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The Importance of the Myth of Isis and Osiris Ancient Studies

The Importance of the Myth of Isis and Osiris Ancient Studies. Cycles of nature. A. Sun

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The Importance of the Myth of Isis and Osiris Ancient Studies

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  1. The Importance of the Myth of Isis and OsirisAncient Studies

  2. Cycles of nature A. Sun “The Egyptians visualized the sun as an infant rising in the east, maturing rapidly, reaching full growth at noon, then aging as it declined to the west and setting as a dying old man. But then, after making a dangerous journey through caverns of the underworld, it returned to the east, where it rose again the next morning as a fresh young child, its life renewed” (Isaac Asimov, The Egyptians, p. 26) Re/Ra=sun god B. Vegetation Osiris=god of agriculture C. The Nile Inundation, emergence, drought drought=death of Osiris inundation & emergence of vegetation=resurrection of Osiris

  3. The myth of Isis and Osiris --Explains the origin of the universe --Explains the origin of civilization --Explains the origin of mummification --Gives religious meaning to the geography of Egypt: Osiris=Nile; Osiris and Horus are associated with the sun; Seth=night, desert --Depicts a battle between good and evil --Explains what happens in the afterlife --continued--

  4. Pharaoh and Pyramid • A. Pharaoh = a semi-divine ruler • “It was believed that while the pharaoh was • alive, he was a living version of the god • Horus, and when he died he became a • version of Osiris in the afterlife.” • (http://www.neferchichi.com/osiris.html) • B. Pyramid is a “sacred machine” connecting • earth to heaven and assisting the pharaoh • on his/her journey to the afterlife.

  5. “The appeal of the myth of Isis and Osiris lay in the fact that people could identify with them as sharing the fate of human beings, yet they also transcended the limitations of the human condition. Isis lost her husband but found him and revived him. She brought up her child alone, overcame his sicknesses, and he grew up to take his father’s place. When the ancient Egyptians lost their loved ones, they mourned like Isis, and they imagined that when they died they became like Osiris, continuing to live in another realm as he did” (Cashford viii).

  6. Horus, Osiris, Isis http://www.duke.edu/~bwt1/egypt/

  7. “In death all Egyptians became Osiris, and the mummification of the body was viewed as a reenactment of the events in Osiris’ death” (City 55). --continued--

  8. Source: British Museum: http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixclient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&$+with+all_unique_id_index+is+$=OBJ65&submit-button=summary

  9. Page from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer • From Thebes, Egypt19th Dynasty, around 1275 BC • The judgement of the dead in the presence of Osiris • “This is an excellent example of one of the many fine vignettes (illustrations) from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer. • “The scene reads from left to right. To the left, Anubis brings Hunefer into the judgement area. Anubis is also shown supervizing the judgement scales. Hunefer's heart, represented as a pot, is being weighed against a feather, the symbol of Maat, the established order of things, in this context meaning 'what is right'. The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the seat of the emotions, the intellect and the character, and thus represented the good or bad aspects of a person's life. If the heart did not balance with the feather, then the dead person was condemned to non-existence, and consumption by the ferocious 'devourer', the strange beast shown here which is part-crocodile, part-lion, and part-hippopotamus. • “However, as a papyrus devoted to ensuring Hunefer's continued existence in the Afterlife is not likely to depict this outcome, he is shown to the right, brought into the presence of Osiris by his son Horus, having become 'true of voice' or 'justified'. This was a standard epithet applied to dead individuals in their texts. Osiris is shown seated under a canopy, with his sisters Isis and Nephthys. At the top, Hunefer is shown adoring a row of deities who supervise the judgement.” • Height: 39 cm

  10. “The Sun in the form of a falcon rising from the Djed-pillar, watched over by Isis and Nephthys” from The Book of the Dead of Hunefer (British Museum).

  11. “Found at Hierakonpolis in 1897, this gold head of a falcon god statue was one of the first discoveries at the site.” (Archaeology, Nov/Dec 2003, p. 50)

  12. Sources • The Egyptians by Isaac Asimov (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967) • Re image: http://www.duke.edu/~bwt1/egypt/ • The Myth of Isis and Osiris. Retold by Jules Cashford. Boston: Barefoot, 1993. • “City of the Hawk.” By Renée Friedman. Archaeology. November/December 2003. Pages 50-56. • Owusu, Heike. Symbols of Egypt. NY: Sterling, 1998.

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