Page 382 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

way to Arabia and thence to India, where he established many cities.
Moving on to Thrace he killed a barbarian king for refusing to adopt his
system of government. This was out of character; in general, Osiris was
remembered by the Egyptians for having

forced no man to carry out his instructions, but by means of gentle persuasion
and an appeal to their reason he succeeded in inducing them to practise what he
preached. Many of his wise counsels were imparted to his listeners in hymns and
songs, which were sung to the accompaniment of instruments of music.’
30
Once again the parallels with Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha are hard to
avoid. During a time of darkness and chaos—quite possibly linked to a
flood—a bearded god, or man, materializes in Egypt (or Bolivia, or
Mexico). He is equipped with a wealth of practical and scientific skills, of
the kind associated with mature and highly developed civilizations, which
he uses unselfishly for the benefit of humanity. He is instinctively gentle
but capable of great firmness when necessary. He is motivated by a
strong sense of purpose and, after establishing his headquarters at
Heliopolis (or Tiahuanaco, or Teotihuacan), he sets forth with a select
band of companions to impose order and to reinstate the lost balance of
the world.
31
Leaving aside for the present the issue of whether we are dealing here
with gods or men, with figments of the primitive imagination or with
flesh-and-blood beings, the fact remains that the myths always speak of a
company of civilizers: Viracocha has his ‘companions’, as have both
Quetzalcoatl and Osiris. Sometimes there are fierce internal conflicts
within these groups, and perhaps struggles for power: the battles
between Seth and Horus, and between Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl are
obvious examples. Moreover, whether the mythical events unfold in
Central America, or in the Andes, or in Egypt, the upshot is also always
pretty much the same: the civilizer is eventually plotted against and
either driven out or killed.
The myths say that Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha never came back
(although, as we have seen, their return to the Americas was expected at
the time of the Spanish conquest). Osiris, on the other hand, did come
back. Although he was murdered by Set soon after the completion of his
worldwide mission to make men ‘give up their savagery’, he won eternal
life through his resurrection in the constellation of Orion as the all-
powerful god of the dead. Thereafter, judging souls and providing an
immortal example of responsible and benevolent kingship, he dominated
the religion (and the culture) of Ancient Egypt for the entire span of its
known history.

30 Ibid., p. 2.
31 Ibid., 2-11. For Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha see Parts II and III. Interestingly enough,
Osiris was said to have been accompanied on his civilizing mission by two ‘openers of
the way’: (Diodorus Siculus page 57), ‘Anubis and Macedo, Anubis wearing a dog’s skin
and Macedo the fore-parts of a wolf ...’

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