The Egyptian myth of the death of Osiris - Alex Gendler

3,915,038 views ・ 2020-07-16

TED-Ed


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It was a feast like Egypt had never seen before.
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The warrior god Set and his wife, the goddess Nephtys,
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decorated an extravagant hall for the occasion,
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with a beautiful wooden chest as the centerpiece.
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They invited all the most important gods, dozens of lesser deities,
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and foreign monarchs.
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But no one caused as big a stir as Set and Nephtys’s older brother Osiris,
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the god who ruled all of Egypt and had brought prosperity to everyone.
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Set announced a game—
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whoever could fit perfectly in the chest could have it as a gift.
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One by one, the guests clambered in, but no one fit.
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Finally, it was Osiris’s turn.
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As he lay down, everyone could see it was a perfect fit—
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another win for the god who could do no wrong.
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Then Set slammed the lid down with Osiris still inside, sealed it shut,
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and tossed it into the Nile.
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The chest was a coffin.
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Set had constructed it specifically to trap his brother
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and planned the party to lure him into it.
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Set had long been jealous of his brother’s successful reign,
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and hoped to replace him as the ruler of all Egypt.
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The Nile bore the coffin out to sea and it drifted for many days
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before washing ashore near Byblos, where a great cedar grew around it.
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The essence of the god within gave the tree a divine aura,
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and when the king of Byblos noticed it,
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he ordered the tree cut down and brought to his palace.
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Unbeknownst to him,
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the coffin containing Egypt’s most powerful god was still inside.
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Set’s victory seemed complete, but he hadn’t counted on his sisters.
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Set’s wife Nephtys was also his sister,
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while their other sister, the goddess Isis,
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was married to their brother Osiris.
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Isis was determined to find Osiris,
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and enlisted Nephtys’s help behind Set’s back.
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The two sisters took the shape of falcons and travelled far and wide.
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Some children who had seen the coffin float by
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pointed them to the palace of Byblos.
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Isis adopted a new disguise and approached the palace.
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The queen was so charmed by the disguised goddess
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that she entrusted her with nursing the baby prince.
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Isis decided to make the child immortal by bathing him in flame.
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When the horrified queen came upon this scene,
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Isis revealed herself and demanded the tree.
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When she cut the coffin from the trunk and opened it,
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Osiris was dead inside.
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Weeping, she carried his body back to Egypt and hid it in a swamp,
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while she set off in search of a means of resurrecting him.
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But while she was gone,
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Set found the body and cut it into many pieces,
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scattering them throughout Egypt.
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Isis had lost Osiris for the second time, but she did not give up.
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She searched all over the land, traveling in a boat of papyrus.
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One by one, she tracked down the parts
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of her husband’s dismembered body in every province of Egypt,
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holding a funeral for each piece.
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At long last, she had recovered every piece but one—
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his penis, which a fish in the Nile had eaten.
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Working with what she had, Isis reconstructed and revived her husband.
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But without his penis, Osiris was incomplete.
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He could not remain among the living,
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could not return to his old position as ruler of Egypt.
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Instead, he would have to rule over Duat, the realm of the dead.
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Before he went, though, he and Isis conceived a son to bear Osiris’s legacy—
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and one day, avenge him.
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