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42 spirators immediately ran together, clapped the cover upon it, and then fastened it down on the outside with nails, pouring likewise melted lead over it." They then carried the chest in which Osiris was imprisoned to the seashore, and where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean at Tanis sank the chest in the sea. Dressed in mourning apparel and cutting off a lock of her hair as a sign of grief. Isis went in search of the chest, "At length she re- ceived more particular news of the chest, that it had been carried by the waves of the sea to the coast of Byblos" (in what is now Lebanon). Isis retrieved the chest holding the body of Osiris and hid it in a deserted place until she could figure out how to resurrect Osiris. But Seth somehow found all that out, seized the chest, and cut up the body of Osiris into fourteen pieces, which he dispersed all over Egypt. Once again Isis went in search of the scattered limbs of her brother-husband. Some versions say that she buried the pans where she found them, starting the worship of Osiris at those places: others say she bound together the parts she found, starting the cus- tom of mummification. All agree that she found all parts except one—the phallus of Osiris. Nevertheless, before finally disposing of the body, she managed to extract from the body of Osiris its "essence," and self-insemi- nated herself with his seed, thus conceiving and giving birth to the boy Horus. She hid him from Seth in the papyrus swamps of the Nile delta. Many legends have been found concerning the events that fol- lowed: legends copied and recopied on papyri, forming chapters of The Book of the Dead, or used as verses in the Pyramid texts. Put together they reveal a major drama that involved legal maneuver- ing, kidnapping for purposes of state, a magical return from the dead, homosexuality, and finally a great war—a drama in which the stake was the Divine Throne of the gods. Since all seemed to believe that Osiris had perished without leaving an heir, Seth saw this as his chance to obtain a legitimate heir by forcing Isis to espouse him. He kidnapped her and held her prisoner until she consented, but with the aid of the god Thoth, Isis managed to escape. A version recorded on the so-called Metternich Stela, composed as a tale by Isis in her own words, describes her escape in the night and her adventures until she reached the swamps where Horus was hidden. She found Horus dying from a scorpion's sting (Fig. 10). One can infer from the text that it was word of her son's dying that prompted her escape. The people who THE WARS OF GODS AND MEN