Seven scorpions of Isis

Overview

Isis travels with seven scorpions positioned behind her, beside her and ahead of her. When a wealthy woman refuses shelter, their venom is concentrated in Tefen, who stings the woman’s child. Isis then restores the child and commands the venom to stop. The collective changes from escort to aggressor before divine healing reverses the harm. The seven names are retained together rather than expanded into seven nearly identical profiles.

The escort is arranged deliberately: Tefen and Befen follow Isis, Mestet and Mestetef flank her, and Petet, Thetet and Maatet prepare the path. Pooling the venom in Tefen turns a distributed protective company into a single attack. Isis’s subsequent commands name the poisons separately as she arrests their effect in the child.

In Budge’s version, the journey follows Thoth’s advice that Isis should conceal herself and the young Horus until he is strong enough to take his father’s position. She leaves in the evening and tells the escort to attend to the road. Her encounter with the women is therefore part of a vulnerable household’s flight, not a quest undertaken to punish strangers. The geographical identifications offered in the translator’s notes are tentative and should not be treated as an exact modern itinerary.

The refused lodging sets off actions by the scorpions themselves. They confer and collect their poison on Tefen’s tail; Tefen slips beneath the wealthy woman’s door and stings her son. A second woman receives Isis into poor accommodation. A fire then breaks out at the first household, and rain arrives out of season. Budge calls the wealthy woman Usert, while his note allows that Taha, associated with the welcoming woman, might be a name or a descriptive expression. These labels do not establish a separate mythology for each woman.

Isis responds compassionately to the stricken child, explicitly treating him as innocent. She places her hands on him and addresses the several poisons, ordering them out or preventing their further movement. The wealthy woman subsequently brings possessions, and the welcoming woman’s house is filled. The text applies the successful rescue to Horus and to other afflicted people, linking its narrative precedent with the desired effect of a protective recitation. The child attacked by Tefen is the woman’s son, not Horus; neighbouring Horus-healing passages must remain distinct.

The Metropolitan Museum identifies the surviving monument as object 50.85, a metagraywacke stela of Nectanebo II’s reign, dated 360–343 BCE. It describes temple use in which recitation or water poured over the inscriptions conveyed their hoped-for protective power. This is the current object dating; Budge’s introduction assigns the stone to Nectanebus I. The disagreement is made explicit instead of combining the two reigns.

Dils’s modern edition locates this episode in Spell 6, reverse lines 48–71. It gives alternatives to Budge’s prison setting and places two escorts beneath a possible carrying bed or litter. Its welcoming “mud girl” is not necessarily a proper name. The older English version’s positions and names above therefore remain attributed readings, not a single uncontested reconstruction of the Egyptian wording.

The historical tale presents a named, coordinated animal escort whose aggression can be counteracted by Isis. It does not identify a zoological species, describe seven stages of evolution, or supply parentage for the scorpions. Their connection is a shared narrative task. The medicinal ingredients and formulae at the episode’s end are historical religious material rather than instructions for treating a present-day sting.

Origins & earliest records

The collection associates the protective narrative with the Metternich Stele. The names include Tefen, Befen, Mestet, Mestetef, Petet, Thetet and Maatet; spellings vary in the edition. The inspected modern edition locates the narrative on the reverse, lines 48–71. Current museum dating is Nectanebo II, 360–343 BCE; this dates the surviving stone, not the first telling of the narrative.

Records & interpretation

The selected attestation is Metternich-stele narrative in healing of Horus in Budge’s translated collection. It documents a textual or ritual representation; commentary and later classical accounts are labeled where used. It does not establish zoological existence, a first oral telling, or a uniform belief shared by all Egyptians. Root read the complete seven-scorpion episode and attached notes through its ending in Budge, and Dils’s complete Spell 6 with both notes. The museum’s object description and dating were checked; its modern date differs from Budge’s introductory Nectanebus I attribution. No independent hieroglyphic collation, complete reading of every stela spell or medical efficacy claim is made.

In the literature

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts

   E. A. Wallis Budge, editor and translator · 1912

   Selected witness: Metternich-stele narrative in healing of Horus. Historical translation and commentary; not an exhaustive bibliography.

2. 02

   Metternich stela — Isis and the seven scorpions

   Ancient Egyptian inscription · 360–343 BCE, current museum date of the monument

   Reverse lines 48–71, identified as Spell 6 in the modern digital edition. The date is for the artifact, not the narrative’s first composition.

3. 03

   Metternichstele — Spruch 6: Isis und die sieben Skorpione

   Peter Dils · Modern digital edition, accessed 2026

   Full located translation and both notes read; variant setting, escort positions and descriptive names kept distinct from Budge 1912.

4. 04

   Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

   Anonymous ancient Egyptian authors; E. A. Wallis Budge, editor · 1912

   London,1912; E.A.WallisBudge historical English translations; narrative body distinguished from editorial introduction and footnotes.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary-text translation and historical commentaryLegends of the Gods — Metternich-stele narrative in healing of HorusResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Historical translation and notes; later Horus episodes are separateBudge 1912: The Narrative of Isis, complete seven-scorpion episode and notes 203–215Research access: 2026-10-05
3. Modern scholarly translation and commentaryPeter Dils: Metternichstele, Spruch 6, reverse lines 48–71Research access: 2026-10-05
4. Current custodial dating and description of intended protective useMetropolitan Museum: Magical Stela with Horus the Child, 50.85Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.