Ancient Egypt and the Mystery of the Missing Phallus

<p>Even by the standards of myth, Osiris&rsquo; penis went through some epic travails.&nbsp;One day it was there, along with the rest of Osiris&rsquo; godly self, as he ruled over Egypt. The next it was gone, as Osiris was murdered by his brother and literally dismembered &mdash; chopped into 14 pieces and scattered across the country. His wife, Isis, who was also his sister, retrieved all of the pieces except one: his penis. It had been eaten by fish in the Nile.</p> <p>In a new exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, called&nbsp;<a href="https://new.artsmia.org/egypts-sunken-cities" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">&ldquo;Egypt&rsquo;s Sunken Cities,&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;the ultimate fate of Osiris&rsquo; private parts seems clear enough. In the absence of the original, Isis made a phallus herself, on the resurrected body of Osiris &mdash; well enough to conceive Horus, the falcon-headed heir to the kingdom. You can see her handiwork on the exquisite &ldquo;corn mummy&rdquo; displayed in the exhibition inside a falcon sarcophagus &mdash; the phallus was always shown in representations of Osiris lying on his back, post reconstruction.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/minneapolis-institute-of-art/ancient-egypt-and-the-mystery-of-the-missing-phallus-97db0103ecdc"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>
Tags: Ancient Egypt