Horus

I wish I knew the artist who created this amazingly colorful tattoo but I found it, uncredited, on some random MySpace page. Isn't it gorgeous?

Horus is the unlikely son of Isis and Osiris. I say "unlikely" because he was conceived after Set had already killed Osiris. See, it goes like this: Set, being a god of the desert and storms and therefore a bad dude threw a party in which a party game was to see who could fit into a box Set provided. Of course, since it was built to only Osiris' measurements, no one else could fit into it. And the moment Osiris lay down in this coffin Set launched his henchmen on the other guests and threw the coffin into the sea. Now the coffin makes its way into the roots of a tree that eventually completely absorbs it into the trunk. The tree is later felled to form a pillar in the local kings home. Isis discovers this and sets out to get the coffin back. She transforms herself into an old woman and sits near the waters edge. When the servants of the royal family come to the water to do the washing they see the old woman and befriend her. Meanwhile, the queen is looking for a nurse for her infant son and she decides, upon hearing of the old woman, to employ her for this purpose. Okay, now hold on, cuz it's gets even weirder. The old woman agrees to be the baby's boys nurse on one condition: that she be left alone with the infant during the nighttime hours. And the royal couple go along with this. But servants report to the queen the twittering of a bird at night in the child's room and she eventually determines to spy on the old woman. She sees her young son sitting in the fire and a bird flying above him. She, naturally, burst in and snatches her son from the fire. Isis reveals herself and says she was only burning away the child's mortality. Then the kind and queen realize who she is and worship her. They offer her anything she asks and she asks for the wooden pillar with her husband inside it. They agree, the pillar is removed, the roof falls in and Isis is on her way. Later, she conceives Horus (Remember Horus? This is a story about Horus.) while flying above the body of Osiris. Now Horus, as the son of Osiris and Isis, the rulers of the Egyptian pantheon, claims to be the rightful new ruler. But Set says he should be the leader. So, they start a big nasty series of battles until eventually the other gods grow tired of this and decide to hold a council and make a final decision. Osiris, who is now ruler of the Underworld as he is dead, demands the council find in favor of his son, which they do eventually. So we have Horus, the falcon headed one, a solar god of victory, among other things.

As always, be sure to click the image to see the beautiful details.