EGYPTIAN GOD OSIRIS

GOD OF THE DEAD, UNDERWORLD AND SUN

Depictions of Osiris showed the god as green faced and bearded holding the flail and crook in his hands. He was portrayed as a mummified human who wore the atef crown.

Osiris was murdered and dismembered by his evil brother Seth and his body cast into the Nile River. Osiris held an important role in ancient Egypt. His death at the hand of his brother Seth represented the yearly Egyptian drought, while his miraculous rebirth represented the flooding of the Nile Valley and its nourishment by the silt left on the land after the flood.

Osiris’ parents were Nut and Geb. His sister and wife was Isis. He also had another sister, Nephthys, and a brother, Seth. Osiris was the father of Horus by Isis and of Anubis by Nephthys, who seduced Osiris to conceive Anubis.

Osiris’ rivalry with his brother Seth, the god of storms and the desert, represented the constant struggle in Egypt between the fertile Nile Valley and the surrounding desert. His death and rebirth also represented the rising and setting of the sun. Osiris is depicted with mummy-like posture and his cult spread to Rome.