Set did this by tricking Osiris into stepping into a beautiful box made of cedar, ebony and ivory that he had ordered built to fit only Osiris. Set then sealed it up to become a coffin and threw it into the river. The river carried the box out to sea; it washed up in another country, resting in the upper boughs of a tamarisk tree when the waters receded. As time passed, the branches covered the box, encapsulating the god in his coffin in the trunk of the tree.
In a state of inconsolable grief, Isis tore her robes to shreds and cut off her beautiful black hair. When she finally regained her emotional balance, Isis set out to search for the body of her beloved Osiris so that she might bury him properly.
The search took Isis to Phoenicia where she met Queen Astarte. Astarte didn't recognize the goddess and hired her as a nursemaid to the infant prince.
Fond of the young boy, Isis decided to bestow immortality on him. As she was holding the royal infant over the fire as part of the ritual, the Queen entered the room. Seeing her son smoldering in the middle of the fire, Astarte instinctively (but naively) grabbed the child out of the flames, undoing the magic of Isis that would have made her son a god.
When the Queen demanded an explanation, Isis revealed her identity and told Astarte of her quest to recover her husband's body. As she listened to the story, Astarte realized that the body was hidden in the fragrant tree in the center of the palace and told Isis where to find it.
Sheltering his broken body in her arms, the goddess Isis carried the body of Osiris back to Egypt for proper burial. There she hid it in the swamps on the delta of the Nile River.
Unfortunately, Set came across the box one night when he was out hunting. Infuriated by this turn of events and determined not to be outdone, he murdered Osiris once again . . . this time hacking his body into 14 pieces and throwing them in different directions knowing that they would be eaten by the crocodiles.
The goddess Isis searched and searched, accompanied by seven scorpions who assisted and protected her. Each time she found new pieces she rejoined them to re-form his body.
But Isis could only recover thirteen of the pieces. The fourteenth, his penis, had been swallowed by a crab, so she fashioned one from gold and wax. Then inventing the rites of embalming, and speaking some words of magic, Isis brought her husband back to life.
Magically, Isis then conceived a child with Osiris, and gave birth to Horus, who later became the Sun God. Assured that having the infant would now relieve Isis' grief, Osiris was free to descend to become the King of the Underworld, ruling over the dead and the sleeping. His spirit, however, frequently returned to be with Isis and the young Horus who both remained under his watchful and loving eye.
Set murdered his brother Osiris, dismembering his body and scattering it throughout Egypt. In this story Isis does find the pieces and puts them back together. Horus is born; he was kept hidden from Seth by Isis in order to protect his life, till he was old enough to become his father’s champion of sorts. Once he’s older, it’s said that Horus goes to avenge his fathers’ death, by going after Set and fighting him in a bloody battle. But that later the whole problem was resolved by the Tribunal of Gods, who ended up judging in Osiris and Horus’ favor. Osiris was then resurrected by the Tribunal, became the King and Judge of the Dead (God of the Underworld), while Horus became known as the King of the Living and Set was dubbed the Evil One and banished.
*This Myth comes from the book:
“Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt” Page 152
Isis Myth 1:
In regards to Isis, it’s said that she tricked Ra into giving her his real name, which was secret. She did this by having a poisons snake bite him and knew the only way to heal him was to get him to say his secret name. So Ra told her and thus when she spoke it, took on his powers of life and death. This made her the most powerful of any God or Goddess in Egypt.
Isis is said to have tricked Set into giving up his claim on Egypt. This took place when the Tribunal was trying to decide who would take Osiris’ place as King, either Set or Horus. So to please Set, they moved the tribunal to an island in middle of the Nile, where Re told the ferryman not to let any woman who looked like Isis across. But this didn’t stop Isis, instead its said that she changed herself into an old woman and bought her way across with a ring that she had on her finger. All because she was determined to avenge her husband’s murder and ensure her son got to sit on the throne instead of Set. Once across, she changed herself into a “shapely young woman” and tricked Set, by telling him a story of how her husband was killed and a foreigner said that he would beat her little boy and take his cattle and toss him out. So she asked Set to be her son’s champion. Well of course Set couldn’t resist, he fell for it, hook, line and sinker. He got upset at the sound of the story and said it wasn’t right that this guy would take what belonged to her son while he was alive and offered his services for her. What he didn’t know was that Isis’s use of the word “cattle” was a synonym for the Egyptian People. So when he agreed, he basically said, “Ok...I’ll give up my claim so that Horus can take his rightful place as King of the Egyptian People.” At that moment Isis changed herself again into what was said to be a kite and landed in a acacia tree and told Set, who is said to be discomforted by now, that he basically condemned himself, from his own mouth and that he has nothing to whine about. That’s when Set had realized that he was tricked, went back to the tribunal of Gods and told Re-Horakhty what happened. Who just told him basically tough beans, he made the decision himself and thus made the call to grant Horus the throne.
*This Myth came from the book: "Gods of Ancient Egypt", Pg.78-79
Isis Myth 3:
The myth goes that Horus beheaded his mother (see Horus Myth 1 for more details) and took off with her head. When this happened, Isis turned herself into a headless stone and waited for a new head.
*This Myth came from the book: "Gods of Ancient Egypt", Pg.79-80
Horus Myth 1:
It’s said in one story that Horus got into a bloody battle with his evil Uncle Seth. This happened as a result of what happened on the island, it was supposed to be a race, but ended up with both of them fighting each other with harpoons. Set had been the one said to have challenged Horus. When Horus got hit by a harpoon, he called to his mom, Isis, who removed the harpoon. Well that did a lot of good, cause as soon as Set got hit with a harpoon, Isis felt bad for her brother and also removed his harpoon. That’s when it’s said that Horus got mad at his mother, beheaded her, held her head to his bosom and headed for the mountains. This just made all the Gods mad, but Isis was able to forgive her son.
*This Myth came from the book: "Gods of Ancient Egypt", Pg.79-80
References for all Information On the Myths
All references will be in order by Myths listed, for easy access and reference