Essay: Women of Egypt

(Image Information: Depiction
of Isis; Web Source: Wikipedia)

This week, I moved from Greek Mythology to Ancient Egyptian Mythology. The last two essays have been over the role women played in part one and two of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and while the women in part two had more of an influence than those in part one, still no women were happy at the end of their stories. This week, I focused on the stories of Osiris and Isis as well as “The Two Brothers”, and analyzed the role women play in these stories.

Osiris, an Egyptian god, begins his story as he takes over the throne, after Ra ascended to heaven. Osiris built a glorious and honorable Egypt where he was known as “Osiris the Good” because he was so widely loved for his success. Unfortunately, he had an evil brother, Set, who desired the power Osiris held and plotted to take it from him. Enter Isis, the wife of Osiris. While Osiris was away, Isis successfully protected the throne from Set and his servants. Then, upon Osiris’s return, Set put his final plan into motion and successfully killed the king. Isis heard this news and was heartbroken. With Set on the throne, Egypt was thrust back into turmoil, so Isis set out to find her husband’s body. After searching for years, she finally found the body. She also gave birth to a boy, Horus, who was destined to overthrow Set and return peace to Egypt. On her way back, Set happened across his brother’s body and was so furious he had it cut into pieces and thrown into the Nile. Isis, determined to help her love find peace in the afterlife, went and found every piece of his body and gave each piece a proper burial. While she was not happy, her passion for her husband and the sympathy of Ra allowed her to successfully find Osiris’s body twice and give it a proper Egyptian burial. This is the first story I read where a women succeeded without going mad in the process.

In the tale of the two brothers, much like before, the women play a much less honorable role. The wife of the older brother, Anpu, attempts to seduce the younger brother, Bata, and then lies to Anpu about her doings, placing all the blame on Bata. This leads to Anpu attempting to murder Bata, and Bata’s decision to leave. Then, the gods create a wife for Bata, and this wife eventually decides to give Bata up and has him killed. These women, in the end, were both unsuccessful (Anpu’s wife was slain, and Bata’s wife gave rebirth to Bata so he could become king of Egypt) in their attempts to deceive their husbands.

In these Ancient Egyptian stories, mortal women played much of the same role as before. They are far inferior to the powers of gods and men. In this section, however, there was Isis, who did succeed in laying her husband to rest.