A Who's Who of World Mythology : Osiris


Also known as : Andjeti, Anjety, Anzety, Asari, Asartaiti, Unneffer, Usire, Wennofer

Osiris is the son of Nut and Ra or Nut and Geb. Isis is his sister and wife, and his brothers are Nephthys and Set(h). His son by Isis is Horus, and he may also be the father of Anubis through Nephthys. Before his birth, Ra was so upset with the faithlessness of Nut, he decreed that her children could not be born in any month of the year. Thoth gambled with the moon for a seventy-second part of the day, eventually winning five days which were added to the 360 day Egyptian calendar. Known as the Epact, it was during this time that Osiris was born at Rosetau in the necropolis in Memphis.

After Osiris had grown and married Isis, he was known as a wise and beneficent ruler, spreading civilization throughout Egypt and the surrounding lands. His brother Set(h) became jealous of his popularity and plotted against him. Secretly obtaining Osiris' measurements, Set fashioned a special coffer to fit him and offered it at a banquet to whomsoever it would fit. When Osiris took his turn, the lid was slammed down and sealed with nails and lead and thrown into the Nile. The coffer was carried as far as Byblos in Syria where it came to rest at a tamarisk tree which brew around the coffer, hiding it from view. Eventually the tree was cut down and became a sacred pillar in the palace of a local king who had marveled at its rapid growth.

During Isis' absence as she searched for her husband, Set(h) ascended the throne of Egypt, ruling badly over the land and people. Isis became a fugitive and wandered with seven scorpions as her only protectors. Anubis was sent to her to be her guide. During her travels, she gave birth to Horus in Buto. Giving the baby to the virgin, serpent goddess Uazit for safe keeping against his uncle Set(h), she continued her search. Later when she came to visit her child, she found it dead by the bite of a scorpion. Unable to restore it to life, she requested aid from the gods and Thoth came down and restored the child.

When Isis came to Byblos after receiving a revelation, she sat beside a well weeping. Eventually, she was taken into the royal household and made foster-mother of the baby. As she continued her search for her missing husband, she placed the child in the flames of the fire place. The mother of the child discovered this and snatched the child back out again, thus unknowingly denying the child immortality.

Isis took her true form and told the household who she was, requesting the sacred pillar which she was given. Cutting deep into the trunk, she removed the coffin contained within and cried so bitterly then that the royal child which she had cared for died in terror. The sacred pillar was taken and wrapped in linen and anointed with myrrh. It was placed in a temple erected in Isis' honor and thereafter worshiped for many centuries.

Taking Osiris home, she hid his body and hastened to visit her son. Set(h) discovered his brother's body during a boar hunt at the full moon and dismembered it, scattering fourteen pieces throughout the marshes. When Isis returned, she found and buried the pieces where they were found, each becoming a shrine. In another version, the pieces were reassembled with the assistance of Anubis, Thoth, and Horus and wrapped to keep them together, giving rise to the first mummy. But his penis which his brother had thrown to a crocodile (or had been eaten by a oxyrhynchus fish) could not be found. In the purely Egyptian version, the penis was buried at Memphis, not eaten by a crocodile. Isis put the breath of life into him by fanning her wings over him, but Osiris then retired to the Underworld where he was King. Later he forced the other gods to accept his son as king of Egypt, over Set's objections of illegitimacy, by threatening to send out monsters from the Underworld to bring the entire Ennead (all the Egyptian gods) to the Underworld.

Osiris is a nature god of grain and agriculture god responsible for barley, food of men and gods. He is also a tree spirit while Isis is a water spirit. In Heliopolis there is still a sacred well and tree, symbolic of the pair. A sack of grain sprouting green was one of his symbols. He is also a moon god and described in a temple of Isis as the god "who cometh to us a babe each month." Identified with Thoth (another moon god), he is also a god of magicians. Sometimes he and Thoth are considered one being along with Khonsu, Ah, and Sokar.

As a god of the underworld, he waits at the Western gate to judge the souls of the dead. He is lord of the seventh hour. Fiery serpents with many heads obey his will. These serpents have hands and feet and carry sharp knives to dismember the souls of the wicked. Those who are deemed worthy by Osiris are allowed to live in the Underworld. Those who are not are dragged away to be cut up and devoured.

Sokar, with whom Osiris is identified, is lord of the fifth hour division. He is a terrifying underworld deity with three heads, a serpent's body, and strong winds between which his hawk form is depicted. He lives in a dark and secret place guarded by sphinxes. Near him is located the Drowning Pool which is warded by five gods with human bodies and animal heads. Over the pool hover flaming spirits of torture.

Symbolically, each Egyptian king was Horus in life and Osiris in death. He has been worshiped since roughly 3000 B.C.E. Andjeti is an early, human-headed version of Osiris. His chief areas of worship are Abydos (Ibdju) in Upper Egypt and Busiris (Djedu) in the Nile Delta of Lower Egypt. Biga (Senmet) in Upper Egypt and the Larnak complex of Thebes were other centers of worship. There is also a major sanctuary in Philae in Greece.

As Andjety, he was responsible for rebirth in the afterlife. Under this name, he was mainly worshiped in Bursis. Andjety was represented by a head on a pole with arms, one holding the crook and the other the flail. Asari was originally an agricultural god of Syria identified with Osiris. Usire is a variation. Asartaiti is a title meaning "swathed one" sometimes given to Osiris, probably from his resurrection. In depictions, he is usually shown with green skin, tightly wrapped like a mummy with only his arms free to hold a crook and flail. His crown, the atef, consists of a conical white crown of Lower Egypt framed by tall plumes and rams' horns. Wennofer or Unneffer are other variations on Osiris.