Isis had been traveling around the Nile for years, in a painstaking effort to find the pieces of her husband’s body. Set had scattered them so far that he believed neither Isis nor anyone else would ever find all of the pieces, and that Isis and her son, Horus, would be so distraught that they would never return to the palace.
But Isis was determined. She could not rest until she brought Osiris back to life and reunited her family. She had not seen their son during the whole time she had been searching. He was back with a few trustworthy gods, who were training him to defeat Set. She knew he was in good hands, but she missed him dearly. She finally was feeling hopeful about the future though, and she could envision a time soon that her family would be together again. She had found most of the pieces, and had a good idea where the rest of them were.
Several more months went by and Isis finally found the remaining pieces of Osiris’s body, all except for one. His nose was still missing and she had exhausted all outlets. She felt that no matter how long she searched, she would never find it. And she was correct.
While Set was certain that no one could put his brother’s body back together, he had been cautious and kept a single piece hidden deep in his palace. The nose of Osiris lay in a golden box in a sealed room in the center of the palace, and only a few servants knew how to access the room. Not even Set himself knew, because he did not want to ever have its location drawn from him by torture.
As Isis was losing the little hope she had left, she decided to travel back to her son, bringing the nearly complete body of her husband with her, to at least give him a proper burial. When she arrived, she found that her son was almost finished preparing to battle Set, and there was a plan forming among Horus, Uazit, and Thoth.
She relayed to her son and his mentors that she had been unsuccessful in restoring Osiris. Uazit then informed her that there had been a man traveling through the city who claimed to be a former servant in Set’s palace.
He told of rumors of a secret room in the palace, where Set kept something hidden. Isis knew that it must be the last piece of her husband’s body. It was now up to Horus to defeat Set so that Isis could get into the palace and find it. So Horus decided that he was ready to face his uncle, and set out for the palace.
The day of the battle arrived and though it was a tough fight, the training Horus had received proved to be enough, and he defeated his uncle once and for all. The gods turned to Isis to determine his fate, and she ordered that his body be chopped into small pieces and scattered across the far reaches of the world, so that truly, no one could resurrect him.
The servants of the palace were so grateful to be free of Set’s rule that they gladly showed Isis to the secret room. She was able to open the room and find the last piece of her husband’s body. Once his body was whole once again, she used her magic to breath life back into Osiris.
The people once again offered Osiris the throne, but the gods also offered him a throne. They gave him the option to rule the afterlife and be the judge of the dead. He felt that this would better suit him than a mortal throne, so he agreed on the conditions that he could still live with his family in the mortal realm, and that Isis take over as the ruler of the people. The gods saw that she would be more than qualified after all of her efforts, and agreed. So Osiris was given a temple in the city where he could access the afterlife and do his godly duties, and Isis was given the throne. The people rejoiced and flourished under their new leadership, and Isis, Osiris, and Horus lived happily for the rest of their days.
Author's note: In the original version of the story, Horus had the tribes that still worshipped Osiris and Isis help him defeat Set’s army, but I chose to have the fight be more one on one. The original story had Osiris's penis as the missing piece and it was swallowed by a fish. I wanted to make Set more directly responsible for the missing piece, so I cut out that part, and changed it to his nose, because I thought that was a more normal thing for Set to have hidden in the palace. I also chose not to focus on the battle between Set and Horus, because these stories are primarily about Isis. I wanted to focus more on her role in Set’s defeat and what she does in the aftermath. In the original story, Set was driven from the kingdom, but I felt that there was more justice in letting Isis determine his fate. I deviated from the original more in this third part than I did in the first two installments, but I felt it was necessary to keep the story centered around Isis. She is not as present in the rest of the legend, so I changed it around. I also thought it was very important that she got the throne in the end, because it wouldn’t have felt right to me to have her do all of this hard work to resurrect her husband, just so he could reap the rewards. Her family is the most important to her, but I also wanted her power and ability to be a factor in her happy ending. This way, they could both rule and still be together.
Story source: King of the Dead from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie
Image source: Nile River