[CHAPTER I.]
Reign of the gods—Osiris, Isis, and Horus Myth—Ancient cities and early kings.
The first royal name that meets us on the monuments of Egypt, which was inscribed there during the lifetime of the king who bore it, is that of Senefru (predecessor of Khufu who built the Great Pyramid), and belongs to a remote antiquity.[1] And yet we must look back through the dimness of many more centuries still before we come to the name of Mena, first King of Egypt—a name that seems to twinkle faintly from beyond the abyss of long past ages like a far-off star on the horizon from beyond the wide waste of waters.
Mena, founder of Memphis, and his successors, we know, at least, by name; but of the ‘old time before them’ the traditions of Egypt only said that the gods governed the land. According to one ancient record, Ptah, the ‘Hidden Being,’ the ‘Former of all,’ ruled in the beginning; Ra, the bright Sun-god, Seb, the ancient Earth-god, followed; and later still Osiris reigned, the ‘Good Being’ and ‘Lord of life.’ After having conferred manifold blessings and benefits on the land, he was slain by his brother and rival Set. Set concealed the body, but Isis, the ‘great divine Mother,’ sister and wife of Osiris, sought after it. An ancient hymn says, ‘No word of hers fails; good is she, and kind in will and speech. It is Isis, the exalted one, the avenger of her brother: she went up and down the world lamenting him.’
Vincent Brooks-Day & Son, Lith.
WINGED FIGURE, ISIS OR NEPHTHYS.
The Lamentations of Isis was one of the most revered of the sacred writings:—‘My heart is full of bitterness for thee,’ she cries; ‘how long will it be ere I see thee whom to behold is bliss! Come to her that loveth thee—none hath loved thee more than I.... Heaven and earth are mourning after thee. O mighty one, our lord,[2] speak, and dispel the anguish of our souls! To behold thy face is life, and the joy of our spirits is to gaze on thee!’
Nevertheless in bodily form Osiris appeared not on earth again; but Isis ceased not from her search until she had found the remains, all torn and mangled as they were by the malice of Set. ‘She made light with her feathers,’ says the old hymn, ‘and wind with her wings; at his burial she poured forth her prayers.’