Presentation Reviews

Isis- tricked Ra into revealing his secret name.
Horus- chopped off his mother's head.
Set- he spent 80 years fighting with his nephew Horus.
Ra- was the creator of humans.
Dionysus- drove Semele's sisters, Agave, Autonoe, and Ino mad.
Artemis- symbol of the moon
Apollo- turned into a dolphin.
Hermes- born on Mount Cyllene
Raven- brought light to the world.
Coyote- he had a son who died, which made Coyote regret not making him immortal.
Balder- no evil can exist in his house.
Odin- his adopted son Loki killed several of his family members.
Loki- had a horse with eight legs.

Freya- one day her husband left and she cried as she searched for him; finally she found him under a myrtle tree.

Thor- dressed up as Freya and almost married Thrym because Thrym thought he really was Freya.

Guanyin- goddess of grains and harvest.

Jade Emperor- he was the god of all gods, only the three pure ones were more powerful than him.
Sun Wu Kong- came out of a stone egg.

My Myth

Dear Diary,

     Today started out like any other, the sun rose in the sky and Egypt was pleasantly warm. I passed by the river Nile and stopped for a minute to watch the water reflect the sun's dazzling light back into the heavens. It was beautiful to behold. After a few minutes of watching the glistening river, I headed towards the fields. My people were happy and joyous as they tended their crops. I walked among them, stopping to talk with a few. They all greeted me with warm smiles or the wave of a hand which I willingly returned. I love my people; their devotion to my wife and I is unparalleled. There has never been a more devout people in all of Egypt during my reign. They shall be uncommonly blessed for their piety in the Afterworld. I am indeed fortunate to have such loyal subjects.
  
  

    I stopped by a house on the edge of the fields owned by a blind, elderly woman. Her name is Aziza and I find her company rather pleasant. She made the most delicious baklava today; the honey was rich and silky as it danced across my tongue. How she can cook and bake without her sight is beyond me. It really is such a shame that she has no relatives to pass on her recipes to. Perhaps I will send someone to learn from her so that the talent will be preserved. After eating, we traded riddles and stories back and forth until the sun was directly above us. Noticing the time, I excused myself and took my leave.
  
 

     I passed through the local market on my way back to the palace. As I meandered my way through the booths, a silk rug caught my eye. I turned to find a girl of no more then 15 sitting on a stool by the booth; I inquired after the maker of the rug. She responded saying that it was her own work. We chatted for a bit about rugs and her life. I discovered that her name was Bahiti and she lived with her elder brother and his wife because her parents had both passed away while she was still young. Now she made rugs to help pay for food for their family. I told her I was impressed with her work, and that if she wanted she could come work in my palace as a decorator, then I paid for my rug and left. I picked up a few more items from some other vendors on my way out such as, a purple scarf and some jewelry for my darling wife, Isis.
  
 

     When I finally reached the palace I was delighted to find that my brother Set had just arrived back from one of his travels across Egypt. Upon seeing him I exclaimed "we must celebrate brother, for it has been too long since we have been together"! So together, we ate and drank as he told me of the wonders of his journey. He told me of a chest he'd bought that was hand carved; he said it was mine, if i could fit inside. Of course I could fit inside a chest, so I told the servants to bring it to me. Little did I know, I was about to make a mistake that would cost me my life. When the servants set the chest down I opened the lid and foolishly climbed inside; before I could boast that I fit, the lid slammed closed. Set sealed the lid shut and ordered the servants to bring the chest and follow him.
  

     Once Set reached the river Nile, he ordered the servants to set the chest on the bank of the river and return to the palace. As soon as they were gone, he shoved the chest into the river where it was washed away. Meanwhile I was still locked inside with no way out. Suddenly water began to seep through the crevices in the chest, I knew that this would be the end to my story on Earth. I drowned in there; betrayed and murdered by my own brother. Soon enough however, I passed into the next life to start a new reign as Lord of the Underworld.
  

     It did not take long for Isis to notice my absence. After talking with several servants she began to search up and down the Nile for the chest containing my corpse. The chest had finally washed ashore near the palace of King Byblos; King Byblos took a fancy to it and had it placed in his palace not knowing of its contents. When Set learned that my wife was looking for my body he started his own search. Through random rumors he heard that King Byblos had acquired a beautiful new hand carved chest. Isis also heard the rumor, but by the time she made it to King Byblos's kingdom our evil brother had already passed through. Apparently drowning me was not enough to extinguish Set's hatred for me, because he took my body from the chest and chopped it into millions of pieces. Then taking the pieces he scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis was greatly saddened by my passing for we had no heir to reign in my stead, so she continued her search for my body. After learning what Set had done, she set out collecting all the pieces of my body. Slowly but surely she pieced me back together until I was whole once more. Well, I should say 'almost' whole. There was one piece of my body that she was unable to recover as it had been thrown into the Nile and swallowed by a great fish. My wife desired to resurrect me back to life so we could produce an heir to the throne, but with that particular piece missing the task was impossible. Calling upon her great powers she forged the missing piece out of gold and then attached it to my body. Calling upon her powers once more she resurrected my body just long enough for her to get pregnant with our son Horus.

  

     By now I was pretty worn out, dying twice in one day will do that to you. So here I am now sitting on my throne in the Underworld writing in my diary. This is my life now, living on as a God in another world, while back on Earth Isis mummified my body and had it buried properly. She got remarried to our son and he's taken up my throne now. I'm not exactly thrilled about their marriage but at least my people will have decent rulers. Oh well I've got to run, looks like someone just died and I have to go pass judgement on their soul. I will try and write again later but this place is surprisingly busy and there's lots of work to be done. Overall not one of my best days but I'm sure it could have still been worse. Goodbye.
           

Resolution of the Conflict

     Set was always jealous of Osiris, even after he murdered his brother. Set recovered the body, after he had disposed of it, just to chop it into millions of pieces. This shows that even in death, Osiris was still making him jealous. His envy could only be stopped by his own death. At the hands of his own nephew Horus, his death came to pass; ending the life-long conflict. He was so stubborn in his anger, that only death itself could release him from the bondage that was self-inflicted. Horus took it upon himself to avenge his father's death, and so the conflict came to a bloody end. Horus chained Set to a spike and slew him. After his death, Horus took the throne of Egypt and ruled for many prosperous years.

 
 

Climax of the Conflict

    The climax of the conflict is when Isis resurrects Osiris.When Set killed Osiris most people would think that it would be enough to satisfy his thirst for blood, but it did not even come close. Then after chopping him into pieces and scattering him throughout Egypt it still was not enough. Next thing he knows, Isis is resurrecting the man he just worked so hard to kill. As expected this is not the news Set wants to hear; all of his hard work was just wasted. Before Set can kill him again however, Isis's magic runs out and Osiris returns to the Underworld once again.

Conflict

     The conflict in the Osiris Death myth is very straightforward. Set, Osiris's brother is extremely jealous of his older brother. Set always craved and longed for the power and respect that his brother commanded. His jealousy was so deep-seated that he killed Osiris. However, killing him was not enough to satisfy his loathing. After washing the body away in the Nile; he retrieved the body, only to chop it into millions of pieces. Then taking the slices of his brother, he scattered them all over Egypt. Upon completing that task he took Osiris's throne.

  

Characters Involving Osiris's Death Myth

Set
     Set was the brother of Osiris. He murdered Osiris because of his jealousy towards his elder brother. Set was ruthless, he was the god of war, storms and evil. In fact he was perceived as the embodiment of evil by the Egyptians. Wherever he went chaos seemed to follow. After drowning his brother, he claimed the Egyptian throne until he was killed by his nephew Horus.

Isis
     Isis was the sister, twin and wife of Osiris. After his brutal murder at the hands of their brother, she pieced him back together and resurrected him long enough so they could produce an heir. Isis was the goddess of fertility and magic. She married her son Horus after the second death of Osiris. Isis was adored by the Egyptians. She spent a lot of time with them teaching them skills like weaving, baking and reading. Isis became the most powerful out of all the gods and goddesses after tricking Ra into revealing his secret name.

Horus
     The name Horus, is believed to be interpreted as 'the one on high' or 'the distant one'. Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was the god of revenge and is often depicted with the head of a falcon. Horus was born after Osiris's second death. He took up his father's throne after defeating his uncle Set and ruled Egypt with Isis, his mother and wife, at his side.

Setting

      Welcome to Egypt, a land filled with sand, pyramids and pharaohs. The god Osiris ruled as a pharaoh while he was alive. He started his reign around 3000 BC and it ended when he was brutality murdered by his own brother. When he first came to power the humans practiced cannibalism, being the god of vegetation he quickly taught them how to plant crops and grow food to eat. He also taught them how to worship him and other gods, and had them build great temples. The people loved Osiris as he was a fair and just ruler.

    Egypt is hot and dry, the main source of water in the Nile River. The Nile is the world's longest river and is famous in the myth about Osiris's death; where he was drowned by his brother and his body washed downstream in a trunk. Egypt occasionally has swarms of locust, which in olden days would reek havoc on crops.








  

Cultural Pieces

Osiris has been an influential figure for thousands of years. Here's just a few examples!

Passion plays were quite common throughout Egypt around 2000 BC. One of the more famous of the Passion plays was that of Osiris's life. The plays depicted his reign as king of Egypt, his brutal murder at the hands of his brother and his resurrection by his wife. Often times the plays were recorded in stone.




In 1984 the group Iron Maiden produced a song called 'Powerslave' that references not only Osiris but other Egyptian Gods. Here's a link to the song (with lyrics) on Youtube. Powerslave by Iron Maiden
 



Another song that mentions Osiris is 'The Origin of Love' from the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Here's a link to that song as well. The Origin of Love




The popular television show called 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' makes many references to the god Osiris. A resurrection spell called the Sacrifice to Osiris was used to bring Buffy back to life. To preform this spell they had to use the Urn of Osiris along with several other objects. An incantation was recited along with the ceremonial items.The incantation is as follows:
"Osiris, keeper of the gate, master of all fate, hear us!
Before time and after, before knowing and nothing
Accept our offering, know our prayer.
Osiris, here lies the warrior of the people,
Let her cross over.
Osiris, let her cross over
Release her!"
 



A popular shoe brand called Osiris designs skate shoes. Some sources claim that they picked up the name as a joke, because Osiris is Lord over all the souls who enter into the Underworld, while the shoe brand is concerned with shoe soles. There are some disputes that say the shoe brand was not named for the Egyptian God but no evidence has been provided to back up these facts.

The Murder and Resurrection of Osiris Myth

One of the most famous myths of all about Osiris, is that of his death. The story all begins with Osiris's younger and very jealous brother Set. Set hated his brother and along with a few others he schemed and planned the murder of Osiris. One day Set carved a beautiful chest, he said he would give the chest to anyone who could fit inside. Of course Osiris wanted the chest so he climbed inside, but as he did Set slammed the lid shut and sealed it with molten gold. Trapped inside, Osiris was powerless and at the mercy of Set. Taking the beautiful chest with his brother inside, he then proceeded to throw it into the Nile River drowning his brother. When Isis, wife and sister of Osiris, learned of his disappearance she began to search high and low for her husband. Eventually she discovered the chest which had washed ashore and found its way into King Byblos's palace. However by the time she reached the chest, Set had already stolen the body from the chest and chopped it into millions of pieces, which he then scattered all throughout Egypt. Isis traveled all over Egypt collecting the pieces of his body and reassembling them into the god.When she finished there was still one crucial piece missing, so using her mighty powers she created the missing piece of Osiris's body out of gold. Once Osiris was entirely whole again, she resurrected him. However, her powers were only strong enough to keep him alive long enough to get pregnant with their son Horus. Osiris then moved on to the Underworld where he continued his rule.