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Osiris, god of the dead
This funerary papyrus offers a rather unusual image of Osiris. It is in fact the colours used by the artist that give this impression of originality: they are not common, dark and with little variety. But the end effect is superb, and is different from the classic image of the great God of the dead. Osiris is sitting under a dais, holding in his hands the flail, the was sceptre with the head of a dog, and the heka crook. He wears the atef crown with two sideways high feathers and wears on his forehead two ram horns and an ureaus. On his mummified form appear the symbols of life (the ankh cross), of stability (the djed pillar) and of the divine (the was sceptre). Close to him stands Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, protector of Upper Egypt, wearing the white crown of the south.
New Kingdom.
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Son of Geb. the earth and Nut, the sky Husband and brother of Isis
Principal place of worship: Abydos (Central Egypt) Representation: a mummified man, wearing the atef crown. and holding the crook and the nail across his
chest
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Osiris is probably the most popular deity in the Egyptian pantheon. Of course his immense reputation is due to his function, because it concerns every mortal, whether kings or commoners: he is the god of the next world, and the god who guarantees all human resurrection. One can ignore him, since when the time comes, everyone yearns to join him in his kingdom.
However, Osiris was not always so popular: his personality is the fruit of a long evolution during which he will assimilate many divinities. In the beginning, he seems to incarnate the powers connected to the underground world and to fertility. Later, he integrates the cosmogony of Heliopolis. He becomes one of the sons of Geb and Nut, and above all, Geb's heir apparent to the earthly throne. In Memphis, he assumes the funerary characters of Sokaris, and in Abydos, he absorbs the personality of Khentimentiu, god of the deceased and patron of the necropolis. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, Osiris is the indisputable master of the underground world; in the next world, the deceased king becomes an Osiris, a personality that will be adopted by all the deceased after the 12th Dynasty. Apart from that, he also has a celestial character inherited from ancient myths: he is Orion, one of the stars that shines at night, and he is also the moon or one of the aspects of the nocturnal sun when it travels through the underground world.
Of course, because of the very complex personality of Osiris, the theologians will try to conceive a legend aimed at synthesizing the different aspects of the god. It is this tale that is currently called the "Legend of Osiris." No Egyptian document fully relates this beautiful legend; but here and there parts of texts describe passages of it The complete tale actually comes from a work called De Iside a Osiride, written by the Greek author Plutarch. The “Legend of Osiris”is divided into three big chapters: The murder of Osiris, the birth and childhood of Horus, the battle between Horus and Seth for the earthly kingdom. These events seem to be clearly at the heart of divine preoccupations, 'for gods who do not seem to have any connection with the problem never cease to intervene. These quarrels have all kinds of repercussions, and the protagonists are engaged in complex struggles for power and unceasing fights.
Osiris is the oldest child of Geb and Nut, and is heir to his father's earthly kingdom. As a civilizing king, he teaches agriculture to men and tore the Egyptians "away from their existence of privation and wild animals." He also gives them their laws, teaches them how to respect the gods and brings them civilization. In this role, Osiris appears under the name of Wennefer, the "always good one."
Of course, Seth, his brother, becomes jealous of him and plans to kill him. So he invites Osiris to a banquet with forty two other guests who are his accomplices. During the feast, Seth brings a chest the size of Osiris. The guests marvel at it and Seth promises to give it as a present to whoever could fill it perfectly by lying down in it. They all try in vain; Osiris tries and fills it perfectly. The guests immediately jump on to it to close it, lock it and throw it in the Nile.
Isis then leaves to find her husband; she finally finds him in the port of Byblos. She comes back to Egypt with the body of Osiris, and hides it in the Delta of the Nile. There she manages to conceive from her dead husband the little Horus, who is born and brought up in the greatest secrecy. But Seth is informed by his accomplices of these events. He goes to the Delta and discovers the dead body of Osiris; he cuts him into pieces that he scatters across Egypt. Isis, with the help of her sister, Nephthys, goes once more to look for him. She finds all the pieces except for the phallus that is said to have fallen into the river and to have been swallowed by an oxyrhinchus (a fish symbolizing Seth). Isis and Anubis reconstitute Osiris, and wrap his body with bandages, thus creating the first mummy.
Thoth brings him back to life, but in a new form of existence, since from then on, Osiris reigns in the next world. Of course this myth must be understood as a sort of passion play. Osiris is a being who on earth is victim of a traitor and is put to death. But thanks to the solicitude and love of Isis, he overcomes this trial by being resuscitated. For this reason, everyone wants to identify with him in the next world, for he is the only one who brings to human beings the hope of eternal life.
Read more:
The Book of the dead:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/
The legend of Isis and Osiris:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/leg/leg12.htm
The legend of the Birth of Horus:
