When Ra decided to leave Egypt and ascend into the heavens, the people who had survived Hathor’s terrible wrath were left frightened and confused. As darkness spread across the earth, neighbors turned against one another. Men forged the first weapons and struck down anyone they believed might have angered the Sun God.

Looking back upon the world, Ra saw what mankind had become.

From that day forward, he knew that men would forever wage war against one another.

Sadly, he said to the Divine Cow, “Carry me to a place where I may still watch over mankind, but where they can never again reach me.”

The body of the Divine Cow became the sky itself, arching high above the earth. Ra scattered the stars across the belly of the sky goddess Nut until the heavens glittered with light.

Then he created the Field of Peace and the Field of Reeds, where the blessed dead would dwell forever.

Because Nut trembled beneath the weight of the heavens, Ra created the Heh gods, the eternal beings who upheld the sky, and he commanded Shu, god of the air, to stand forever between heaven and earth.

Ra then summoned Thoth.

“I shall shine here in the heavens,” said the Sun God, “lighting both the sky above and the world below. You shall remain upon the earth as my representative, recording the deeds of gods and men.”

Thus Thoth became the divine scribe.

When Ra traveled through the underworld each night, darkness covered the earth, and mankind feared the disappearance of the sun.

Hearing their cries, Ra transformed Thoth once more, this time into the Great White Baboon, whose silvery radiance became the moon.

From then on, ibis-headed Thoth served as the wise Scribe of the Gods, while baboon Thoth illuminated the night sky with gentle moonlight.

It was Ra’s final gift to the children born from his tears.

Lastly, Ra appointed Nun and Geb to guard the earth against the forces of chaos.

Then he placed the throne of Egypt into the hands of Osiris and crowned Isis as his queen.

Osiris proved to be a wise and generous ruler.

He taught the people how to cultivate barley and wheat. He gave Egypt its laws, instructed mankind in the worship of the gods, and transformed the kingdom into a land of peace and prosperity.

In time, Osiris journeyed throughout foreign lands, bringing civilization to distant peoples just as he had done for Egypt.

Only one god resented his success. Seth.

The god of storms envied his brother’s throne and longed to rule Egypt himself.

Yet while Osiris traveled abroad, Isis governed wisely in his place.

She had never trusted Seth and watched him constantly, like a mongoose watching a venomous snake.

Unable to seize the throne while Isis remained vigilant, Seth waited patiently.

Eventually Osiris returned safely to Egypt, and the kingdom rejoiced.

Even Seth pretended to welcome his brother home.

Behind his smiling face, however, he had already gathered a band of greedy and ambitious conspirators.

The opportunity he had long awaited finally arrived.

One evening, Osiris held a magnificent banquet at his palace.

Isis happened to be away.

Seth and his followers accepted the invitation.

As the feast progressed and wine flowed freely, Seth announced that he possessed a remarkable treasure.

At his command, servants carried an exquisitely crafted wooden chest into the hall, adorned with gold and precious decorations.

The guests crowded around to admire it.

Laughing, Seth declared, “I shall give this magnificent chest to whichever guest fits it perfectly.”

The nobles eagerly took turns lying inside. Some were too short. Others were too tall. Each climbed out laughing while the company cheered. Only Seth knew the truth.

Long before the feast, he had secretly bribed one of Osiris’s servants to reveal the king’s exact measurements.

The chest had been built for only one man. At last the guests urged Osiris to try.

Trusting his brother completely, the king smiled and lay down inside the chest.

It fitted him perfectly. His head and feet touched each end exactly. The guests burst into laughter, believing Seth had accidentally lost his beautiful prize.

Even Osiris laughed. He looked up at Seth and began to thank him. Suddenly Seth gave a signal. His conspirators rushed forward. The heavy lid slammed shut. Bolts were driven into place.

Before the horrified guests could react, molten lead was poured around every seam, sealing the chest forever.

Within moments Osiris suffocated inside.

The banquet erupted into chaos.

While Seth’s followers restrained the innocent guests, the chest was carried away under cover of darkness.

They reached one of the many branches of the Nile and cast it into the river.

The current carried the coffin northward toward the sea.

Seth believed it would disappear forever.

The following day he announced that Osiris had died suddenly.

Without waiting for mourning to end, Seth crowned himself King of Egypt.

When Isis learned what had happened, her grief was beyond words.

She cut off a lock of her beautiful hair as a sign of mourning and clothed herself in the garments of a widow.

Then she began searching for her husband’s body.

For many weeks she wandered from village to village.

Rumors spread in every direction, yet no one knew where the coffin had gone.

At last she met a group of children who had watched the strange gilded chest floating down the Nile.

Following their directions, Isis traced its journey from one branch of the river to another until she finally reached the Mediterranean Sea.

There she continued her lonely search along the coast.

In every harbor she asked the same question.

Each time someone remembered seeing a magnificent golden chest drifting northward.

At last her journey brought her to the Phoenician city of Byblos.

There everyone spoke of a miracle.

A tiny sapling growing beside the shore had suddenly shot upward into a towering tree overnight.

Unknown to anyone, the coffin of Osiris had lodged among its roots.

The divine power of the murdered god had nourished the tree until it became enormous.

When the king of Byblos heard of the wonder, he ordered the tree cut down and fashioned into a magnificent pillar for his palace.

The carpenters obeyed.

They trimmed away the branches and set the polished trunk beneath the palace roof.

No one realized that the coffin of Osiris still rested hidden within its heart.

When Isis heard the story from the townspeople, she quietly entered Byblos.

She sat beside a fountain near the royal palace.

Soon several maidservants came to draw water.

They asked the lonely stranger who she was.

“I am an Egyptian woman,” Isis replied, “skilled in dressing hair.”

With gentle hands she arranged the maidens’ hair into beautiful styles unlike anything they had ever seen.

Then she breathed upon them, leaving behind the sweet fragrance of the gods.

When the young women returned to the palace, everyone admired their beauty.

Queen Athenais immediately asked who had transformed them.

Learning about the mysterious Egyptian woman, she summoned Isis to the palace.

Once again, Isis displayed her skill.

The queen was delighted with her new hairstyle and the heavenly perfume that surrounded her.

She invited Isis to remain in the palace as nurse to her youngest son.

Thus the goddess found herself living beneath the same roof as the hidden coffin of Osiris.

Each night, after the palace had fallen silent, Isis slipped into the chamber where the great wooden pillar stood.

There she embraced the pillar and wept over the husband concealed within it.

By day she lovingly cared for the young prince.

She grew deeply attached to the child and decided to reward him with the greatest gift imaginable.

Immortality.

One night she carried the sleeping boy into the chamber of the pillar.

She kindled a magical fire and laid him gently within its flames while reciting powerful spells.

The divine fire slowly burned away everything mortal within him.

Meanwhile, Isis transformed herself into a swallow.

Circling the pillar again and again, she mourned Osiris with the sad, haunting cry of a bird.

The crackling flames awakened Queen Athenais.

She hurried into the chamber.

Seeing her child surrounded by fire, she screamed in terror.

Instantly, Isis resumed her true form.

The enchanted flames vanished.

The prince was unharmed.

The goddess gently revealed her identity.

“You have interrupted the spell,” she said. “Your son could have become immortal.”

The queen fell at Isis’s feet and begged forgiveness.

“Tell me how I may serve you.”

Isis pointed toward the great pillar.

“Give me the pillar.”

Effortlessly she lifted the massive timber from beneath the palace roof.

Splitting it open, she revealed the golden coffin hidden within.

She carefully anointed the wood with sacred oils, wrapped it in fine linen, and returned the empty trunk to Queen Athenais, who placed it in the temple of Byblos as a sacred relic.

The grateful queen gave Isis the finest ship in the harbor together with an experienced crew.

The coffin of Osiris was carried aboard.

At last Isis sailed home to Egypt with her beloved husband.

When they reached the lonely Egyptian shore, she opened the coffin.

Osiris looked only asleep.

Throwing herself upon him, Isis embraced his body and wept with all the grief of a wife who had lost the one she loved above all others.

Returning to Egypt, Isis hid the coffin of Osiris in a lonely place among the marshes while she searched for a safe refuge.

One night, while the goddess slept, Seth came hunting through the papyrus swamps.

By chance, he discovered the coffin.

The moment he recognized it, his heart filled with fear and rage.

He threw open the lid and looked upon the body of his murdered brother.

Determined that Osiris should never live again, Seth hacked the body into many pieces and scattered them across the length and breadth of Egypt.

Confident that no one could ever gather them all again, he returned triumphantly to his palace.

When Isis awoke and found the empty coffin, her cry of grief echoed across heaven and earth.

Nephthys, her devoted sister, hurried to her side.

Although Nephthys was Seth’s wife, she had always loved Osiris and Isis more than her own husband.

Together the two daughters of Nut began their sorrowful search.

They wandered through Egypt for many years, crossing deserts, marshes, temples, and villages.

Whenever they discovered one of the scattered pieces of Osiris, they built a shrine to mark the sacred place.

At last every fragment had been recovered.

Isis assembled the body once more, joining every piece together through the power of her magic.

Then Isis and Nephthys transformed themselves into hawks and spread their wings above Osiris, shielding him as they chanted powerful spells of restoration.

The magic of Isis accomplished what no one else could.

For one single night, Osiris returned to life.

During that sacred union, Isis conceived the child who had long been promised to her.

When dawn came, Osiris passed beyond the world of the living forever.

His body died once more, but his spirit lived on.

Ra appointed Osiris ruler of the Beautiful West, where he became King of the Dead and judge of every soul that entered the afterlife.

From that day onward, the Egyptians believed that death was no longer an ending.

Those who lived righteous lives could hope to dwell forever in the peaceful Kingdom of Osiris.

In time, Isis gave birth to Horus, the falcon-headed son of Osiris.

To protect the child from Seth’s hatred, she hid him deep within the marshes of Chemmis among the reeds and lotus pools.

Many stories were told of Horus’s dangerous childhood.

One of the best known concerns the time when Isis was captured by Seth.

Pretending to act for her own protection, Seth imprisoned Isis in a spinning house and forced her to spend each day spinning flax.

Guards watched her constantly, making escape impossible.

Then Thoth discovered where she was being held.

Invisible to the guards, the wise god entered the spinning house and whispered to Isis.

“You must flee at once and return to the marshes of Chemmis. Seth cannot follow you there. Hide until Horus is old enough to claim his father’s throne.”

Before departing, Thoth left seven magical scorpions to guard the goddess during her escape.

That night, Isis slipped quietly from the prison carrying Horus in her arms while the seven scorpions scurried ahead of her.

After traveling throughout the night and much of the following day, Isis became exhausted. She finally reached a village and stopped before its largest house, hoping to find shelter.

The wealthy woman who owned the house caught sight of the scorpions. Terrified, she slammed the door in Isis’s face.

Nearby, however, a poor fisherman’s daughter opened the door of her humble cottage.

Though she possessed almost nothing, she welcomed Isis inside and gladly shared her simple meal of coarse bread and dried fish.

Outside, the seven scorpions grew angry at the rich woman’s cruelty.

They gathered together and poured all their venom into the sting of their leader, Tefen. Silently, the scorpion crept beneath the woman’s gate.

Inside the house, her little son slept peacefully beside his nurse. Tefen climbed onto the bed and struck.  The child awoke screaming. Soon the entire household was in turmoil.

The rich woman snatched up her son and ran from house to house begging for help. No one dared approach a child struck by such a powerful scorpion.

When Isis heard the cries, she looked down at Horus sleeping safely in her arms. Compassion filled her heart.

“An innocent child shall not die because of me,” she said.

She called the woman into the poor girl’s cottage. The child burned with fever. His breathing had become shallow. Isis laid her hands upon him and spoke words of power.

“I am Isis, Mistress of Magic. Every poisonous creature obeys me.

“Let this poison depart.

“Let the child live, and the poison perish.

“As Horus lives through the love of his mother, so shall this child live through the love of his own.”

Immediately the fever vanished.

The child’s skin became cool once more, and he opened his eyes.

Realizing whom she had rejected, the rich woman was overcome with shame.

She carried gifts of gold, silver, and fine clothing to the poor fisherman’s daughter in gratitude.

Isis smiled, pleased that kindness had received its reward.

The next morning she continued her journey until she and Horus reached the safety of the marshes of Chemmis.

There the child grew among the papyrus reeds, hidden from Seth’s spies. Whenever Isis left to gather food, she disguised herself as a poor woman. She believed the marshes were completely safe.

One day she returned to find Horus lying motionless upon the ground. The child did not run to greet her. Water streamed from his eyes and mouth.

His tiny body was limp. His heartbeat was barely detectable. In desperation, Isis chanted every spell she knew. Nothing happened.

She did not know what sickness had struck him and could not name it. Without its name, she could not drive it away. For the first time, the Mistress of Magic found herself powerless.

Clutching Horus in her arms, she ran to a nearby fishing village. The fishermen came rushing from their huts. They pitied the grieving mother and tried every remedy they knew, but Horus continued to weaken.

At last one fisherman fetched a wise woman staying nearby. The woman examined the child while holding the ankh, the sacred Sign of Life.

“Do not despair,” she said gently.

“Seth himself cannot enter the marshes of Chemmis, but he has surely sent a snake or a scorpion to poison your son.”

Isis bent close and smelled the child’s breath. The wise woman was right. Horus had indeed been poisoned.

As the child’s suffering grew worse, Nephthys suddenly appeared, drawn by her sister’s grief.

With her came Selket, the scorpion goddess. Selket carefully examined Horus. Her expression grew grave.

“The poison is too strong,” she said.

“Only one hope remains.

“Call to the heavens.

“Stop the Solar Boat itself.

“If Ra’s journey ceases, the wind will stop, time itself will stand still, and the gods must answer.”

Looking upward, Isis uttered a cry so powerful that the heavens trembled.

The Boat of Millions of Years halted in the sky.

The sun itself stopped moving.

Darkness threatened the world.

Because Isis knew Ra’s secret name, even the Sun God could not ignore her plea.

Unable to continue his journey, Ra sent Thoth to discover the cause.

The wise god descended from heaven.

“What troubles you, Isis?” he asked.

“Why have you halted the course of the sun?”

“Horus has been poisoned,” Isis answered.

“Seth has taken everything from me.

“I wish I had died beside Osiris.”

Thoth knelt beside the child.

“Do not fear.

“I bring with me the breath of life.”

Then he spoke a mighty spell.

“Come forth, poison.

“The command of Ra drives you out.

“The Sun Boat shall not move, and the world shall remain in darkness until Horus is healed.

“Depart from this child and return to the earth from which you came.”

Slowly the poison left Horus’s body.

His breathing steadied.

His eyes opened.

The fever disappeared.

Thoth smiled.

“The poison is defeated.

“Horus lives once more.”

Joy returned to Isis.

Before leaving, she asked one final favor.

“Protect my son until he is old enough to reclaim his father’s throne.”

Thoth nodded.

“I command every creature of these marshes to guard Horus.

“Ra himself watches over him.

“Your own magic will ensure that all who meet him will love him.”

Then Thoth returned to the Solar Boat. The sun resumed its journey across the heavens. Once again light spread over Egypt.

Holding her restored son close, Isis returned to the hidden marshes of Chemmis, where Horus would grow to manhood and one day avenge his father, reclaim the throne of Egypt, and fulfill the destiny the gods had prepared for him.