In the dawn of time, when the gods walked the earth and the Nile first carved its path through the silt of the Two Lands, Egypt was ruled by Osiris, the First King. Osiris was a bringer of civilization, teaching humanity the arts of agriculture, the laws of justice, and the secrets of the grain. Beside him stood Isis, his queen, whose wisdom and magic were as vast as the sky. Under their reign, the land flourished, and the people knew a peace that seemed as eternal as the sun's daily journey. Yet, in the shadows of this golden age, jealousy festered. Set, the god of storms, desert sands, and chaos, looked upon his brother Osiris with a heart blackened by envy. Set craved the throne and the adoration of the people, and he devised a plan to remove the king from the world of the living.
Set's first deception was one of craftsmanship and guile. He constructed a magnificent chest, carved from the finest woods and adorned with gold and lapis lazuli, built precisely to the measurements of Osiris's body. At a grand banquet, Set challenged the assembled guests, declaring that the chest would belong to whoever could fit perfectly within it. Many tried and failed, for the dimensions were unique. When Osiris finally lay within the box, Set and his conspirators slammed the lid shut, sealed it with molten lead, and cast it into the Nile. The river carried the chest into the Great Green Sea, eventually coming to rest in the roots of a tamarisk tree in Byblos. Isis, overcome with grief, searched the world until she recovered the chest and brought the body of her husband back to the marshes of the Delta. But Set’s malice was not yet satisfied. Discovering the hidden body while hunting under the moonlight, he tore Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered them across the length of Egypt, intending that the king should never be whole again.
Isis, joined by her sister Nephthys, transformed into birds of prey, their wings beating a rhythmic lament as they flew over the riverbanks and through the deep papyrus thickets. One by one, they located the fragments of Osiris. They found a hand in the north, a leg in the south, and his head in the sacred soil of Abydos. Every piece was recovered except for one, which had been cast into the river and consumed by an oxyrhynchus fish. Despite this loss, the sisters were determined to restore their king. They laid the gathered parts upon a clean linen cloth, but the flesh was cold, and the bonds of mortality were fraying. The gods knew that if the body were to rot, the soul (the Ka and the Ba) would have no vessel to inhabit, and the king would be lost to the void forever. It was then that Anubis, the son of the dawn and the protector of the scales, stepped forward from the shadows of the necropolis.
Anubis, with the head of a jackal and a heart filled with the knowledge of preservation, looked upon the broken king and understood his task. He would become the first embalmer, the architect of the transition between life and the beyond. He began by cleansing the gathered members with the waters of the Nile, purifying the divine flesh from the corruption of death. Anubis knew that moisture was the enemy of the eternal, so he sought a way to dry the body without destroying its likeness. He gathered natron—a sacred salt found in the dry lakebeds of the desert—and packed it around the pieces of Osiris. For many days, the salt worked its alchemy, drawing out the fluids and tightening the skin until the body was as dry as the desert wind. Anubis watched over the process with tireless eyes, ensuring that the features of the king remained recognizable, for the spirit must be able to recognize its own image in the halls of judgment.