before the queen. "I came in search of Osiris' casket," she said. "You and your children restored me in my time of grief and I wanted to strengthen your child so he would never feel pain. But now I must return. I must bring Osiris back to his own land."
With the king's permission, the casket was removed from the pillar and given to Isis to bring back to Egypt. Isis wraped the remains of the pillar in a linen cloth, poured ointments on it, blessed it, and gave it to the king of Byblos, who made a shrine to Isis from the pillar, which was worshiped by pilgrims for many years.
As quickly as possible, Isis had the casket placed in a boat and set sail. Maneros, the king's oldest son, who had asked to accompany Isis on her journey, sat with her by the casket as the oarsmen rowed. After a time, Isis aksed him to go to the lower deck so she could be alone. When he was gone, she slowly undid the lid and opened the coffin. She looked at the body of her husband. His eyes were shut. He was wearing the green robe she had spun for him. One gold necklace encircles his chest. Isis softly touched his forehead, his eyes, his lips. She brought his face close to his and whispered:
"My brother, I am here.
My fine musician, speak to me.
Look at me.
I am your sister who loves you.
I am your sister who has been searching for you.You are here.
To look at you is happiness.
But your face is turned away from me.
Do not separate yourself from me!
My heart is full of bitterness.I am shouting to the heights of the heavens.
Do you not hear me?
No one on earth loved you more than I.
I was your sister, your favorite, your wife!
Speak to me, my brother, I beg you, speak!
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