<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Osiris is an Egyptian deity associated with life, death, and fertility. One of the oldest known gods, he first appears in the Pyramid Texts around 2400 BCE, long after the cult devoted to his worship had been established. Osiris continued to be worshiped until Christianity came into play and began suppressing pagan worship. Osiris is the eldest son of the Earth god, Geb, and the sky goddess, Nut and also the brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son. He is typically shown with green skin in pharaoh garb and wearing the Atef crown, a form of the white crown of upper Egypt with a plume of feathers to either side. He is also often shown holding the crook and flail which signify divine authority in Egyptian kings. These items were originally unique to Osiris and his own origin-gods, and his feet and lower body are wrapped, as though already partly mummified.

According to Egyptian myth, Osiris served as a merciful judge of the dead in the underworld. Despite this association with death, he is also held responsible for all life in the Nile River and the regular flooding of the river that made Egyptian agriculture possible. Through what is known as imitative magic, Egyptian Pharoahs inherited immortal life in union with Osiris following their Earthly deaths. In later myths of the New Kingdom all people who received the appropriate death rites were associated with Osiris.

Related

• Egyptian Mythology
• Isis
• Osiris (Stargate)