upon a time the gods were tired of ruling in the upper sphere, and
resolved to take it in turns to reign over Egypt in the likeness of men.
So, after four of them had in succession been kings, each for a long
term of years, it happened that Osiris, the son of Seb and Nut, took the
throne, and became monarch of the two regions, the Upper and the Lower.
Osiris was of a good and bountiful nature, beneficent in will and words:
he set himself to civilize the Egyptians, taught them to till the fields
and cultivate the vine, gave them law and religion, and instructed them
in various useful arts. Unfortunately, he had a wicked brother, called
Set or Sutekh, who hated him for his goodness, and resolved to compass
his death. This he effected after a while, and, having placed the body
in a coffin, he threw it into the Nile, whence it floated down to the
sea. Isis, the sister and widow of Osiris, together with her sister
Nephthys, vainly sought for a long time her lord's remains, but at last
found them on the Syrian shore at Byblus, where they had been cast up by
the waves. She was conveying the corpse for embalmment and interment to
Memphis, when Set stole it from her, and cut it up into fourteen pieces,
which he concealed in various places. The unhappy queen set forth in a
light boat made of the papyrus plant, and searched Egypt from end to
end, until she had found all the fragments, and buried them with due
honours. She then called on her son, Horus, to avenge his father, and
Horus engaged him in a long war, wherein he was at last victorious and
took Set prisoner. Isis now relented, and released Set, who be it
remembered, was her brother; which so enraged Horus that he tore off her
crown, or (according to some) struck off her head, which injury Thoth
repaired by giving her a cow's head in place of her own. Horus then
renewed the war with his uncle, and finally slew him with a long spear,
which he drove into his head." The gods and goddesses of the Osirid
legend, Seb, Nut or Netpe, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Set, and Horus or
Harmachis, were those which most drew towards them the thoughts of the