The Probert Encyclopaedia of Egyptian Mythology

ISIS

In Egyptian mythology, Isis (Aset) was the daughter of Nut and Geb and the sister of Osiris, Set and Nebthet. She and Osiris had a dual function as fertility gods: she over saw love and union, he was the god of growth. They ruled Egypt as husband and wife; he taught his subjects the rule of law and respect for the gods; she taught them marriage, household management and medicine. After Osiris was drowned and dismembered by their jealous brother Seth, Isis used her medical skills first to impregnate herself with the last drop of semen in her consort's penis, and then to reassemble the corpse and bring it back to life. The first magic worked, and she became pregnant with Horus. But the gods refused to let Osiris return to the world of mortals, and he went to rule in the Underworld, leaving Isis vowing revenge on Set. Instead of fighting him herself, she encouraged Horus to take every chance to try to kill him, and when this proved impossible she arranged for Horus to humiliate and disempower Set. In some accounts this happened when Horus
castrated Set in a duel, fit punishment for Set's crime of cutting off Osiris' penis and throwing it into the Nile.
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