This illustration shows the god Geb Earth lying on the ground supporting the goddess Nut who was the sky or the heavens 8 The Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt and Africa
Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends 9
massive tree in Byblos in Lebanon With her magic she restored Osiris to life and the two returned to Egypt But Seth was waiting for Osiris With a knife he cut him into fourteen pieces which he then scattered across Egypt But Isis was not to be deterred She tirelessly roamed the country gathering the pieces to make Osiris whole again Her doing so led the Egyptians to see Osiris as the symbol of resurrection after death Plutarch wrote For the Egyptians the Nile also served as the source of resurrection not after death as with Osiris but after the river’s waters flooded the land The Egyptians also considered the river as the source of fertility Because Osiris died and came back to life the Egyptians saw in him a similarity with the crops It was said that his blood and other bodily fluids became the source of the floodwaters and that they caused the Nile inundation Osiris therefore was the source of the new water that made the land fertile Fall of the Nile The Egyptians saw the death of Osiris in the waters receding and the plants drying up In his honor they celebrated a festival of mourning called Fall of the Nile 10 The Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt and Africa
when autumn came As part of the festivities the people threw offerings into the river to express their grief When the floodwaters returned another festival in honor of Osiris was held It represented the finding of Osiris’s body and his return to life Mud dolls shaped to resemble Osiris were planted with barley and the grains were nurtured so that they would grow Small shrines were also thrown into the Nile and the priests poured water into the river Divine Kingship The king of Egypt was the only person who could talk to the gods In fact he was considered a god himself During his lifetime he was thought to be the god Horus on earth After his death he became the god Osiris and the new pharaoh became the new Horus The story of Horus and Osiris played an important role in the ancient Egyptians ideas about kingship The Egyptians believed that long long ago during the Golden Age before history Osiris and his wife Isis who was also his sister ruled Egypt Osiris and Isis had a brother named Seth who was married to their other sister Nephthys Seth was jealous of Osiris and wanted to be king himself so he formed a plan to murder his brother as explained above Isis was able to Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends 11
