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Osiris came to earth for the benefit of mankind, with the title of Manifester of Good and Truth. His death by the evil one, Seth, was followed by his burial and resurrection, and then becoming the judge of the dead. He had been revered throughout Egypt, long before its recorded history.
Osiris was equivalent to Pluto, in the Greek and Roman mythologies.
Osiris manifests the divine in mortal form. He represents the physical creation and its cycles of death and renewal. He is the great neter (god) of a future state.
Despite his mythical death and dismemberment, Osiris carried the living seed of eternity, Horus, within him. As such, Osiris represents the mortal man carrying within himself the capacity and power of spiritual salvation. All dead persons were equated to Osiris.
Osiris was both a:
1- lunar deity, which relates to the physical lunar cycles of the moon.
2- solar deity, because it was Ra (the sun) who, after descending beneath the earth, illuminates the moon. Such an astronomical fact was recognized by the Egyptians, since its earliest history.
Osiris was to every Egyptian the great judge of the dead, and as such he presided over the procedures of the Day of Judgment.
Osiris is usually represented as a mummified, bearded human body wearing the white crown of the north. He carries
He is often associated with the djed pillar, symbol of the backbone or support of creation.
As stated earlier, Egyptians expressed their metaphysical beliefs in a story form, like a sacred drama or a mystery play. The most favorite play by far, is the Osiris/Isis love story.
The tenacity and memorability of the story of Isis and Osiris derives from its passionate account of the love of two soul mates; of the betrayal, and of the longing and searching for, and the reuiniting of, the body and the beloved. One remembers and recollects in order to heal, and in order never to forget. By remembering and recollecting the story of Isis and Osiris, we keep in our hearts a tale that expresses, in Joseph Campbell's words:
the immanence of divinity in the phenomenal forms of the universe.
It is an incredible fact that there is not a single complete Egyptian record of the Osiris legend, probably because it was so common to all Egyptians.
Our knowledge of this legend comes from several versions which were written by the Greek and Roman writers of classical antiquity. These writers relied on second or third-hand information, and possibly added their own personal flavors, to appeal to their own readers at home. It is therefore impossible to determine which portions of the story are true and which are fabrications. Here is the classic account:
Osiris and Isis were both brother and sister, husband and wife. Their mother was Nut, netert (goddess) of Sky, their father was Gek, neter (god) of Earth. It is said that the twin brother and sister were already in love with each other, in the womb of their mother. Osiris and Isis had a brother, Seth, and a sister, Nephthys.
The story of Isis and Osiris is the Love Story. With Osiris and Isis, there is a harmonious polarity: brother and sister, twin souls, husband and wife. They could be all relationships. For the very spiritual people who understand the idea of twin souls, Isis and Osiris are referred to as sister and brother. But in a more mundane situation, they are referred to as wife and husband.
The story goes that Osiris married Isis, and Seth married Nephthys. Osiris became King of Egypt after marrying Isis, a long time ago. Osiris and Isis, together, gave life to Egypt. Together they ruled in peace and harmony. Osiris taught Egyptians the arts of agriculture and irrigation. He showed them how to build houses and gave them laws and education and the skill of writing, using the hieroglyphic script which was invented by Thoth. Isis supported her husband in every way. Both Osiris and Isis were adored by their subjects. But their evil brother Seth hated Osiris and was jealous of his popularity. Seth managed to pick a fight with Osiris, murdered him, and cut his body into fourteen pieces, which he scattered all over Egypt. Isis went searching for the scattered parts of her beloved Osiris. She wanted to put him together, so as to put herself together, i.e. to bring about union within herself. Osiris's faithful wife Isis found every part of her husband's body, except the phallus, which had been swallowed by a fish. She assembled his body, making the first Egyptian mummy. Isis and her sister Nephthys bewailed their brother Osiris' death, and pleaded with him to come back to life.
Any woman who truly loves her husband is considered to be like Isis, and has the power of awakening him into greater life, as Horus. Father Sj. Vann likened the awakening of Christ by Mary Magdalene, as he emerged from his tomb, to Isis awakening Osiris from the dead. The comparison between the two cases is illuminated in the Lament for Osiris. The text for this duet was derived from a much older lamentation.
Lament for Oeiris was described by Andrew Lang to have the power to stir our deepest emotions:
At the time of his death, Osiris and Isis had no children, but by mystical means, the re-membered mummy of Asar rose up (symbolizing reincarnation and spiritual rebirth - a key to understanding the Egyptian belief in life after death).
Osiris was resurrected for one night and slept with Isis (This is equivalent to being impreganated by the Holy Ghost). As a result, Isis conceived a son. He was called Horus and was raised secretly in the marshes of the Delta, to protect him from Seth, his evil uncle.
After Osiris' death, Set married Nephthys, became the king of Egypt, and ruled as a tyrant.
As soon as Horus had grown to manhood, he challenged his evil uncle, Seth, for the right to the throne. During the battle, Seth snatched away the eye of Horus, and threw it into the celestial ocean. Thoth recovered the eye which was later called the Udjat-Eye. It was identified with the moon and became a very popular symbol of protection. It was this Eye which Horus used to revive his sleeping father. Osiris was resurrected as a soul to rule the Netherworid. Osiris became for the Egyptians the spirit of the past, the neter (god) of the Dead and a hope for resurrection and afterlife. After many battles and challenges, Horus eventually overcame Seth, avenged the murder of his father, and regained the throne of Egypt.
Horus became a role model, the type of perfect Pharaoh. Subsequently, all the Pharaohs identified themselves with Horus as a living king, and with the soul ofOsiris as a dead king. Osiris-Horus was portrayed as the perfect shepherd.
In the oldest versions of the story, which are found in the Unas Funerary (Pyramid) Texts (ca. 2500 B.C.), it is simply stated that Seth murdered Osiris in Abydos, and left his body lying on the bank of the canal. It was later found by Isis and Nephthtys, embalmed by Anubis, and buried at Abydos.
The story of Isis and Osiris is the closest thing to a popular religion that ancient Egypt had. Every family was Osiris and Isis and Nephthys and Seth and Horus, because the family consisted of mother and father and sister and brother and child. It's the continuing story of life, with all its elements.
Egyptologist Sir E. A. Wallis Budge wrote,
The new religion (Christianity) which was preached there by St. Mark and his immediate followers, in all essentials so closely resembled that which was the outcome of the worship of Osiris, Isis, and Horus that popular opposition was entirely disarmed.
The similarities, noted by Budge and everyone who has compared the Egyptian Osiris/ Isis/Horns mystry play to the Gospel story, are powerful. Both accounts are practically the same:
The main difference between them is that those faithful to the Bible consider the Gospel tale to be a historical fact, while the ancient Egyptians considered the Osiris/Isis/Horus story to be a myth. Nonwithstanding this difference, the spiritual message of the Osiris/Isis/Horus myth and Christian revelation is the same.