Osiris
(Usire)
Egyptian god of the underworld and of vegetation. Son of Nut and
Geb. His birthplace was said to be Rosetau in the necropolis west
of Memphis. Brother of Nephthys and Seth, and the brother and
husband of Isis. Isis gave birth to Horus after his death, having
impregnated herself with semen from his corpse. Osiris was depicted
in human form wrapped up as a mummy, holding the crook and flail.
He was often depicted with green skin, alluding to his role as a
god of vegetation. He wore a crown known as the 'atef', composed of
the tall conical white crown of Upper Egypt with red plumes on each
side. Osiris had many cult centers, but the most important were at
Abydos (Ibdju) in Upper Egypt, where the god's legend was reenacted
in an annual festival, and at Busiris (Djedu) in the Nile
delta.
One of the so-called "dying gods", he was the focus of a famous
legend in which he was killed by the rival god Seth. At a banquet
of the gods, Seth fooled Osiris into stepping into a coffin, which
he promptly slammed shut and cast into the Nile. The coffin was
born by the Nile to the delta town of Byblos, where it became
enclosed in a tamarisk tree. Isis, the wife of Osiris, discovered
the coffin and brought it back. (The story to this point is
attested only by the Greek writer Plutarch, although Seth was
identified as his murderer as early as the Pyramid era of the Old
Kingdom.)
Seth took advantage of Isis's temporary absence on one occasion,
cut the body to pieces, and cast them into the Nile. (In the
Egyptian texts this incident alone accounts for the murder of
Osiris.) Isis searched the land for the body parts of Osiris, and
was eventually able to piece together his body, whole save for the
penis, which had been swallowed by a crocodile (according to
Plutarch) or a fish (according to Egyptian texts). In some Egyptian
texts, the penis is buried at Memphis. Isis replaced the penis with
a reasonable facsimile, and she was often portrayed in the form of
a kite being impregnated by the ithyphallic corpse of Osiris. In
some Egyptian texts, the scattering of the body parts is likened to
the scattering of grain in the fields, a reference to Osiris's role
as a vegetation god. 'Osiris gardens' - wood-framed barley seedbeds
in the shape of the god, were sometimes placed in tombs - and the
plants which sprouted from these beds symbolized the resurrection
of life after death.
It was this legend that accounted for Osiris's role as a god of the
dead and ruler of the Egyptian underworld. He was associated with
funerary rituals, at first only with those of the Egyptian monarch,
later with those of the populace in general. The pharaoh was
believed to become Osiris after his death. Although he was regarded
as a guarantor of continued existence in the afterlife, Osiris also
had a darker, demonic aspect associated with the physiological
processes of death and decay, and reflecting the fear Egyptians had
of death in spite of their belief in an afterlife. Osiris was also
a judge of the dead, referred to as the 'lord of Maat' (i.e. of
divine law).
Legendary ruler of predynastic Egypt and god of the underworld.
Osiris symbolized the creative forces of nature and the
imperishability of life. Called the great benefactor of humanity,
he brought to the people knowledge of agriculture and civilization.
The worship of Osiris, one of the great cults of ancient Egypt,
gradually spread throughout the Mediterranean world and, with that
of Isis and Horus, was especially vital during the Roman
Empire.
