Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest in the world. Its originality is largely due to the geographical features of the country. Egypt was literally created by the Nile, reviving the barren desert and turning it into a flowering garden. But the desert, approaching the verdant shores, made the Egyptians constantly think about death.
The myth of Osiris and Horus
A funeral cult lies at the heart of all Egyptian culture. The Egyptians believed that earthly life was only a short moment preceding the transition to another, eternal life. The myth of Osiris and Horus became a kind of illustration to this idea of death.
He tells us that the god of fertility Osiris was once a good and wise ruler of Egypt. It was he who trained his people to cultivate the land and plant gardens. However, Osiris was treacherously killed by his brother - the vicious and envious Set. The son of Osiris, the bright falcon of Horus, defeated Seth in a duel, and then resurrected his father, allowing him to swallow his eye. But Osiris, having risen, decided not to return to earth, becoming the ruler of the kingdom of the dead.
Of course, the myth of Osiris and Horus should not be taken too literally. This is nothing but a metaphor for the dying and resurrecting nature, whose new life is given by a grain thrown into the earth. And Horus, bringing Osiris back to life, embodies life-giving sunlight.
This myth, in many ways, gave rise to the ideas of the Egyptians about the afterlife. When the pharaoh died and another took his place, the traditional mystery played out. The new ruler was declared the earthly incarnation of the god Horus, and the deceased was mourned as Osiris. The deceased pharaoh or noble nobleman was embalmed, a sacred amulet in the form of a scarab beetle was placed on his chest. At the last they wrote a spell that called upon the heart of the deceased not to testify against him at the court of Osiris.
