eygptian gods
... the "lady of the house”. Nephthys was portrayed as a woman wearing on her head the symbol of her name, or the symbol on top of a pair of horns. Osiris was the god of the earth and vegetation. He symbolized in his death the yearly drought and in his miraculous rebirth the periodic flooding of the Nile and the growth of grain. He was a god-king who was believed to have given Egypt the river Nile. Set was the Lord of Lower (Northern) Egypt, he was represented by a big-eared imaginary animal with red hair resembling a donkey or maybe an aardvark. He was associated with the desert and storms. Set is most famous for the murder of his brother Osiris and the attempted murder of his brother's son, Horus. Osiris and Isis had one child together that was Horus. Horus was conceived magically by Isis following the murder of his father, Osiris. Horus was raised by his mother on the isolated island of Chemmis. He was in constant danger from his evil uncle Set but his mother protected him and he survived. By Nephthys he fathered Anubis, and according to some stories, Nephthys assumed the form of Isis, seduced him thus, and from their union was born Anubis. The jackal-god of mummification, he assisted in the rites by which a dead man was admitted to the underworld. Anubis was worshipped as the inventor of embalming and who embalmed the dead Osiris his father and so helping to preserve him so that he might be able to live again. Osiris ruled the world of men in the beginning, after Ra had abandoned the world to rule the skies, but he was murdered by his brother Set. But Set the Evil One, their brother, envied Osiris and hated Isis. The more the people loved and praised Osiris, the more Set hated him; and the more good he did and the happier mankind became, the stronger grew Set's desire to kill his brother and rule in his place. Isis, however, was so full of wisdom and so watchful that Set made no attempt to seize the throne while she was watching over the land of Egypt. And when Osiris returned from his travels Set was among the first to welcome him back and kneel in reverence. Secretly Set obtained the exact measurements of the body of Osiris, and caused beautiful chest to be made that would fit only him. Then Set gave a great feast in honour of Osiris. It was the greatest feast that had yet been seen in Egypt, and the foods were choicer, the wines stronger and the dancing girls more beautiful than ever before. When the heart of Osiris had been made glad with feasting and song the chest was brought in, and all were amazed at its beauty. "I will give this chest to whosoever fits it most exactly!" cried Set. And at once the guests began in turn to see if they could win it. But they were either too tall, too short; too fat or too thin - and all tried in vain. "Let me see if I will fit into this marvelous piece of work," said Osiris, and he laid himself down in the chest while all gathered round breathlessly. "I fit exactly, and the chest is mine!" cried Osiris. "It is yours indeed, and shall be so forever!" hissed Set as he banged down the lid. Set shut his body in a chest and threw it into the Nile, where it washed up onto the shore and was trapped in a huge tree. Isis, who had been searching for Osiris, discovered the trunk, and retrieved the body. While Isis was away, Set found the body, and chopped it up into many pieces, and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis and her sister, Nephthys searched the land for the body parts of Osiris. Then Isis, with her magic, reassembled all the pieces and breathed life back into the body; they then had a child, Horus, who would become the god of the sun. Osiris was not allowed to stay in the land of the living however, and was sent to the underworld to serve as king, and to judge the souls of the dead. Being the first living thing to die, he subsequently became lord of the dead. Osiris the god of the dead, and the god of the resurrection into eternal life; ruler, protector, and judge of the deceased, and his example thereafter Osiris was worshipped both as a fertility god, who ensured the rebirth of vegetation each spring and as Lord of the underworld, through whom all live again. Osiris sat at the entrance to the underworld. The duty of guiding the souls of the dead round about the Underworld and into the kingdom of Osiris was shared by Anubis. Anubis is represented as a man with a black dog's head or as black dog, the colour black being the colour of the world of the dead. Once in the underworld, Anubis, assisted by the god Thoth, supervises the weighing of the heart of the deceased. Only when the deceased's heart was found to be in balance with all that was as it should be, Maat...