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The Myths of Aset;

[6]Aset and
the Name of Re [7]The Murder of
Wesir [8]The Seven
Scorpions [9]Aset & Horus
In Chemmis [10]Contendings of
Heru & Set

The Murder of Wesir

Already in the Old Kingdom fragments of the story of how Wesir was
drowned and his body found by his sister-wife Aset, were known. By the
Middle Kingdom it is stated that Set is the murderer, and Aset´
impregnated with Heru, the son of Wesir. During the New Kingdom the
funerary texts tell of a close connection between the deceased and
Wesir, outlining the parts of the story of Wesir.

The most coherent recounting of the myth comes from the Greek
historian Plutharch. Please note that in this version, there are many
additives to the original Egyptian myth, which are impossible to
retrace from Egyptian sources. There are also Greek deities mixed into
the story. Below is a version based on Plutharch, for reasons of
continuity.
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The Golden Casket

Wesir, the king of Egypt, and Aset, his queen, was beloved by all his
people. He was kind and just and taught them to plow the earth, how to
honor the gods and he gave them laws to live by. But his brother Set
was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. Queen
Aset was constantly on her guard when Wesir traveled around his
kingdom, she never felt safe from Set´s scheming.

One day Wesir held a big banquet for his court and as he was kind and
just Set was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for.
Together with his accomplices he could set his plan in motion. He
began to describe a wonderful coffin that he had been given, and soon
enough he was asked to have it brought in for people to see. It was
indeed beautiful, made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. He
promised to give it as a gift to whomever fitted exactly into it. And
as he already had acquired Wesir´measures, the king was the only one
that fitted into the coffin, and when he was persuaded into taking
place in it, Set´s accomplices quickly nailed the lid to it and while
the rest of the court was held back, it was taken away and thrown into
the Nile where the current carried it away.

Aset was overcome with grief and cut off a length of her hair, dressed
herself in mourning clothes and went on her way to look for the coffin
with her husband´s body. She wandered everywhere and searched all over
Kemet and beyond without finding a trace, until she heard some
children saying that they had seen the golden coffin being thrown into
the waters.
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The Wonderful Tree

She wandered for a long time, weeping and searching for the casket,
and often she heard rumours that a golden casket had been seen
floating by some village. So she kept following after until she left
Egypt and came into the land of Byblos. Here the rumours spoke about a
wonderful tree that suddenly had started to grow on the shore. Aset
understood then that the coffin had floaten ashore and gotten stuck in
a bush. Nurtured by the divine presence of Wesir´ body, the bush had
sprouted and grown into a large tree which the king of Byblos had let
cut down and used in the buildings of a palace. When Aset reached the
place, she was shown to the palace by the villagers.
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The Burning Prince

Aset waited outside the palace until she met the Queen´s maidens. She
told them she was an Egyptian headdresser and pleated their hair and
breathed on them so that a divine scent surrounded them. And they
brought her before the queen who took a liking to her and asked her to
take care of her young son, the prince. Soon enough she found the
treetrunk that enclosed her husband´s coffin. Aset stayed there, and
every night while the little prince slept, she went into the room
where the pillar enclosing the coffin with her husband´s body was and
she wept and mourned for him. And every day she looked after the
little prince, and shortly she became so fond of him, that she decided
to make him immortal.

In the night she brought him to the pillar where the casket was
hidden. There she lit a fire and speaking the magic words she laid
down the sleeping boy in the flames. The fire started to burn away all
that was human in him, but she did not watch over him, she turned
herself into a swallow and began to fly around the pillar, wailing and
mourning over her dead husband. The queen, who slept nearby, was woken
up by the sound of the flames, and hastened to the room. When she saw
her child surrounded with flames, she raised a cry of horror and the
swallow turned into woman again and the magical fire died. Aset then
revealed herself to the queen and told her that now it was impossible
for the prince to become immortal. The queen then regretted her
ignorance and asked how she could repay Aset. And Aset asked for the
pillar with the coffin. She instantly cut it into pieces so that the
coffin could be taken out, then she drenched the bits of wood in oil,
wrapped them in fine linen and asked the queen to keep them in the
temple of Byblos. Then she left Byblos by boat and headed for Egypt.
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Lost Again

But that one night Set and his men were out hunting nearby. When he
happened upon the casket, he recognized it, realized his treachery had
been found out and feared that Aset would punish him. While she slept
he broke into it and tore Wesir´ body into several pieces which he
spread out all over the land. Only then did he feel safe that Aset
would not be able to find them.

When Aset saw the empty casket, her cry of anguish shook heaven and
earth. She called out to her sister Nebt-Het who came to console her
and once more she went on her way, now with Nebt-Het by her side. For
many long, sorrowful years they searched the lands together. Wherever
they found a piece of Wesir´ body, they erected an altar, giving
thanks to the gods. Plutharch mentions 14 pieces altogether. When at
last all the parts had been assembled, Aset made Wesir into the first
mummy. She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new
life into Wesir and so she was able to conceive the child Heru. Then
Wesir became the King of the Land of the Dead, while Aset hed herself
in the marshland of Chemmis, where she gave birth to Heru and nursed
and cared for him until he grew up. Heru then fought against his uncle
Set and won his father´s throne and became the Living King of Egypt.
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