Egyptian Myth | Isis and the Seven Scorpions

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Written by LaylaGriffin_

Isis is a well-known and important Egyptian goddess associated with fertility, motherhood, magic, death, healing and rebirth. However, she is also known for her kindness and loyalty, and has become the epitome of a mourning widow who stayed loyal to her husband even after his death. This can be further shown in the myth Isis And The Seven Scorpions which tells of her struggles against Set, the one who killed her husband and was after her yet-to-be-born son for the throne.

 This can be further shown in the myth Isis And The Seven Scorpions which tells of her struggles against Set, the one who killed her husband and was after her yet-to-be-born son for the throne

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Her struggle begins with the death of her husband Osiris. Set, another prominent god in Egyptian mythology and Osiris's brother, grew envious of Osiris's throne and power thus cruelly killing him. After that, he imprisoned Isis who was Osiris's queen, forcing her to sew her husband's death robes and locking her away as a punishment. However, with Thoth's help, Isis managed to escape and gave birth in the papyrus thickets of the Nile Delta. As her child, Horus grew, Isis did all she could to keep him safe, even wandering off amongst humans seeking their help along the way.

In one of these variations of myths, Isis is accompanied by seven scorpions which were created by Thoth to keep her safe: Tefen, Masetetef, Petet, Tjetet, Matet, Mesetet, and Befen. While they were seeking help Isis stopped at a rich woman's home for shelter but the rich woman seeing Isis' condition and the seven scorpions refused to help her, so they had to find help elsewhere.

After that, they went to a poor woman's house where she opens it up for them and houses Isis for the time being. However, the scorpions didn't forget about the rich lady that turned them away. In rage they went and poisoned her son with all seven of their poisons intending to kill him as a punishment for the mother's deeds. The rich lady rushed with her child to seek help, but just like how she didn't open her door for Isis, others didn't open it for her either. Fortunately for her, Isis heard the mother's screams for help and due to her kindness ordered the scorpions to heal the innocent boy.

Ashamed, the rich woman begged to give all her riches to the poor woman that had helped Isis, repenting for her mistake.

Resources:

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