Egyptian Myth: The Contending’s Continued

The gods Hourus (left) and Isis (right) with their son Osiris (centre).
Reign of Sethi 1st (1294-1279 B.C.E), 19th dynasty. Louvre museum (Paris, France).
Ainsley DS Photography

The following is a creative short story published in The Words of Reed student journal. It is an imagination of a part two of the famous myth, The Contending’s of Horus and Seth.

“After over 80 years of fighting between Horus and Seth, Horus sat victorious on the throne

of Egypt and the land was finally at peace. The contendings of Horus and Seth were a

frightful time, many battles were fought between the two great gods, and even the great

Ennead struggled to decide between Horus, son of Osiris, and Seth, brother of Osiris. In

the end, Horus ruled on earth as king of Egypt and Seth was sent to live in the sky with Re,

The All Lord Pre-Harakhti.

But Seth, god of deserts, storms, thunder, and chaos, could not accept defeat.

He rumbled in the sky ferociously, becoming more and more angry until even Re,

The All Lord Pre-Harakhti could not contain him. Finally, he exploded in a storm so

violent it shook the grounds of Egypt.

From the west of the two lands, he whipped the desert sands into an enormous

vortex. Swirling, with a height so mighty the sandstorm reached the heavens. The desert

began to move.

Horus, Son of Isis, Great Ruler of Egypt was in Thebes with his mother. They

noticed the sky turning black, and the winds that began to howl. “What is this!? Has Seth

come to contend with you once more my son?” Isis cried.

But Horus could not reply. The desert was rushing towards Horus so fast that he

could not get away.

The desert swallowed Horus, sucking him into the sky where Seth was waiting for

him.

The world became eerily silent until Isis let out a piercing wale. “Horus, my son!

No!”

When the desert sands began to subside, Horus could see Seth in the sky, waiting for

him in the form of a jackal. Before Horus had time to react, Seth rushed towards him,

steam rising from his ugly black snout with rage. Horus was caught by such surprise that

he could not fight back.

Seth began to tear off pieces of Horus with his sharp teeth, slicing him into bits then

spitting them into the sky.

But Seth would not make the same mistake again. He did not want Isis to be able to

bring Horus back from the dead as she had her husband, Osiris. So, Seth threw the pieces

of Horus to the ground over a great distance and buried them deep in the desert. Both eyes

were once more torn from Horus’s body. One eye was thrown in the north of the desert,

where palm trees and lotuses would grow. But then Seth’s rage caused him to lose focus,

and he paid no attention to the pieces of Horus he was ripping off.

From the earth, Isis could see the mutilated body parts of Horus fall from the sky,

but she could not catch them. In horror, she watched as a single eye of Horus fell from the

sky and landed in front of her feet. She picked it up and wailed for her son. By the end,

parts were spread out through lower and upper Egypt, buried so deep in desert sand that it

was as though Horus had never existed.

Then Isis sat down weeping and said, “Seth has killed Horus, my son!”. Furious with

rage and despair, Isis lost any love she had in her heart for her brother; he had become a

stranger to her. She could not allow him to continue, “he is not the rightful king of Egypt,”

she wailed as she held the eye of Horus in her hand, and she stormed to the palace of the

Ennead.

“See what Seth, God of the sky and the desert, has done to my son Horus! See how

his body has been cut and spread over the land of Egypt! Seth has done all of this. He must

be stopped!”

Even The All Lord Pre-Harakhti could not take the side of Seth this time. He knew

that his son Seth had to be stopped. “Yes,” they agreed, “he must be stopped”.

Isis, whose heart was craftier than a million men, came up with a cunning plan.

She disguised herself as his sister Nephthys, one whom she knew Seth trusted a great

deal. She called to him, “O Seth it is I, Excellent Goddess Nephthys, your maternal sister.

Please let me see you as you sit in the sky, great new ruler and king of Egypt!”

Seth was feeling pleased with himself and, with a gust of gentle wind, swooped Isis

disguised as Nephthys into the sky.

“Nephthys, my sister, how good to see you”, Seth huffed as she came towards him.

Isis did not respond to Seth. Instead, she transformed herself back into her true figure

and Seth was shocked. “Isis! My sister, mother of Horus. What trickery is th…”

But before he could continue, she removed the eye of Horus from beneath her robes

and shone it at his reddening face. With the powers bestowed to her, combined with the

help of Re’s light, the eye of Horus shone so brightly that Seth could not bear to look at it.

It grew brighter and hotter until it was hotter than the sun itself. Seth burst into flames, and

an explosion of fire lit the sky. The people of Egypt then watched as flaming pieces of

Seth’s dead figure streamed down over the earth.

Isis then transformed herself into a falcon, unfurled her golden wings and glided

back down to Egypt. The Ennead rejoiced, “For it is you, daughter of the earth god Geb

and the sky goddess Nut, who should be Queen of Egypt, and rule over it with the eye of

Horus to guide you. Hail Queen Isis, who has risen as ruler. Life! Prosperity! Health! The

hearts of the Ennead exult!”. And they placed the white crown upon her head.

She took the all-seeing eye of Horus and made it into an amulet where it would

watch over her.

As Isis sat on the throne as Queen of Egypt, she never gave up hope of finding her

son Horus. She vowed to gather the pieces and put him back together, just as she had done

with her husband Osiris, who dwelled in the Netherworld as its Lord.

Search parties never stopped looking for the body of Horus. For generations to come,

mortals combed the desert. With strange tools and teams of people, they search the two

lands far and wide. Digging through tombs, rocks, and sand. Devoting their lives and

careers to the pursuit of finding the body of Horus. Over 5000 years they searched without

hope, but many other treasures were found, and it was these treasures that helped keep the

name of Horus alive.”