S6E4 - Living in D'Nile: The Revenge of Isis and Horus

The stories featured in Greaking Out are usually original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features medical malpractice, indecisive gods, eye removal, strained uncle-nephew relationships, the line of secession, and a letter-writing campaign.

Greaking out the greatest stories in history were told in Greek mythology.

Greaking out gods and heroes, amazing feats.

Listen, and you'll see it's Greaking

out.

Living in Denial, The Revenge of Isis and Horus.

That's right, we've got a part two on our hands, folks.

This week, I'm your cruise director.

That is your Nile cruise director, and I'm here to welcome you back to ancient Egypt.

Yes, that's right.

It's sandy, it's hot, it's tense, but we have been here before.

Remember?

Let me remind you where we left off from season five, episode six.

When we last saw our heroine, Aset, she had just created the first mummy.

Aset is what we think the Egyptians called the goddess Isis, or our best guess.

They called her husband Ussir, but we typically say Osiris.

Exactly.

Let's do a quick rewind to make sure everybody's on the same page, okay?

Set, the god of disorder, threw a dastardly, but up until the last minute, quite fun party that ended with Ussir being trapped in a coffin and thrown in the Nile.

And then to top it off, Set ripped the already dead ex-king into pieces, yikes, and took the throne for himself.

Hardworking Asset gathered up the bits and pieces of her husband's body and performed some pretty incredible magic, turning him into the world's first mummy.

So Usir woke up in the underworld with a brand new job.

judger of the newly dead.

Aset had to remain on Earth where she discovered she was pregnant.

She gave birth to her baby son alone in the reeds along the edge of the Nile.

She had to keep her son a secret.

She didn't want Set, her enemy, to know about her son, Horus.

Heru.

Uh Heru to you too, Oracle?

No.

Horus's name is Heru in the Egyptian pronunciation.

Ah.

Although experts aren't sure how the ancient Egyptians sounded because hieroglyphs don't include vowels, They know for sure that Horus is the Greek way to say it.

We're not in Greece anymore, remember?

Good point.

Yes, thank you for reorienting me.

So, Asset kept Heru in the Delta region of Egypt.

It's in the north where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea.

This is called Lower Egypt, which doesn't really make any sense to us because it's in the north, but did make sense to the ancient Egyptians.

You see, they thought of everything in relation to the Nile, and the Nile River flows from south to north.

And the lower part of the Nile, where the Nile ends, is the Delta.

Now, among the marshes and the swamps of the Delta, Heru had a happy childhood, splashing in the river, making toy boats out of papyrus leaves, playfully pulling crocodile tails, wrestling with hippos.

You should never wrestle with the hippopotamus.

Hippos kill an estimated 500 people a year.

Okay, fair point, but and then I'm not saying you're wrong, Oracle, but Heru wasn't a normal kid.

Remember, he was a god.

But for everybody else, new rule: never wrestle with hippos, okay?

All right, now back to Heru.

He grew up learning powerful magic from his mother, including how to turn into a falcon and fly over Egypt.

In fact, Heru is usually depicted as a falcon or a falcon-headed man in the ancient reliefs and statues.

While Heru was growing up, Asset worried constantly for her son.

She knew Set might come for him and even without Set, she still had regular mom things to worry about.

What if Heru burned himself on the cooking fire?

What if he got entangled in the reeds of the river and drowned?

I mean, Heru was a brave kid, and he clearly had a way with hippos, but he wasn't invincible.

So Aset practiced healing magic so she could help Heru if something bad happened.

She helped mortals overcome coughs and colds.

She healed their broken bones.

All she had to do was say the right word and she could fix anything.

In fact, one day, a scorpion stung Heru.

Asset panicked, but then she remembered her magic.

She named the scorpion and voila, she suddenly had power over the scorpion and the venom it carried.

Heru was fine and Asset rejoiced.

At least she could protect her child from the dangers lurking on earth.

But she knew that wouldn't be be enough.

I mean, Heru had a god after him.

So she decided to take a big swing.

Aset thought of Ra, the god of creation.

Ra was there in the very beginning, before time itself began.

Ra brought forth heaven and earth and he called all the other gods of Egypt into existence.

Ra had the ultimate power and Aset knew if she could harness it, she'd be able to fully protect her precious child.

Aset knew exactly where to find Ra.

That's because in those days, after Ra had created everything, he took on a new job.

In his solar bark or boat, Ra crossed the sky each day as the sun itself.

Each morning he was reborn as a baby.

At noon, he was a mighty warrior at the prime of his life.

And at night, he was an old man.

Every day he lived an entire lifetime, and all Egyptians could watch as the god of creation sailed through the heavens.

One evening, Aset followed Ra.

She tiptoed behind him, silent as,

well, silent as a goddess.

Because it was nearly night, Ra was in the form of an old man, and he drooled a little bit, as people do sometimes.

Asset gathered up some of the spittle and mixed it with a bit of dirt.

Like a kid playing with mud, Aset rolled the dirt-spit mixture between her hands until it resembled a snake.

She whispered to the mud, and in doing so, Aset created created a brand new venomous snake, one that only she had the antidote for.

Am I really going to do this?

Aset thought to herself.

But then she remembered the child she loved, and she was resolved to carry out her plan.

Snakes have been known to be active at all times of the day.

Some species are active at night or nocturnal.

Some are active during the day or diurnal.

Some are active only at twilight or crepuscular.

The next day, Asset placed her snake on the ground and commanded it to bite Ra.

Ra yelled.

He tried to shake off the venom.

As a god of creation, there should be nothing outside of his control.

But Ra's power failed him and the pain only increased.

It was becoming unbearable.

He felt both colder than ice and hotter than fire.

Help Help me, Ra called out.

The other gods rushed to his side, confused to see their grandfather in such a state.

Aset stepped forward, acting just as surprised as the others.

Aset, help me, Ra begged.

You are the greatest magician among us, please.

I will help.

Stand back, everyone.

Aset leaned in close to Ra and whispered in his ear.

Tell me your secret name.

Well, Ra didn't want to tell her that.

She was a great worker of magic.

He would be in her power if she knew his name, so he tried some of his other names.

I am maker of heaven and earth, maker of the gods who dwell within it.

When I open my eyes, there is light.

When I shut them, there is darkness.

I am the creator of hours, of days, of seasons.

That's not your secret name.

Ra shook his head.

The secret name was a secret, after all.

No god had ever told another their secret name.

But Ra's vision was getting blurry, and the pain from the snake bite had spread through his entire body.

Just seconds from death, Ra whispered the word.

In a blink, Aset healed the wound.

Ra's pain evaporated, but he'd lost something too.

Forever onward, Ra and Aset would be equals.

Ra ruling the heavens and Aset ruling the earth.

And of course, Usir reigned over the underworld.

All the other gods thought Aset had tricked Ra just so she could have the power.

They didn't know that Heru existed at all.

All right, what do you say we take a little break?

Okay, talk amongst yourselves.

We'll regroup after the spots.

Hey, grown-ups, this is for you.

Do you like stories and learning about new places?

Okay, this week we're traveling to Mongolia.

How about being silly?

Can I get up?

And when something tough happens, could you use some advice?

I can do that if I want, because I'm not hurting you.

I'm not being mean.

Then check out Storypillar, a podcast where we tackle sticky situations, hear stories from all over the world, and pick up advice from you, our listeners.

More information at storypillar.com and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

See, that wasn't so bad.

And just like that, we're back with more Greaking Out.

Aset's newly acquired power gave her the ability to protect her son until he was old enough to know the truth.

Eventually, Aset told Heru he was a god.

You might be surprised he wasn't able to figure it out before, like, you know, when he transformed into a falcon, but I don't know, those were the old days and things were different, I guess.

Then, Aset told him an even more important truth: his father was the god, the original Pharaoh, Usir.

She told him that the people missed Usir's leadership, the way he ruled with Ma'at, justice and balance, and that the people of Egypt were calling out for Heru.

That's because, and I can't emphasize this enough, the god of disorder and violence and storms was not doing a good job of looking after the lands and the people of Egypt.

Everyone was fighting all the time, crops were failing, there were constant storms.

But Set was in charge, and that's how he liked it.

Heru, you should be the one to rule.

As the son of Usir, the throne is rightfully yours, she told him.

Upon hearing this news, Heru agreed with his mother.

It seemed only natural for the crown to pass to him, so he decided to do something that no god had ever done before.

Sue Set in a court of law.

Suing...

is a way of taking action against someone as a result of something they have done.

To us today, it usually means in a court of law.

Okay, it's not suing like we do today.

Our court system is different from what it was in ancient Egypt, but Heru did bring his case before the other gods.

Surely they'd agree there was a huge injustice here.

Heru approached the court, which was called the Great Pesjet.

The gods gathered close to listen to his claim.

I am Heru, son of Usia.

The throne belongs to me.

Yeah.

I make sense.

Let's go with that.

Hang on, said a familiar voice.

I am Set, brother of Usir.

The throne belongs to me.

Hmm,

that makes sense, I guess.

All right, okay.

Interesting, interesting.

Let's hear him out.

Furthermore, this Heru is just a child, said Set.

He doesn't know how to do the job, while I, Set, have been ruling Egypt these many years.

I am am the strongest among the gods, and I am the only among all of you who can slay our greatest opponent, Apep, the snake monster demon of chaos that comes to destroy our home every single day.

Oh, y'all forgot about Apep?

Well, that's because I am so good at slaying him.

You just try to get rid of me and see how you like him.

This kid can't kill the snake monster, but I can.

I am your kid.

Well, that was a really good thing.

Yeah, now that I think about it, what a heroism is.

I'm voting for Senator.

Yeah, that's interesting.

But Jehudi, also known as Tote, the god of wisdom, spoke up.

Are we really going to let the uncle be king when Usir's son is alive?

And then another god said, Well, are we really going to let the child be king when Usir's brother is alive?

As you can see, the court was at a standstill.

Like many myths, this myth was a story to explain why the ancient Egyptian world was the way it was.

Some myths are about natural things, like the seasons and night and day.

And some are about who gets to be king when an old king has died.

Set became frustrated.

Sensing that this debate would never end, he insisted on challenging Heru to a competition.

And so begins what is officially called the contendings of Heru and Set.

Round one,

Hippo battle.

Okay, Heru, I've got an idea.

Let's transform ourselves into hippopotamuses and go under one.

The one who can hold their breath for the longest wins.

Agreed?

Agreed.

In March 2021, a man from Croatia broke the record for the longest time a person has held their breath.

24 minutes and 37.36 seconds.

Okay, that is incredible.

I do not think that a breath holding contest is the best way to decide who should be in charge.

Yeah, I see what you mean, Oracle.

And maybe Asset agreed with you because as the two gods sank below the calm surface of the Nile, she was beside herself.

She worried her son would drown.

After pacing along the banks of the Nile, she decided she had to act.

Using her magic, Asset crafted a harpoon and hurled it into the water, hoping to hit Set and end the game.

But unfortunately, her aim wasn't great and she ended up hitting Heru instead.

Mom!

You hit me!

Take it out!

Heru said from beneath the water.

She quickly removed the sharp harpoon and tried again.

This time, she hit her mark.

Asset!

Ow!

What did I ever do to you?

Set said through the bubbles.

Asset was outraged.

How dare Set pretend he hadn't done anything to her?

But then she thought about it.

Set did kill her husband, okay, but he hadn't hurt her son.

He'd only challenged him to a goofy contest.

Was that really so bad?

Set had created discord inside her.

What she previously felt was a well-deserved harpoon to the face of her enemy now seemed a bit, I don't know, harsh.

So she removed the harpoon a second time.

Hippo Heru leapt from the water, furious.

What did you do that for?

I was going to win.

Now I'll have to find another way to get the kingship.

Obviously, the contest was over because someone was just blatantly cheating, but one thing you can say for Asset, she never left anything up to chance, and she wasn't about to start by not rigging a very silly contest.

In a huff, Heru splashed out of the river, transforming factor with human shape.

He climbed a nearby mountain to sulk.

Not exactly kingly behavior, if you ask me.

Set followed behind Heru with a dastardly plan.

Upon the mountain, while Heru slept, Set plucked out his eyes and cast them onto the ground where they grew into lotus flowers.

In ancient Egyptian art, the lotus flower is a symbol of rebirth because the flower closes its petals at night and reopens each morning.

Figuring the youngster was out of the running for the kingship, Set walked back down the mountain.

On the way, he passed the other gods.

Visual impairment doesn't mean a person has to give up on their goals.

For example, visually impaired athletes compete in alpine skiing at the Paralympic Games by communicating with a sighted guide.

while moving up to 65 miles an hour.

Wow, that's dope.

No one really suspected Set of any any dastardly deeds except the goddess Hataru, who could tell something was up.

She found Heru on his mountaintop and poured milk from the Milky Way itself onto Heru's face.

Which makes sense because Hataru or Hator to the Greeks was often depicted as a cow.

Cow?

Milk?

Milky Way.

See what I'm saying?

Okay.

Anyway, His eyes were restored.

And forever after, the eye of Horus, or the Wadjet eye, was a a symbol of protection and healing for the ancient Egyptians.

I bet you'd even recognize the shape.

It's got a long line of eyeliner and a swirly swoop coming off the bottom of the eye.

The tale of Heru losing and regaining his eyes also explains a natural phenomenon, the waxing and waning of the moon.

The Egyptians believed that the moon was the eye of Heru, and each month they watched as it was removed and regrown again.

It takes 27.32 days for the moon to orbit the Earth and its rotation lasts about 27 days.

So you only ever see one side of the moon.

So moon's in the sky, Heru's got his eyes back and he's ready for round two

boat race.

Set proposed another contest.

We will build ourselves ships of stone and race them down the Nile, Set Set said.

Why stone?

Well, maybe the gods thought they'd make it more challenging for themselves.

Or perhaps, being gods, they simply forgot how boats work.

I don't know.

But Set got to work.

He cut the top off of a mountain and carved the stone into a beautiful boat.

But Heru, remembering, you know, the laws of physics and buoyancy, maybe thinking back to his childhood when he built toy boats to sail the river, crafted instead a ship made of cedar wood and just painted over it to make it look like it was made of stone.

That is also cheating.

Yes, it was.

And you can imagine how the contest went.

The two boarded their vessels with all the other gods watching nearby.

Set's boat sank immediately while Heru cruised.

The watching gods laughed and laughed, and in a rage, Set transformed himself back into a hero and rammed his body against the cedar ship, ripping the planks to pieces.

Heru tried to harpoon him, but the other gods intervened.

This had gone on long enough, they decided.

At this point, the two had been arguing over the kingship for 80 years.

Remember, the god time scale is much different than a normal human life.

So Jehudi, the wise man, made his suggestion again.

Since we cannot decide, let us write a letter to Usir.

His wisdom will guide us.

So I guess that makes this round three

letter writing.

Okay, that one doesn't work quite as well.

You may remember that Usir was dead, but these are gods and they can send mail wherever they want.

The United States Postal Service was established in 1775.

And at the time, there were about 75 post offices in the country.

Today, there are more than 40,000.

And while sending a letter sometimes feels like magic, right?

Anyway, the other gods agreed, so Jehudi sat down to write.

He told Usir of the long battles between the candidates, of how hard it was for the gods to choose between them.

Usir, he wrote, what should we do?

After many days, the letter reached the underworld, and very, very quickly, Usir wrote his response.

Are you nuts?

My son Heru must be king.

Well, he probably said it more king-like, but you get the idea.

idea the letter reached the court and the decision was final heru would be the great pharaoh of all egypt but set wouldn't be cast aside he was really good at fighting that snake demon thing they all agreed so it was decided that set would ride alongside ra the sun god on his daily journey across the sky At night, when Ra's boat passed through the underworld, Set would slay Apep and bring forth a new day.

Sounds like a pretty good compromise, right?

But still, it's kind of a weird story.

A lot of arguing and strange battles, all for it to end with a letter?

What's that about?

Well, this tale was important to the ancient Egyptians for what it had to say about kingship and about choosing the next ruler.

After all, you don't want a bunch of family members squabbling over who gets to be next on the throne every time.

This story made it clear that the son is the rightful heir, not another male relative, no matter how skilled they might be.

If a son exists, the throne is his.

Now, I'm not saying this is the best way to choose a new leader, but for the ancient Egyptians, rule passed from father to son, and only very, very occasionally to a daughter, in a divine line of succession.

So Heru didn't really have to be the smartest or the bravest in order to win.

He was the right choice simply because he was the son.

And they believed that because he was the son, he was naturally a good and just king.

Thanks for listening to today's episode.

We'll come back to ancient Egypt again but for now it's time to move on.

Stay tuned next week for another field trip this time farther afield.

Then we're back to the story of the Trojan War.

Listen and you'll see it

out.

This episode of National Geographic Kids Greaking Out was written by Alison Shaw, a Nat Geo Kids magazine editor and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Jennifer Hauser-Wagner and Nora Shocky were our subject matter experts, and Emily Everhart is our producer.