Clairese Waites, Shannon Douglas, Makeda Sinclair
World History I
Dr. Godshalk
Myth of Osiris

In ancient Egypt the people believed that the environment was tied into the Gods. The Egyptian gods were animistic gods, which means they represented nature and earthly things like rivers, sunlight, crops, and love. The nature cycle that was and is still present in Egypt is the annual flooding and the infrequent droughts of the Nile River. These two phenomena’s were the center of the Egyptians lives because the events were natural things that could not be controlled, so they looked to the gods for help. The flooding of the Nile River was considered a gift. The people of Egypt anticipated the flooding of the river because it helped to fertilize their plants which in turn helped their society grow. The soot that the Nile bought to the crops when it flooded made agriculture rich and bountiful. Egyptians considered the floods a gift from Osiris; the God of the Nile, justice, order, and eternal life. The infrequent droughts of the Nile that the Egyptians experienced were seen as a time of hardship. The people believed that the droughts were bought onto them by Seth; brother of Osiris and god of drought, aridity, evilness, chaos, injustice, and darkness. When the droughts occurred it left the Egyptians with little to fertilize their crops. The cycles of the environment was illustrated in the myth when Seth, out of jealousy, killed Osiris and chopped his body up into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. When that event took place the drought occurrence symbolized Seth and his power as pharaoh. When Seth came into power Isis; wife and sister of Osiris and goddess of fertility, nature, medicine, and romantic love, collected the pieces of Osiris’ body and reassembled him with body wraps; this was an early sign of mummification. After she reassembled his