Abedjou

The first hints of this legend appears already in the Pyramid Texts during the Old Kingdom. The variant of the myth, describing the dismemberment is an addition, set down in the Late Period by the Greek historian Plutharch:

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 Set 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. Then he put himself on the throne of Egypt.

But Aset was overcome with grief and cut off her hair, dressed 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 far beyond without finding a trace, until she heard some children saying that they had seen the golden coffin being thrown into the waters.

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 had cut down and used in the buildings of a palace. When Aset reached the place, she was shown to the palace by the villagers.

She 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 which enclosed the coffin. She instantly cut it to 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. After a long journey, when she finally could bring the casket ashore by the Nile again, she opened it and embraced Wesir and wept for him. He looked as if he was only sleeping. Then the coffin was closed again and she continued on her way home through the marshlands to bury him in Egypt.

(Here follows the dismemberment variation of the myth which is not found until the Late Period. This form of the myth has more Greek elements than Egyptian ones:)

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 she searched the lands and her sister went with her everywhere. Wherever they found a piece of Wesir´ body, they erected an altar, giving thanks to the gods. And when at last all the parts had been found, she succeeded, through her prayers to Ra, and her powerful magic, in restoring life to Wesir - for one night of love. After that he went to the Netherworld where he became king of the Realm of the Deceased.

It is said that the Tomb of Wesir is at Abedjou and that his heart is buried on the Island of Biga, close to Philae. As this variant of the myth tells that his body was torn into several pieces, there were fourteen attributes of Wesir symbolizing the parts of his body that were dismembered according to Plutharch´s version of the myth. They floated ashore in different locations, there are several places in Egypt that claim to have one of them, among them is Sebennytos, Athribis and Edfu. But Abedjou is the most important of them all.