Definition
The Nile in the Osiris Myth
Among the most popular tales in ancient Egypt concerning the Nile is that of the god Osiris and his betrayal and murder by his brother-god Set. Set was jealous of Osiris' power and popularity and so tricked him into laying down inside an elaborate coffin (sarcophagus) pretending he would give it as a gift to the one who fit into it the best. Once Osiris was inside, Set slammed the lid down and threw Osiris into the Nile River. Osiris' wife, Isis, went searching for her husband's body in order to give it proper burial and, after looking in many places, came upon some children playing by the Nile who told her where she could find the coffin. From this story comes the ancient belief of the Egyptians that children possessed the gift of divination as they were able to tell the goddess something which she could not discover herself.
The coffin floated down the Nile until it lodged in a tree at Byblos (in Phoenicia) which grew quickly around and enclosed it. The king of Byblos admired the strong, stout-looking tree and had it brought to his court and erected as a pillar. When Isis arrived at Byblos, in the course of her search, she recognized her husband's corpse was inside the tree and, after endearing herself to the king, requested the pillar as a favor. Isis then brought her dead husband back to Egypt to return him to life. This sequence of events would inspire the Djed column, a symbol which appears in Egyptian architecture and art throughout the history of the country, which symbolizes stability. The Djed, according to some interpretations, represents Osiris' backbone when he was encased in the tree or, according to others, the tree itself from which Isis removed Osiris' body to bring him back to life.
Once back in Egypt, Isis left Osiris in his coffin by the Nile to prepare the herbs and potions to bring him back to life. She left her sister, Nepthys, to guard the body from Set. Set, however, hearing that Isis had gone searching for Osiris, was looking for the body himself. He came upon Nepthys and forced her to tell him where his brother's body was hidden. Finding it, he hacked the corpse into pieces, and scattered them throughout Egypt. When Isis returned to revive her husband, Nepthys tearfully confessed what had happened and vowed to help her sister find out what Set had done with Osiris' body.
Isis and Nepthys went in search of Osiris' remains and, wherever they found a piece of him, they buried it according to the proper rituals and erected a shrine. This accounts for the many tombs of Osiris throughout ancient Egypt and was also said to have established the nomes, the thirty-six territorial divisions of ancient Egypt (similar to a county or province). Wherever a part of Osiris was buried, there a nome eventually grew up. She managed to find and bury every part of him except for his penis which Set had thrown into the Nile and which had been eaten by a crocodile. It is for this reason the crocodile came to be associated with the god of fertility, Sobek, and anyone eaten by a crocodile was considered fortunate in a happy death.
Since he was incomplete, Osiris could not return to life but became Lord of the Afterlife and Judge of the Dead. The Nile, which had received Osiris' penis, was made fertile because of this and gave life to the people of the land. Osiris' son, Horus, avenged his father by defeating Set and casting him out of the land (in some versions of the tale, killing him) and so restored balance and order to the region. Horus and Isis then ruled the land in harmony.
Importance to Egypt
Source of Life
During the reign of King Djoser (c. 2670 BCE) the land was struck with famine. Djoser had a dream in which the god Khnum came to him to complain that his shrine on the island of Elephantine in the river had fallen into disrepair and he was displeased at the neglect. Djoser's vizier, Imhotep, suggested the king travel to Elephantine to see whether the dream's message was true. Djoser found the temple shrine in poor condition and ordered it rebuilt and the complex around it renovated. Afterwards, the famine was lifted and Egypt was fertile again. This story is told on the Famine Stele of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332-30 BCE), long after Djoser's reign, and is testimony to the great honor the king was still held in at that time. It also illustrates the long-standing importance of the Nile to the Egyptians in that the god of the river, and no other, had to be satisfied for the famine to end.
The Nile river remains an integral part of Egyptian life, lore and commerce today and it is said by the Egyptians that, should a visitor once look upon the beauty of the Nile, the return of that visitor to Egypt is assured (a claim made, also, in antiquity). Seneca described the Nile as an amazing wonder and a "remarkable spectacle" and this is an opinion shared by many ancient writers who visited this “mother of all men” of Egypt; a view shared by many who experience it even today.
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