Due to my love of Greek gods and goddesses, I figured I should give some other cultures deities a try! The author of the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan, did write another series about the Egyptian gods and goddesses, so this is a good way to see what it's all about! I had to pretty much review every story because some crazy stuff happened in every single one!
(Photo from Sporcle)
Ra and Hathor
I think I followed this story correctly: because some guys called him old, Ra created a flood. He was like "Who's old now?" as he's killing everyone, but then he got tired while killing everyone (because he's old) and had to be carried away on the back of Nut, the Celestial Cow. This flood also created an annual festival for Hathor because she saved them from the flood (that she also started but it's fine). I get all this but I have a few questions? Hathor is the goddess of what? Is Ra immortal or mortal because gods don't age. Was he just living among the mortals and now that he is old is going to be with the gods? Maybe I'll do some research and figure this out.
The Sun's Journey
So all of my questions about Ra were answered in this chapter. Yes, he was a mortal god as the first Pharaoh and then he later became a cosmic deity. But now I have more questions! Why did he just now start assigning people realms and areas to be god or goddess of? I feel like that should have been handled a while ago. Is this myth saying that for the 12 hours of night we have, Ra is asleep and everyone is trying to kill him? What good is that?! I still have so many questions!
Osiris
This myth felt like it was really just there to give us some background info before the real conflict begins. I thought it was cool that Isis, a woman, held so much power in Egypt and actually ruled in place of her husband while he was away. Also, what was Ra doing if he didn't make people civilized during his time as pharaoh? Like Osiris built temples for worship and permanent cities. Were the people of Ra's time just running around fighting each other? So far Ra is sounding pretty useless to me.
The Death of Osiris
What a fun party game Set brought to his brother, Osiris' feast: "Who Fits in the Box the Best?" I like how the story had to point out that no one thought this was a trick because everyone was having such a great time and were eager to play. Why did Osiris have a child with someone else? Isis sounds like the perfect woman! I mean she searched for his body and asked every person she met if they saw it. She also had seven scorpions follow her around and protect so she's pretty badass and probably someone you wouldn't want to mess with.
The Journey of Isis
Well this all took a crazy turn! It's literally like a bad soap opera and nothing makes sense! The body in the tree part was cool and Isis and Osiris having a son, Horus, is a nice touch because he's destined to take back the throne and overthrow his uncle. Everything else is just straight up bonkers! Horus is killed by a scorpion even though scorpions were protecting his mom so I'm not sure how that happened. Then the gods said we aren't done with you and brought him back to life. Isis set a baby on fire and was upset at his mom for rescuing him because now he can't have immortality. She actually did kill the king's other son on (maybe) accident when he walked in on her kissing her dead husband's corpse. Oh and the cherry on top was Osiris' body was cut up and a fish swallowed his penis.
Bibliography. Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie, links to the reading
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