Who Killed His Brother Osiris

Long ago in ancient Egypt, there existed gods who governed every aspect of life. Among them was Set, one of the most feared and powerful. Unlike other gods, Set wasn’t born normally. While his siblings were born peacefully, he was violent from the beginning. He tore through his mother Nut’s womb, the sky goddess, to enter the world. This already showed what his character would be like. Set didn’t resemble the other gods. He had a strange head that wasn’t completely animal nor human. His ears were rectangular and upright, his snout long and curved. Nobody knew exactly what animal he represented. Some said he was a mixture of various desert beasts. Others that he was a creature that existed only in the realm of the gods. In early times, Set had an important role alongside his siblings. Osiris, his older brother, ruled the fertile Nile Valley, bringing life and prosperity. Isis, Osiris’s sister and wife, mastered magic and wisdom. Nephthys, the other sister, married Set, and Set, well, he controlled the desert, storms, and foreign lands. It wasn’t a minor role since someone had to keep at bay the dangers that threatened Egypt. One of Set’s most important tasks was protecting Ra’s boat, the sun god, during his nightly journey through the underworld. Each night, the serpent Apep tried to devour the sun, and Set fought against it to prevent this. His strength was legendary, and his roar made the heavens tremble.

The problems began when Osiris became very popular among humans. As king of Egypt, Osiris traveled the world teaching agriculture and laws. People adored him, offered him gifts, built temples in his honor. Set observed all this from his desert kingdom and gradually envy grew in his heart. Why does Osiris receive all the honors? Thought Set, I too am powerful. I too protect Egypt. Yet nobody builds temples for me or offers me the best sacrifices. Envy transformed into hatred. Set began planning how to get rid of his brother. He waited patiently until Osiris returned from one of his trips. Then he organized a great banquet to celebrate his return. He invited many gods and prepared abundant food and drink. During the feast, Set displayed a beautiful sarcophagus decorated with gold and jewels. It was a truly magnificent piece carved from the finest wood. I have prepared a special gift, announced Set. This sarcophagus will be for whoever fits perfectly in it. Several gods tried, but the sarcophagus wasn’t the right size for any of them. This was no coincidence. Set had built it with Osiris’s exact measurements. Brother, said Set, addressing Osiris. Why don’t you try it? Osiris, suspecting nothing, lay down inside the sarcophagus. It fit perfectly as Set knew it would. Look, it’s perfect for you, exclaimed Set. And before Osiris could get up, Set slammed the lid shut. Quickly his followers sealed the sarcophagus with molten lead. Then they threw it into the Nile where the current carried it toward the sea.

Thus died Osiris, betrayed by his own brother. Set then took the throne of Egypt, becoming the new king. His rule was harsh and ruthless. Where once there had been order and prosperity, now there was chaos and fear. Storms lashed the fields and droughts killed livestock. Enemies attacked the borders more frequently. Set wasn’t a good king. He only cared about his own power. The desert god sat upon the throne that had never been meant for him, and Egypt suffered under his reign. The people who had once celebrated their harvests now watched their crops wither. The festivals that had honored Osiris’s gifts of civilization grew silent. In the palace, Set surrounded himself with followers who feared him rather than loved him, and his court became a place of suspicion and cruelty. He would pace the halls at night, unable to sleep, haunted perhaps by what he had done, or perhaps simply restless with the chaos that was his nature. Meanwhile, Isis was desperately searching for her husband. She traveled all over Egypt, asking if anyone had seen the sarcophagus. Her journey took her to villages and cities, to temples and marketplaces. She questioned fishermen along the Nile, merchants in the bazaars, priests in their sanctuaries. Some pitied her and tried to help, while others feared Set’s wrath and turned her away. But Isis would not give up. Her love for Osiris drove her forward, even when hope seemed lost.

Finally, she discovered it had reached the distant land of Byblos. There, the sarcophagus had become trapped in the roots of a tree that grew around it. The tree had grown so magnificent that the king of Byblos had it cut down to use as a pillar in his palace, never knowing what treasure it contained within. With great effort and cunning, Isis recovered Osiris’s body and brought it back to Egypt. She hid it in the marshes and planned to use her magic to bring him back to life. But Set learned of this through his network of spies and informants. One night, while Isis rested, Set found his brother’s body. Furious that his plan had failed, he dismembered Osiris’s corpse into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt from the Delta to the cataracts, ensuring they would never be found together again. Now you can never bring him back, Set told Isis when she discovered what he had done. But he underestimated Isis’s determination. With help from her sister Nephthys, who despite being Set’s wife, was horrified by his actions, Isis traveled throughout Egypt searching for Osiris’s pieces. It took years of searching. She braved scorching deserts and treacherous swamps. She dove into rivers and climbed mountains. Slowly, piece by piece, she recovered her husband’s body. She found thirteen parts, but the last one, Osiris’s phallus, had been devoured by the Nile’s fish.

Using her magical knowledge, Isis reconstructed Osiris’s body as best she could. She created an artificial phallus to replace the lost one. With powerful spells learned from the oldest gods, she restored enough life to Osiris to conceive a child with him, Horus, who would be born to avenge his father. Knowing Set would try to kill the child, Isis hid Horus in the Nile Delta’s marshes. There, the little one grew, protected by spells so powerful that not even Set could find him. The marsh dwellers, simple folk who lived among the reeds, became his protectors. They taught him to fish and hunt, to move silently through the papyrus thicket, to read the signs of nature. Horus grew strong in body and spirit, learning patience and wisdom from his mother’s visits and courage from the knowledge of what Set had done. Set searched for the child everywhere. He sent monsters and demons to kill him, offered rewards to whoever found him, but everything was useless. Meanwhile, Set’s reign became increasingly cruel. People suffered under his rule and longed for Osiris’s times. The old songs about the good king were sung in whispers, and prayers for deliverance were offered in secret. When Horus grew up and became a strong young man, he emerged from hiding. Before the court of the gods, he claimed the throne that rightfully belonged to him as Osiris’s son. The throne of Egypt belongs to me by right, said Horus. My father was murdered and his killer must be punished.

I am the king now, replied Set. I challenge you to prove you’re worthy of taking my place. Thus began a long conflict between Set and Horus, uncle and nephew, that would last eighty years according to ancient stories. The gods listened to both their arguments without being able to decide who was right. Set claimed his superior strength justified his right to rule. I have protected Ra’s boat for countless nights, he roared. I am stronger and more experienced than this youth. Egypt needs a powerful ruler. Horus calmer responded, My father established order and justice. Strength without justice only brings suffering. The dispute wasn’t limited to words. Set and Horus faced each other in numerous battles. In one of them, Set tore out Horus’s left eye, shredded it, and dispersed it, just as he had done with Osiris’s body. Now you know how it feels, nephew, Set mocked. But Horus wasn’t weak either. In another combat, he managed to tear off Set’s testicles, leaving him wounded and furious. Thoth, the god of wisdom, helped recover and heal Horus’s eye, which would become a powerful symbol of protection in Egypt. Set’s wound, however, explained why the desert he ruled was barren, incapable of creating life like the fertile Nile Valley. The battles continued for decades with victories and defeats for both sides. Finally, tired of the endless dispute, Ra decided to convene all the gods for a definitive trial.

During this trial, Isis tried to trick Set into admitting it was wrong for an uncle to have usurped his nephew’s throne. Set realized the deception and flew into a rage. The gods remained divided. Some supported Set for his strength and experience. Others supported Horus for being the legitimate heir. Finally, Ra sent a letter to the god Osiris, who now reigned in the world of the dead. He asked, Who should rule Egypt? Osiris responded firmly, Why am I denied justice? I who brought order and civilization to Egypt? My son Horus is the legitimate heir. If this isn’t respected, I will release the dead to invade the world of the living. This threat impressed the gods. Ra finally decided in favor of Horus. Set was forced to abandon the throne but wasn’t destroyed or completely banished. The gods recognized that despite his crimes, Set remained necessary for the world’s balance. Set returned to his role as protector of the solar boat and defender of Egypt’s borders. He was no longer king, but remained a powerful god with important functions. He continued fighting each night against Apep so the sun could be reborn each morning. Throughout the centuries, how Egyptians viewed Set kept changing. At first, he was respected as a powerful and necessary deity, though fearsome. During the Middle Kingdom, after the popularization of Osiris’s myth, he began to be viewed with more suspicion.

Set’s perception worsened when the Hyksos, foreign invaders, occupied part of Egypt and adopted Set as their main god. When Egyptians finally expelled the Hyksos, Set became associated with the enemy and the foreign. In the New Kingdom, Set was increasingly demonized. His images were erased from many temples and his name omitted from inscriptions. He was no longer seen as a necessary god, but as an evil force that had to be fought. In rituals, priests created figures of Set with wax or clay and symbolically destroyed them, spitting on them and burning them to ward off evil. The god who once protected Egypt was now treated as its enemy. However, even in these times of greatest hostility, some positive aspects of Set remained. In border areas near the desert, small cults continued venerating him as protector. Soldiers asked him for strength before battles. Magicians invoked him to control storms and dangerous winds. There exists a little known story that shows this protective side of Set. During a terrible drought that devastated Egypt, neither prayers to Osiris nor to Horus gave results. A desperate priestess went to the desert to an ancient abandoned temple of Set. There she offered her own blood to the forgotten god. The great lord of the storm, she pleaded. Egypt is dying. If you ever loved this land, help us now.

Set appeared as a whirlwind of red sand. His voice was like thunder. Why should I help those who have rejected me and erased my name? he asked. Because without Egypt, you too would disappear, the priestess replied. Gods need those who worship them. Set remained silent for a long time. Finally, the whirlwind rose toward the sky and transformed into black clouds that discharged rain over the Nile for seven days and seven nights. The river swelled, fields turned green again, and life returned. When the grateful Egyptians sought the priestess to honor her, they only found a red sand statue shaped like a woman facing the desert. This contradictory nature of Set continued until the end of Egyptian religion. He was feared but necessary, hated but invoked when his strength was required. In the Book of the Dead, Egyptians asked for protection against him but also requested his power to overcome obstacles in the afterlife. With the arrival of Christianity and later Islam to Egypt, Set’s figure was reinterpreted. Early Christians associated him with Satan, taking advantage of his already negative image. But even then, echoes of the ancient god persisted in local folklore. The Bedouins of the Egyptian desert told stories about the Red Lord, a spirit who could appear as a sandstorm to devour travelers, but also to guide them to hidden oases if they showed respect.

It was clearly a memory of Set, transformed, but not completely forgotten. Set teaches us that the most destructive forces can also be protective. The desert that threatens to devour the fertile valley also protects it from invaders. The storm that destroys also brings needed water. The chaos that challenges order also prevents stagnation. With his strange head of an unknown animal and his contradictory nature, Set reminds us that the world isn’t simple. It’s complex, sometimes terrible, sometimes beneficial, always necessary in all its parts. Thus, while Osiris’s temples celebrated life’s renewal each year on the desert’s edges, small altars to Set reminded Egyptians that even the most feared deserves respect. That destruction can precede renewal, and that the desert, implacable and deadly, is also an inseparable part of Egypt. Thank you for watching this video about Set, the fascinating Egyptian god of storms and chaos. What other deity from Egyptian mythology would you like to learn about in a future story? I’d love to read your comments and suggestions for future topics. Until the next video, for the throne, I will destroy you. Never. You shall not prevail.