Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

*Includes pictures
*Includes ancient accounts
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
To the ancient Egyptians, as was the case with any society made up of inquiring humans, the world was a confusing and often terrifying place of destruction, death and unexplained phenomena. In order to make sense of such an existence, they resorted to teleological stories. Giving a phenomenon a story made it less horrifying, and it also helped them make sense of the world around them. Unsurprisingly, then, the ancient Egyptian gods permeated every aspect of existence. Given the abundance of funerary artifacts that have been found within the sands of Egypt, it sometimes seems as though the Ancient Egyptians were more concerned with the matters of the afterlife than they were with matters of the life they experienced from day to day. This is underscored most prominently by the pyramids, which have captured the world's imagination for centuries.
Thus, it's little surprise that Osiris was one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon, and he could well be the most famous of the Egyptian gods today. Aside from the ubiquity of the sun-god Re in much of modern popular culture, it is Osiris who captivates the minds of modern readers most. His story is both familiar and strangely alien. He is the god of the dead, but he became so by the very fact of his mortality. All the gods of ancient Egypt were capable of dying, but Osiris was also a symbol of resurrection, not unlike Christ in Christian theology. Osiris was betrayed by somebody close to him (in this case, his brother Seth) and was murdered and reborn, but here is where Osiris and Christ part ways. Osiris's death is brutal, and his resurrection is the product of his wife Isis's love for him.
Furthermore, Osiris was associated with the kings of Egypt because the Egyptians believed he was a king himself. The ancient Egyptians could trace their kings back, one by one, to a time when the gods were believed to have ruled the land in person. Osiris was the third or fourth successor to the Egyptian throne after creation, and the Egyptians believed that Osiris's connection with kingship is what allowed their kings to be reborn in a way themselves. He was also said to be physically enormous - almost 15 and a half feet according to some sources - which was said to have aided him in his military campaigns.
Despite his grotesque appearance - it's likely that his green and black skin coloration was an early attempt at depicting putrefaction - Osiris was the epitome of hope and renewal. His skin later came to represent the lush green of the crops around the Nile and the fertile black land they grew out of nearby. He was often shown as a mummified king sitting on a throne with the flail of a pharaoh and the crook of a shepherd, since he was the shepherd of people to the land of the dead, Duat. In fact, although Osiris was said to be capable of sending "demons" to the world of the living, he was generally considered to be a benevolent king of the underworld. Depending on the phenomenon or feeling the ancient Egyptians experienced, there was a corresponding deity and a story to explain the connection. Acclaimed Egyptologist Garry Shaw described this ethos an "an endless repetition of creations, destructions and rebirths, entangled in a net of divine interactions ... each person [living] as the hero of his own mythic narrative each day." In this way, the ancient Egyptian would "assimilate" themselves with the corresponding deity that defined their situation at any given time.
Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead looks at the mythology surrounding one of antiquity's most famous deities. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Osiris like never before.