Eye of the Shoal by Helen Scales

Author:Helen Scales
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Osiris and the elephantfish

Ancient Egypt, 2,400 years BP

Stories carved inside Ancient Egyptian pyramids tell of a great and wonderful king called Osiris who ruled over Egypt with his wife Isis. Everyone adored them both except for Seth, Osiris’s evil, jealous brother, who plotted to bring him down. One year, at the feast for Osiris’s birthday, Seth brought in a trunk inlaid with gold and jewels. ‘Whoever fits inside this chest,’ Seth announced, ‘will show themselves to be the most true and loyal person.’ The courtiers and partygoers all took their turn to climb into the chest, but they were either too big or too small. Osiris himself stepped forwards and showed that he was a perfect fit. As soon as Osiris was inside the trunk, Seth’s henchmen slammed the lid shut and nailed it down. Then they took the trunk and threw it in the River Nile, and Osiris drowned.

Lamenting her lost husband, Isis went to the river and searched for his body, finding that it was already breaking apart. With her magic she restored Osiris and later bore him a son, Horus, who became the god of the sky.

When Seth heard about what Isis had done, he feared Osiris would return to seek vengeance. So he went to the river and found the remains of his brother’s body, then cut them into fourteen pieces and scattered them across Egypt, to make sure Osiris would never return. Once again enraged by Seth, Isis travelled across the land to gather up all the pieces of her husband, but she only found thirteen. The fourteenth piece was his penis. She couldn’t find it because an elephantfish, known as Oxyrhynchus or Medjed, had eaten it.

From then on people worshipped the fish that had eaten such an important part of their great king. They believed the fish was a divine manifestation of Osiris, who also became the god of the afterlife, of death and life and resurrection. In temples dedicated to Osiris people left offerings of bronze fish figurines and mummified fish.12

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