EGYPTIAN GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD, OSIRIS

Egyptians believed that mankind's existence was only a small fraction of one's long voyage to
eternity; a journey governed by the deities and supernatural gods. Egyptian culture is
profoundly influenced by Egyptian mythology which beliefs are commonly found in their
religious practices and had also contributed as the ideological ground for kingship. Egypt's
myths are sophisticated and offer several versions of how the world unraveled which set the
pattern for the progressions of the present. The notable feature of the ancient Egyptian
civilization is their belief in the existence of the fundamental order of the universe comprising
the basic tenets of life, nature, society, and culture. One of the most important stories in
Egyptian Mythology is the story of Osiris which perhaps is the most detailed and noteworthy
story in ancient Egyptian mythology.
 

Geb, the god of the earth and Nut, the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the
universe had four children: Osiris, the god of the underworld, Isis, the goddess of
contradictions; wife of Osiris and was also one of the main deities concerned with rites of the
dead, Set, the god of chaos, violence, deserts, and storms, and lastly, Nephthys, the goddess of
protection and the wife of the latter. Ra, the sun god and chief of all the gods who are also his
own children including Geb and Nut, equally loved them all including his grandchildren but
above the rest, he had one favorite grandson, Osiris. In him, he saw all the qualities that make a
fine ruler; he excelled in everything and, had always been a bright and compassionate boy. Ra
knew that Osiris was the one; that he deserved to be the first pharaoh of Egypt. Osiris was
originally a fertility god. Osiris and his wife Isis were loved by many for being deeply

committed to fulfilling the best interests of the people they governed. Egyptians rejoiced that
they had a powerful, reliable, and moral king like Osiris who is also blessed with a supportive
wife, Isis. The kingdom was prosperous during their reign and the couple was blissfully happy.
Unfortunately, not everyone admired and was pleased with the pharaoh and his wife. His own
brother Set had always been jealous of him because his grandfather, Ra, favored his brother
 over him and his resentment had only gotten worse because of Osiris' position and popularity.
So, he plotted to murder him. Everyone knew that Set had always been envious of his brother's
success, but no one would have expected that he was capable of killing Osiris. He even had
Set
free access to his brother's place including his bedchamber. As written by Meehan (n.d.),
gathered 72 conspirators—including the queen of Ethiopia—
and began to plot his brother’s demise. According to Mark (2016), Set had
a beautiful coffin made to Osiris' exact height and then threw a grand party where he

presented this box and told the guests that whichever of them fit in it most perfectly could

have it as a gift. When Osiris lay down in the coffin, Set slammed the lid on, fastened it

shut, and threw it into the Nile, where it was carried away down river. Since Osiris died,

Set became the Pharaoh. Nephthys was sad for her sister Isis, who continuously wept for her
husband's death.

Isis, on the other hand, decided to look for the scattered remains of Osiris with the objective of
bringing him back to life. Isis set out in search of her husband’s body, but went many
months without success. Eventually, however, she came across some children who told
her they had seen a chest floating down the Nile. Upon further investigation, Isis
discovered that the chest had washed ashore in Byblos and quickly began to search the
area (Meehan, n.d.). Meehan (n.d.) posited that Isis
returned home with
Osiris’ body, and was able to revive him long enough to
impregnate herself with the god Horus. Isis, Nephthys, Anubis,
and Thoth then embalmed and mummified Osiris’s body before
hiding it away.
Even in death, Osiris would find no peace. Set discovered his body while on a moonlit
boar hunt and tore it into 14 pieces. While some stories say he scattered Osiris’s body
parts about Egypt himself, most sources suggest that he simply threw the pieces back
into the Nile. Isis once again set out to find her wayward husband and managed to
collect 13 of the pieces. The 14th—Osiris’s phallus—was eaten by an alligator (or fish)
and was lost forever. In order to prevent Set from repeating his last misadventures, Isis
made a waxen copy of each body part and buried them separately. Local priests were
charged with protecting each body part, with each being told that their location was the
true burial site of Osiris.
Ra too was distraught at the loss of his beloved grandson but sadly, he had no magic powerful
enough to bring Osiris back to life so he gave him a new job. When Osiris upheld into the
afterlife, he became the god of the dead or the underworld. He was a loving and fair judge of
 the dead, just as how he had always been when he was still alive. It was to be many years
before Isis joined her beloved husband in the afterlife. 
A short time after Osiris had passed into the afterlife; Isis gave birth to their first son, Horus, who
was falcon-headed, also known as the hawk-god in Egyptian Mythology, who promised to
avenge his father’s death. He was successful with this endeavor. Osiris was avenged by his son
Horus, who won against Seth and cast him out into the Western Desert. Not long after, Horus
became the new pharaoh of Egypt.

The majority of the names from Egyptian mythology undergo the process of being translated into
Greek and then Latin which describes the nature of the Coptic language. The process of
deciphering the etymological chain of the original gist of these ancient names is incredibly
complicated. Although it's unclear, Meehan (n.d.), cited that the best approximation of Osiris’s
name as it was written in ancient Egyptian is the unpronounceable letter jumble: ‘ wsjr’. Mark
(2016), said that the name `Osiris' is the Latinized form of the Egyptian ‘Usir’ which is
interpreted as 'powerful' or 'mighty' is commonly attributed to him and may credit to his role

as Death personified.
the tradition of mummification mirrored
According to Meehan (2021),
Osiris’ own experiences. As the god of the afterlife, he decided
who was worthy of reincarnation, and who was not. Osiris’ myth,
and the gods involved, became prominent in Egyptian culture and sacred life. He is oftentimes
By
shown as a mummy or in the partway mummified form in his role as Judge of the Dead.
about 2400 BCE, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he
was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and
resurrected king (Britannica, 2021). It is a universal truth that the myths of all
cultures are the undertakings of people to make sense of the world in which they live, and the
story of Osiris is just one of the many attempts of the ancient Egyptians to explain things since
c. 4000 BCE to 30 CE.
Weaver, Stephan. (2015, July 10). A Brief Introduction to Egyptian Mythology. Retrieved from
https://brewminate.com/a-brief-introduction-to-egyptian-mythology/. Accessed 19 April 2021.

Meehan, Evan. (n.d.). Osiris. Mythopedia. Retrieved

from https://mythopedia.com/egyptian-mythology/gods/osiris/. Accessed 19 April 2021.

Mark, Joshua J. (2016, March 06). Osiris. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from

https://www.worldhistory.org/osiris/. Accessed 22 April 2021.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Osiris". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Feb. 2021. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god. Accessed 24 April 2021.