Ancient Egypt and the Mystery of the Missing Phallus

Even by the standards of myth, Osiris’ penis went through some epic travails. One day it was there, along with the rest of Osiris’ godly self, as he ruled over Egypt. The next it was gone, as Osiris was murdered by his brother and literally dismembered — 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. In a new exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, called <a href="https://new.artsmia.org/egypts-sunken-cities" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">“Egypt’s Sunken Cities,”</a> the ultimate fate of Osiris’ private parts seems clear enough. In the absence of the original, Isis made a phallus herself, on the resurrected body of Osiris — well enough to conceive Horus, the falcon-headed heir to the kingdom. You can see her handiwork on the exquisite “corn mummy” displayed in the exhibition inside a falcon sarcophagus — the phallus was always shown in representations of Osiris lying on his back, post reconstruction. <a href="https://medium.com/minneapolis-institute-of-art/ancient-egypt-and-the-mystery-of-the-missing-phallus-97db0103ecdc">Read More</a>