THE DEATH OF OSIRIS AND THE CONTEST OF

HORUS AND SETH

The tale of The Death of Osiris and the Contendings of Horus and
Seth, as its usually known, was the final act of the sweeping ancient Egyptian
mythological story that established how the world as the ancient Egyptians knew it
came into being.[1]

The Death of Osiris

When the cosmos was fresh from the hands of the creator god
usually Atum, Amun, or Ra, depending on the version of the ancient
Egyptian creation myth its creator was also its king. The rulership then
passed to the air god Shu, then to his son, the earth god Geb, and finally to Gebs
son, Osiris. Osiriss sister Isis was his queen. His reign was a golden age of
abundance and peace, which earned him the favor of all of the gods.

Well, almost all of the gods, that is. There was one who was jealous of the kings
popularity and success, and wanted the throne for himself. This was none other
than Osiriss own brother, Seth. Seth murdered the king, hacked his body to
pieces, and scattered the pieces all across the vast Egyptian landscape. He then
installed himself as king, and his sister and consort Nephthys as queen.

Isis was inconsolable. So profound was her anguish that Nephthys, her sister, was
moved to help her locate the sundry parts of her murdered husband. The two
scoured the land day and night until they had found every last fragment of Osiriss
corpse, which they successfully reassembled.

However, despite her formidable magical powers, Isis couldnt accomplish a feat
as daunting as bringing Osiris back to life without a certain power that Ra, the sun
god, alone possessed, by virtue of his being reborn every morning. So Isis tricked
Ra into divulging his secret name to her, which, whenever pronounced, could
revive the dead.

Isis spoke Ras secret name over her husbands corpse, which enlivened it just
enough for them to copulate to conceive a rightful heir to the throne. Then, his
feeble vitality spent, Osiris quit the world of the living completely and descended
down into the underworld, over which he would rule from that point forward.

The Contest of Horus and Seth

When Isis gave birth to her son, Horus, she had to hide him in the papyrus
marshes for fear that Seth would murder him, too, to prevent any challenge to his
kingship. Under Isiss devoted care, Horus grew into a healthy, strong man. In due
time, he set out to claim the throne that was rightfully his.

Horus strode into the assembly of the gods, chaired by Ra, and asserted his claim
on the throne as the son of Osiris. Naturally, Seth vehemently disputed this right.
The gods debated the relative merits of the two contenders, and in the end all of the
gods favored Horus except for Ra, who felt that he was too young and
inexperienced. The council was at an impasse.

Ras mother, Neith, was called in to issue a verdict and resolve the stalemate. She
declared that the throne should be Horuss, but that Seth should be compensated by
being given two of Ras daughters, Anat and Astarte (Canaanite goddesses whose
cults had become established in Egypt), as his wives. Everyone was pleased with
Neiths decision except for Ra, who stormed off to his quarters, leaving the council
once again in a stalemate.

Ras daughter Hathor, goddess of sexuality, joy, and vitality, found her father
sulking in his pavilion. She cast a warm smile at him and exposed herself to him.
This should surely be understood as her imparting some of her cheer and vigor to
Ra, whose mood instantly improved. He then returned confidently to the council.

With the assembly reconvened, Seth and Horus once again presented their claims
to the throne. Seths arguments were based on his demonstrated skill and strength,
while those of Horus were based on his unique legitimacy as the proper heir of
Osiris. Isis intervened to make an impassioned plea in her sons defense, but the
outraged Seth successfully protested against her presence at the council.

Isis was then removed from the proceedings, but she surreptitiously made her way
back in disguised as an old woman. Once inside, she disguised herself as a
beautiful young woman whose beauty the virile Seth would not fail to notice. She
went before Seth as a supplicant before her king and told him that her son had been
cheated out of what was rightfully his, and requested his aid in restoring these
things to him. Seth was moved by her plea and enraged by the injustice her son had
suffered. Isis then revealed her true identity to Seth, and did not miss the
opportunity to spell out how he had just condemned himself.

This time, Ra refused to come to Seths aid, and the assembly decreed that Horus
should be the king. But Seth still had one last recourse: to challenge his adversary
to a series of contests, the victor of which would assume the throne. Horus
accepted the challenge.

Then followed a series of (to our ears) extremely bizarre competitions, most of
which featured Isiss intervention.

The two competitors turned themselves into hippopotami and battled. Isis was
about to harpoon Seth, but Seth addressed her as sister and Isis found herself
unable to go through with it. Horus, enraged, decapitated Isis.

Horus then fled into the desert, but Seth pursued him, and, when he found him,
ripped his eyes out. Afterwards, Horuss and Isiss wounds were healed.

Horus and Seth then engaged in a competition wherein each tried to deposit his
semen in the others body. Isis obtained some of Horuss semen, put it on a piece of
lettuce that Seth was about to eat, and thereby won the contest for her son.

The two contenders then held a boating competition. Horus built a sound boat, but
Seths was made of stone and sank as soon as it was put into the water.

In the end, each of the contests, which Seth had designed to demonstrate his
greater strength and skill, backfired, and instead showed that Horus was the fitter
to rule in every way. The competitions had left Seth without any compelling
arguments to advance for why he should be king instead of Horus.

Meanwhile, the assembly received a letter from Osiris in the underworld, which
ordered them to grant the throne to his son. If this demand wasnt met, Osiris
threatened to withhold the fertility of the earth and deprive the gods of their food,
send demons and the dead against the gods, and treat the gods badly when they
ended up in his domain (such as when Ra passed through the underworld at night).

Earlier, the contest had pitted the legal/moral/spiritual right of Horus against the
allegedly superior raw power of Seth and his party. However, after Osiriss letter
and Horuss decisive defeats of Seth in the competitions of strength and cunning,
Horus had demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had both right and
might on his side.

Seth sullenly relinquished the throne, and Horus was crowned the king of the gods.

As compensation, Seth was not only granted Anat and Astarte as wives, as Neith
had suggested, but was also given the prestigious position of guardian of the boat
in which Ra traversed the sky by day and the underworld by night. From that time
forward, Seth stood at the prow of the ship with his weapons, valiantly fighting off
the forces of true chaos, such as the snake Apophis, when they attacked and
attempted to devour the sun god and his party.

Horuss reign became renowned as a period of wondrous prosperity, justice, and

peace.[2][3]

Themes and Meanings

As with many mythological narratives from the ancient Near East, The Death of
Osiris and the Contest of Horus and Seth was powerfully connected to
the annual agricultural cycle. As Osiriss threat to the divine council shows, he was
a preeminent fertility power. Like the grain that was the staff of life for the early
Egyptians, Osiris had to die (at the harvest) and be dismembered and scattered (as
grain must be to separate its seeds and sow them) in order to be reborn (like the
new plants at the beginning of the growing season).[4] However, while the dead
Osiris continued to live in some capacity as the ruler of the underworld, the rebirth
here was principally accomplished through the birth and ascension of his son,
Horus, who grew from his seed.[5]

But the foremost significance of this story was that it provided a sacred basis for
Egyptian kingship. To say that the pharaoh ruled by divine right was an
understatement. He was thought of as being the incarnation of Horus fully human
but also fully divine himself. The pharaoh, whoever he was at the time, was thus
the sole legitimate successor to Osiris, Geb, Shu, and Ra/Atum/Amun. His own
legitimate heir could only be his son, who would in turn become the incarnation of
Horus when he himself died and became united with Osiris. Any potential usurpers
of the throne were identified with Seth, instantly invalidating their claims.[6]

Additionally, as Horuss repeated and resounding defeats of Seth in every realm of

life demonstrated, the hereditary successor to the throne not only had the right to
rule, but would inevitably be the most capable of all possible rulers.[7]

If youd like to learn more about the story of The Death of Osiris and the
Contest of Horus and Seth, and/or ancient Egyptian mythology and religion
more broadly, I recommend picking up one or more of the books on this list: The
10 Best Egyptian Mythology Books.