Osiris and the Egyptian resurrection V2

With the view of carrying out his baleful design, he hatched a plot, and persuaded seventy-two persons, as well as a certain queen of Ethiopia, who was called Aso 'Acroj , to join in the Osiris being embraced by Isis and Nephthys. From a bas-relief at Philae. He caused a very handsome box, or chest, to be made the exact size of the body of Osiris, the measure of which he had caused to be taken by craft, and having richly decorated it, he had it brought into his dining room and left there. He then invited Osiris to a banquet, at which all the fellow-conspirators were B 2 4 Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection present, and whilst the guests were admiring the hand- some box, Typhon, speaking as if in jest, declared that he would give it to him that was able to lie down comfortably in it.

Thereupon one after the other of the seventy-two conspirators tried to get into the box, but were unable to do so. At length Osiris expressed his willingness to make trial if the box would contain him, and finding that it did he lay down in it. All the conspirators rushed to the box, and dragging the cover quickly over it, they fastened it in position with nails, and then poured lead over it. Thus it became impossible for Osiris to breathe, and he was suffocated. The con- spirators, under the direction of Typhon, then dragged the box from the banqueting hall to the bank of the Nile,.

When the report of the murder reached I sis, who was then in the city of Coptos, she immediately cut off one of the locks of her hair, arid put on mourning apparel, and wandered about the country in a distraught state searching for the box which contained her husband's body. Certain children who had seen the box thrown into the Nile told her what had been done with it, and how It had floated out to sea by way of the Tanitic mouth of the Nile.

On this day great lamentation was made by Isis and Nephthys for their brother Osiris, the sounds of which were heard from Sais in the north to Abydos in the south. See Strabo, XVI, ii, The modern village of Jebel is near the site. History as told by Classical Writers 5 The king of Byblos marvelled at the size of this tree, and had it cut down, and caused a pillar for his palace to be made of that portion of the trunk which contained the box. When this news reached I sis she set out at once for Byblos, and when she arrived there she sat down by the side of the fountain of the palace and spoke to no one except the queen's maidens, who soon came to her.

At the head stands Nephthys and at the foot Isis. From a bas-relief at Denderah. When the maidens returned to the palace the queen perceived the odour which emanated from their hair and bodies, and learning from them that it was due to their contact with Isis, she sent to her and invited her to come to the palace.

After, a conversation with her she appointed her to be the nurse of one of her children. From a bas-relief at Abydos. After she had treated the child thus for some time, the queen one night saw her son burning in the fire, whereupon she uttered a piercing cry, and so prevented him from obtaining the gift of immortality which was about to be bestowed upon him. Then Isis revealed herself to the queen, and told her her story, and begged that the pillar might be given to her.

When this had been done, she removed it and cut out the box, and having wrapped the pillar up in fine linen and anointed it with un- guents, she gave it back to the king and queen, who sent it to the temple of Byblos, where it was duly and regularly worshipped by the people of the city. The tree trunk, or pillar, is confused with the Tet, the raising up of which to an upright position was one of the most sacred ceremonies of the cfreat festival of Osiris.

The illustration shows the Tet in the form in which it was worshipped at Abydos. This done, Isis threw herself upon the box and uttered such piercing shrieks and lamentations that the younger of the king's sons was frightened into convulsions and died on the spot. She then placed the box in a boat, and taking the elder son with her, she set sail for Egypt. Soon after her departure she History as told by Classical Writers 7 opened the box, and laying her face on that of her dead husband, she embraced his body, and wept bitterly.

Meanwhile the boy, wondering what was happening, stole up behind and spied upon her ; when Isis became aware of this she turned round suddenly, being in a great passion, and in her anger cast so terrible a look upon him that he died of fright. Some, however, say that he did not die through the wrath of the goddess, but that he fell into the sea and was drowned. He is said to be the " Maneros " upon whom the Egyptians call during their feasts.

In due course Isis arrived in Egypt from By bios, and having placed the box in an out-of-the-way place, she set out to visit her son Horus, who was being reared at Butus. When the news of the dismemberment of Osiris reached Isis, she set out in search of his scattered limbs. This region of the Delta being full of marshes and canals Isis travelled about in 'a boat made of the papyrus plant, which was sacred to her. No crocodile dared to attack her in her papyrus boat, and unto this day men make their boats of papyrus, because they believe that when in them they are safe from the attacks of crocodiles.

Isis was successful in her search, and wherever she found a member of her husband's body she buried it, and built a sepulchre over it ; this explains why there are so many tombs of Osiris in Egypt. Some say that Isis only buried figures of Osiris in the various cities and pre- tended that they were his body, so that she might thereby cause the worship of her husband to be general, and that Typhon, distracted by the number of the tombs of Osiris, might despair of ever being able to find the true one.

Isis found all the members of the body of Osiris save one, which was cast by Typhon into the Nile after he had severed it from the body, and had been eaten by the Lepidotus, Phagrus, and Oxyrhynchus fishes, but she made a fig-ure of it which was ever after used in commemorative festivals. A fight took place between them which lasted for several days, and at length the murderer of Osiris was vanquished and taken prisoner, and handed over to the custody of Isis.

Feeling some The cow-headed Isis pouring out a libalion in honour of the soul of Osiris, which rises in the form of a man-headed hawk from the plants growing in a sacred lake. In its place Thoth gave her a crown made in the shape of an ox's head, Typhon made use of his liberty to accuse Horus of illegitimacy, but the matter was tried before the gods, and by the assistance History as told by Classical Writers 9 of Thoth, who acted as his advocate, Horus was enabled to prove to the gods that he was the lawful successor to the throne of his father, Osiris.

Subsequently Isis had union with her husband, Osiris, and the result of the god's embrace was the child Harpokrates, who came into the world prematurely, and was lame in his lower limbs in consequence. The early generations of men thought there were two principal gods that were eternal, that is to say, the sun and the moon ; the former they called " Osiris," and the latter "Isis.

The name " Isis" means " ancient," and has been applied to the moon from time immemorial. Osiris and Isis govern the whole world, and they foster and protect everything in it, and they divide the year into three parts, spring, summer, and winter. Others say that Zeus and Hera were the rulers of Egypt, and that from them five gods were born, one upon each of the five epagomenal days, viz.

Those who hold this view identify Osiris with Bacchus, and Isis with Ceres. Osiris married Isis, and after he became king he performed many things for the benefit and advantage of mankind generally. It is also said that I sis formulated a code of laws which provided wholesome punishments for wild and violent men.

He was brought up in Nysa, a town of Arabia Felix, where he discovered the use of the vine. He was the first to drink wine, and he taught men to plant the vine, and how to make and preserve wine. He held Hermes in Thoth, the advocate of Osiris, bearing Thoth, the advocate of Osiris, writing life and serenity. From the Papyrus of Hunefer. Egyptian, Thoth in high honour, because of his ingenuity and power of quick invention. Hermes taught men to speak distinctly, he gave names to things which possessed none before, he invented letters, and instituted the worship of the gods, he invented arithmetic, music, and sculpture, and formulated a system of astronomy.

He was the confidential scribe of Osiris, who invariably accepted his advice upon all matters. History as told by Classical Writers ii a large army, and he determined to go about the world teaching mankind to plant vines and to sow wheat and barley. Having made all arrangements in Egypt he committed the government of his whole kingdom to Isis, and gave her as an assistant Hermes, his trusted scribe who excelled all others in wisdom and prudence.

He appointed to be the chief of the forces in Egypt his kinsman Hercules, a man of great physical strength. Osiris took with him Apollo in Egyptian, Horus , Anubis who wore a dog's skin, Macedo who wore a wolfs skin. Pan in Egyptian, Menu , and various skilful husbandmen. As he marched through Ethiopia, a company of satyrs was presented to him ; he was fond of music and dancing, and therefore added them to the body of musicians and singers, both male and female, who were in his train.

Having taught the Ethiopians the arts of tillage and husbandry, he built several cities in their country, and appointed governors over them, and then continued his journey. On the borders of Ethiopia he raised the river banks, and took precautions to prevent the Nile from overflowing the neighbouring country and turning it into a marsh, and he built canals with flood-gates and regulators.

He then travelled by way of the coast of Arabia into India, where he built many cities, including Nysa, in which he planted the ivy plant. He took part in several elephant hunts, and journeying westwards he brought his army through the Hellespont into Europe. In Thrace he killed Lycurgus, a barbarian king, who refused to adopt his system of, government. Osiris became a benefactor of the whole world by finding out food which was suitable for man- kind, and after his death he gained the reward of immortality, and was honoured as a god.

For some time the priests kept secret the manner of his death, but at length some of them, being unable to keep the knowledge to themselves, divulged the matter. Osiris was, in fact, murdered by his wicked brother, Typhon, who broke his body into twenty-six pieces, and gave a piece to each of his fellow-conspirators, to make them equally guilty with himself, and so to force them to raise him to the throne of Osiris and to defend him when there.

Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, with the 12 Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection assistance of her son Horus, avenged his murder, and took possession of the throne of Egypt. She searched for and found all the pieces of her husband's body save one, and she rejoined them by means of wax and aromatic spices, and made the body to be of the former size of Osiris.

She then sent for the priests and told each of them that she was going to entrust to them the body of Osiris for burial, and she assigned to them one-third part of the country to serve as an endowment for his worship. Isis ordered them also to dedicate to Osiris one of the beasts which they bred, and, whilst it was alive, to pay to it the same veneration which they paid Isis addressing the mummy of Osiris as it lay in her boat ready for removal to the tomb. This the priests did, and the animal they dedicated to Osiris was the bull, and they renewed their mournlno-s for Osiris over the g-raves of two bulls in particular, namely.

Isis also ordered that models of the missing part of the body of Osiris should be made, and they were adored in the temples, and were held generally in great veneration, Isis then made a vow never to marry again, and she spent the rest of her days In administering justice among her subjects, and she excelled all other princes in her works of charity towards her own people. After her death she was numbered among the gods ; her tomb, according to some, is at Memphis, and, according to others, at Philae.

It is said that Isis discovered many medicines, and that she was greatly skilled in the art of History as told by Classical Writers 13 physic. Even as a goddess she interests herself in healing men's bodies, and to all who seek her help she appears in dreams and gives relief. Several people who were sent away by the physicians as incurable have been restored to health by her ; and the lame have been I Osiris in the form of a bull, bearing a mummy of one of his worshippers on his back. From a coffin in the British Museum No.

From Isis, Horus learned 14 Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection the arts of physic and divination, which he used for the benefit of mankind. In his short treatise De Err ore Pro- fanarttin Religioiiimt," which appears to have been written with a view of exposing the futility of idolatry, and the absurdity of raising men to the rank of gods and then worshipping them, rather than to show the excellence of the Christian religion, he writes of Osiris thus: Typhon was the husband of Isis.

Finding that Isis was overtaken by illicit love for her brother, Typhon slew Osiris in a crafty manner, and having torn the body in pieces, he scattered the quivering limbs along the banks of the Nile. Isis thrust her husband Typhon from her in disgust, and joining to herself her sister Nephthys and the dog-headed Anubis, she determined to search for the limbs of Osiris and bury them. With the help of Anubis she found them, and gave them burial, and Osiris, who had been a just man, was henceforward worshipped in the temples under the form of a figure made to resemble him.

History as told by Classical Writers 15 being proud, haughty, and arrogant, was held in abomination. His worshippers shaved their heads, and beat their breasts, and gashed their shoulders, and inflicted wounds on their bodies in imitation of the cuts and gashes which Typhon made in the body of Osiris.

Whenever possible they cut into the scars which were left by the gashes of the preceding year, so that the remembrance of the abomin- able murder of Osiris might be renewed in their minds. When they have done this for a certain number of days, they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined, and then they turn from mourning to rejoicing.

Those who defend these practices say that grain is the seed of Osiris, that I sis is the earth, and that Typhon is heat. Another ceremony which connects Osiris with some local tree-god is also described by Firmicus Maternus op.

He says that in the mysteries of Isis a pine tree was cut down and hollowed out, and that with the pith of the tree a figure of Osiris was made, which was then buried and, having been kept for a year, was burned. In proof of his assertion that Osiris is the sun he says that the Egyptians represent this god in their hieroglyphs under the form of a sceptre with an eye in it, and that they indicate by this the idea of the god surveying the universe from his exalted throne in the sky.

Hujus trunci media pars subtiliter excavatur. Illis de feminibus factum idoium Osiridis sepelitur Sed et ilia alia ligna quae dixi, similis flamma consumit, nam etiam post annum ipsorum lignorum rogum flamma depascitur.

Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection; Volume 2 : E a Wallis Budge :

Both Plutarch and Diodorus agree in assigning a divine origin to Osiris, and both state that he reigned in the form of a man upon the earth. This being so it is clear that the Egyptians generally believed that a god made himself incarnate, and that an immediate ancestor of the first Pharaoh of Egypt was a being who possessed two natures, the one human and the other divine. As a man he performed the good works which his divine nature indicated to him, he abolished cannibalism, he improved the manners and morals of men, he taught them to live according to law, to worship the gods, and to practise the arts of agriculture.

Filled with love for man he set out to travel over the whole world so that he might teach all non-Egyptians to embrace his beneficent doctrine, and enjoy the blessings which accrue to God- fearing and law-abiding peoples. This god-man was hated by his brother, who by a cunning device inveigled him into a box, which he closed and sealed with lead, and thus killed him.

The body of the man-god was thrown into the river, and carried thereby to the sea, whence by some means it was brought to Byblos in Syria. The events which are stated by Plutarch to have happened to the body in this place are, clearly, inter- polations of a comparatively late period, and were, I believe, invented to explain the similarity of the popular worship of Byblos with that of Osiris.

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Where the box was carried seems beyond doubt to have been the papyrus swamps, or the reedy marshes in the east of the Delta. Plutarch tells us that I sis left the box in an History as told by Classical Writers 17 out-of-the-way place whilst she went to visit her son Horus at Butus, i. Now, the well-known legend cut on the Metternich Stele says that Isis brought forth her son Horus among the papyrus swamps, and that she reared him there herself, therefore there must be some confusion in the sources of Plutarch's information.

At all events, Isis seems to have left the box for some reason, and during her absence Typhon found it, dragged out the body of Osiris, and tore it into fourteen pieces, which he scattered about the country. Thirteen of these pieces were found by Isis, who buried them, and built sanctuaries over them. Osiris then returned from the Other World, and encouraged Horus to do battle with Typhon, and in the fight which ensued Horus was victorious. From what Plutarch says we are bound to conclude that the Egyptians did not believe that Osiris perished and came to an end with the dismemberment of his body by Typhon, for if they did Plutarch could not have told us that Osiris returned from the Other World.

Unfortunately he does not say whether Osiris came in the form of a spirit, or in his natural body, which he had raised from the dead, but it is clear that he had the power of speech and thought, and that he appeared in a form which Horus could recognize. The divine part of Osiris did not die, it was only the mortal body, which he put on when he came from the abode of the gods to reign upon earth, that suffered death.

In the divinity and immortality of the god-man Osiris lay the strength of the power with which he appealed to the minds and hopes of the Egyptians for thousands of years, and we shall see in the course of the following pages that both these conceptions of Osiris are of purely African origin, and that they were in existence long before the Dynastic Period in Egypt. The narratives of Plutarch and Diodorus contain a great many statements about Osiris and Isis which can be substantiated by texts written three thousand years before the Christian Era, but they are arranged in wrong order, and many of them are joined together in such a way that it is certain that neither the classical writers nor their informants VOL.

Thus Firmicus Maternus says that I sis was the wife of Typhon, and that Osiris was murdered because she loved him. It is difficult to believe that so learned a man as Firmicus Maternus was ignorant of what Plutarch and Diodorus had written about Osiris, Isis, and Typhon, and it is equally difficult to explain how such a confounding of persons took place in his mind. Macrobius states, as we have seen, that Osiris was the sun and Isis the earth. In considering these contradictory statements the only possible conclusion we can arrive at is that none of the classical writers had any exact knowledge of the meaning of the history of Osiris, and that none of them understood the details of his cult.

It must, however, be admitted that this is not to be wondered at, for they could not read the Egyptian texts and they did not understand the ancient Egyptian religion. They were only acquainted with the phase of the cult of Osiris which existed in the Ptolemaic Period, and they were incapable by race and education of appreciating the conceptions and ideas which underlay Egyptian symbolism.

We are better off than they because, thanks to the decipherment of the Egyptian hiero- glyphs, we are able to read, and often to understand, what the Egyptians thought and wrote about Osiris and Isis. And we can see that in very primitive times Osiris passed through many forms, and that his attributes were changed as the result of the development of the minds of the Egyptians and the natural modification of their religious views.

Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection

Osiris, as we know him, was a compound of many gods, and his cult represented a blending of numerous nature cults, many of them being very ancient. As his worship spread throughout Egypt in the Dynastic Period he absorbed many of the attributes of local "gods " and " spirits," but so long as his priests gave to the peoples whose own local gods had been dispossessed by Osiris the essentials which their belief demanded, they were content. The Egyptian texts and the works of classical writers enable us to identify many of the "gods" and " spirits," the attributes of whom were absorbed by Osiris.

In History as told by Classical Writers 19 the earliest times we find him identified with the spirit of the growing- crop and the grain god, and he repre- sented the spirit of vegetation in general. His chief assistant was his wife Isis, who taught men to prepare, the orrain which her husband had ofiven them, and to make the flour into bread.

His connection with the Persea-tree, and the legend which associates him with the Erica-tree, prove that at one time he was a tree- spirit, and that he absorbed the attributes of many tree- spirits both in the north and south of Egypt. Plutarch says that he was the first to drink wine, and to teach men to plant the vine, and this view is supported by vignettes in the Papyrus of Anhai and the Papyrus of Nekht.

In the former we see growing near a pool of water a luxuriant vine, the fruit and branches of which extend to the figure of Osiris, who is seated upon a throne. As a ""reat grod of agriculture he controls the order of the seasons, and thereby assumes some of the powers of Thoth. His connection with agriculture made it important for him to have the control of the necessary water supply of the country, and he was therefore endowed with the powers of Hep, or Heper, the great god of the Nile.

In the Papyrus of Hunefer his throne is actually placed by, or above, a lake of water see illustration. As grain could not be grown without the help of the bull or ox in ploughing, we find him identified with more than one Bull-god, and in the Book of the Dead he is addressed as the " Bull of Amentet," i. So far back as the period of the Vlth dynasty Osiris was credited with having begotten a child by Isis after his death, and thus he became the symbol of all the gods of virility and reproduction.

C 2 20 Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection many passages in Egyptian texts, and by the statements of Plutarch that Osiris Hved or reigned twenty-eight years, and that Typhon broke his body into fourteen pieces. The Bull Apis was, the texts tell us, the "living soul of Osiris," and was, according to Plutarch, begotten Osiris sealed on his throne by, or above, a lake of water. History as told by Classical Writers 21 15th days of each month, i.

The fourteen parts into which the body of Osiris was broken refer, beyond doubt, to the fourteen pieces which were assumed to be broken or bitten off from the moon during its period of waning, just as the Osiris in the character of Menu, the "god of the uplifted arm," and Harpokrates as they sat in the disk of the moon, from the third day of the new moon until the fifteenth day.

Below is the Crocodile-god Sebek bearing the mummy of the god on his back. To the left stands Isis. Apart from the fact that Osiris is actually called " Asar Aah," i. The more the religious texts are examined the more clear does it become that from the Xllth dynasty downwards, there is hardly a local god of any importance with whom, sooner or later, Osiris was not identified.

Grain-spirits, tree-spirits, tree-gods, animal-gods, reptile- gods, bird-gods, all were absorbed by Osiris, and additions to his attributes continued to be made until his original form disappeared under a mass of confused and often contradictory descriptions. In religious theorizings the Egyptians never forgot anything which had been imagined and had found expression in the written word, and they discarded no view or belief, however contradictory, fearing lest they should suffer material loss in this world, and spiritual loss in the next.

The result of this was to create in their religion a confusion which is practically unbounded, and we need not wonder that ancient Greek and Roman writers produced histories of Egyptian gods and goddesses which border on the ridiculous. They, as well as modern investigators of the Egyptian religion, read into the texts ideas and meanings which were, and still are, wholly foreign to the African mind. The Egyptian was never a profound theologian, and in primitive times his religion was largely a mixture of magic and materialism.

The idea of the god-man Osiris was developed naturally from the cult of the ancestor who, having been a man, was supposed to be better able to understand the wants of living men than the great unknowable God, whose existence was dimly imagined. Somehow and somewhere the belief arose that this particular god-man Osiris had risen from the dead, as the result of a series of magical ceremonies which were performed by Horus, his son, under the direction of the great magician-priest Thoth and with the help of the embalmer, or medicine-man, Anubis, and it grew and increased until It filled all Egypt.

History as told by Classical Writers 23 attractions of Osiris worship were the humanity of the god and his immortality, and to these were added later the attributes of a just but merciful judge, who rewarded the righteous and punished the wicked. That these appealed irresistibly to the Egyptians of all periods is proved by the absorption into Osiris of all the other gods of the dead in Egypt.

The Name and Iconography of Osiris. About the meaning of the name As-ari or Us-ari many theories have been formed, but none of the meanings proposed is satisfactory. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 25 the name in Assyrian and Sanskrit, but they are not acceptable. The first sign is the hieroglyph for "seat," " throne," " place," and the second as a hiero- glyph means " the eye," and with a derived sense it means "to see.

Having explained Osiris in this manner, Dr. Erman has shrewdly noted in his article. We must therefore find some incident in the life of Osiris which involved " taking a seat " in such a manner that it deserved to be commemorated once for all in the god's name.

• Greetings From Above: Proof of Life After Death?
• Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection; Volume 2;
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This, fortunately, is not far to seek. In the text of King Teta it is said: Horus causes Thoth to " bring to thee thine enemy, he sets thee on his back, he " shall not defile thee. Make thy seat upon him. Sit thou upon him, he shall not commit " an act of paederasty on thee. Thy mother Nut gives thee birth, " the god Keb presses thy mouth for thee. The Great " Company of the gods converse with thee. They set " thine enemy beneath thee, they say to him: Support one who is greater than thyself " through thy name of Ta-Abtu.

When Set appeared the gods threw him down, and Thoth lifted Osiris on to his back, and whilst Osiris sat there triumphant the gods mocked Set, and told him to carry one mightier than himself At first, Osiris appears to have hesitated, for Thoth exhorted him to " make his seat upon him," and to " come forth and sit upon him. This passage shows only too plainly that in remote times in Egypt the victors com- mitted nameless acts of abomination on the vanquished, besides fricrhtful mutilations, and evidence is not wantinof that such practices were not unknown in the Southern Sudan a very few years ago.

Osiris did as Thoth and Horus had arranged he should do, and " made his seat," or seated himself, upon the body of Set in triumph, and was, presumably, ever after called the "seat-maker," As-ar, or As-ari, which the Greeks turned into Osiris. The crudeness and, it may be added, childishness of the story prove that it is very ancient, and it probably existed in Predynastic times.

It may be argued that the story was invented to provide an etymology for the name of Osiris, but even if this were the case it is still very ancient, for the text which contains it was cut upon King Teta's tomb under the Vlth dynasty, and it is unlikely that it was new at that time. Traces of all these forms survived in his cult long after he became a god-man, just as allusions to his sufferings and death permeated the religious literature of Egypt for thousands of years after he was first alleged to have risen from the dead. Whether forms of the god Osiris were sculptured on the walls of the temples of the Ancient Empire, or similitudes of him were drawn on papyri and leather, or cut on wood under the early dynasties, cannot be said ; certainly no examples of such representations have come down to us.

Osiris was a good, benevolent, and just king, who was murdered by his brother Set. I sis, his sister and wife, was a faithful and loving wife, who protected him and his interests with unremitting care during his life, and cherished his memory unceasingly after his death. She endured sorrow, pain, and loneliness in bringing forth his son Horus, and spared herself neither toil nor care in rearing him. As he grew up she taught him that it was his duty to avenge his father's murder, and encouraged a warlike spirit in him.

Nephthys, her sister, attached herself to her with loving faithfulness, and assisted Isis by word and deed in all the trouble which she suffered throup'h the murder of her husband, and throuoh the poisoning of her child Horus. Set was the husband of Nephthys, and begat by her Anpu, or Anubis. Thus we see that the Egyptians regarded these gods and goddesses as a sort of holy family, all the members whereof were god-men and god-women.

I sis was the ideal wife and mother and the perfect woman, and, long before the death of the last native king of Egypt, she held in the hearts of her worshippers a position somewhat similar to that held by the Virgin Mary in the hearts of many Oriental Christians in Egypt, the Sudan, Abyssinia, and Western Asia. This being so it is not surprising that Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Nephthys always appear in human form, and, though Set and Anubis are given animal heads, the literature of Egypt contains many passages which prove that they possessed human instincts and speech, and that on occasions they did work which men alone can do.

Osiris as the typical god-man who died and rose again is represented in the form of a mummy, or, at all events, in the form of a dead man who has been made ready for burial. This form is a development of an ancient presentment of a dead chief or ancestor, for Osiris took the place of the tutelary ancestor-god who was honoured and worshipped in every village of the Sudan of any size from time immemorial.

Often they stand under a rude canopy formed of branches and leaves, which is supported by poles, but sometimes, like the figures of spirits and " gods," they are provided with small huts, or houses. As it has always been the custom to reserve ceremonial burial for the bodies of kings, chiefs, and men of high rank it is clear from the traditional accounts of the burial of Osiris, and of the numerous ceremonies which were performed in connection with it, that he must have been a great and powerful king.

Moreover, the figures of the god which appear on sepulchral stelae of the latter part of the Middle Empire, and the reliefs sculptured on walls and pillars of temples of the New Empire, to say nothing of the fine vignettes in papyri of the XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties, all represent him as a great king. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 31 and in all essentials and special characteristics of the god they agree.

Now, in the Pyramid Texts, which were written under the Vlth dynasty, there are several mentions of Khenti- Amenti, and in a large number of instances the name is preceded by that of Osiris. It is quite clear, therefore, that the chief attributes of the one god must have resembled those of the other, and that Osiris Khenti- Amenti was assumed to have absorbed the powers of Khenti-Amenti.

In papyri of the 1 Mariette, Abydos, torn. Before the Xllth dynasty figures or representations of Osiris, either by himself or with Khenti-Amenti, are very rare, and some doubt if any exist. There is, however, a much older representation of a god whom I believe to be Osiris. The god is in mummied form. See the Chapter " Osiris and Dancing," where this tablet is figured. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 33 the top of a flight of steps, and above it is a canopy, supported in front by poles, similar in every respect to the canopy under which Osiris is invariably seen seated in later monuments.

On each side of him are three signs, which represent objects that were associated with dancing. The king, I believe, is dancing, though his back is turned to the god, and this representation appears to be the prototype of all the scenes, down to the Ptolemaic Period, in which the king dances before his god. Dancing was, and still is, an act of worship in Africa, and Osiris, according to Diodorus,i was a patron of dancers and musicians of all classes, both male and female.

The tablet on which the above scene is cut appears to be one of several on which the principal events of the reign of King Semti Hesepti ' were recorded, and to contain a list of the chief events of a particular year It IS probable that the text of the Palermo Stele was compiled from a series of tablets of this kind. The first event noted of the year was the performance by the king ot some ceremony which was connected with the god who sat in a shrine placed on the top of a short flight of steps.

The ceremony must have been a very important one, or it would not have been noted in this manner, and, in the light of reliefs and pictures of a later period, it is tolerably certain that it was connected with the founding and dedication of some building to the god, or the presentation of some great offering. About the identity of the king who is dancing before the god there is no doubt.

On the left-hand side of the tablet we have his Horus name given, and it reads " Ten," the meaning of which is doubtful. Now, this work was written for the benefit of the dead, and especially for those who accepted the doctrine of Osiris, therefore in the reign of Semti the cult of Osiris must have been in existence, and also writings which dealt with it and possessed an authoritative character. Naville , and the Papyrus of Nu ed. Birch , the Papyrus of Nu ed. Budge , and Budge, Facsimiles of Hieratic Papyri, p. In the Turin Papyrus ed.

If he be not Osiris, he must be a god whose form and attributes were absorbed, or usurped, by Osiris, for, from the Xllth dynasty to the end of the Ptolemaic Period, the representations of Osiris are substantially identical with the representation of the god on the top of the steps on the wooden tablet of Semti. Among the explanations of the scene which have been put forward is one which takes the view that the figure on the top of the steps is that of a king, but this appears impossible.

It is true that on the great mace of Nar-mer, a very early king, we have a scene represented in which what may be perhaps assumed to be the figure of a king is seated on a throne placed on the top of a flight of nine steps. Above the canopy is a vulture, symbolic of protection, and by the side of the steps are two men holdino- larore fans. These represent the spoil taken during some expedition, and the numbers given below each figure show that it was very large.

The oxen number ,, the goats 1,,, and the men 1 20, The figure seated on the four-legged frame under a cage or basket may be the captive king of the lands which have been plundered, but on this point more information is required. All tradition makes Osiris a king, and it is certain that he must have lived at an early period. This being so, we should expect him to be represented in the form of an early king, and to occupy the throne of a king, and to sit under a royal canopy.

That Osiris should have the form of a mummy is not a matter to wonder at, for he was the god-man-king risen from the dead, but it is difficult to see why Nar-mer should have this form, unless he also is supposed to be dead or risen from the dead. It is impossible to believe that under the first eleven or twelve dynasties the Egyptians were unable to draw figures of Osiris or to cut them in stone, and the general absence of all representations of the god before the XI Ith or XI I Ith dynasty only proves that the custom of making similitudes had not yet grown up. Here was preserved the backbone of the god, u, and here grew the sacred acacia, and persea, and sycamore-fig trees which were associated with it.

The oldest symbol of Osiris appears to have been the tet u, and it is probable that in very early times he was represented by this object alone, and that he had no other form. As his cult extended, Osiris assumed the forms of the gods of the dead of the districts through which it passed, and this is why he is found associated so closely with Ptah and Seker of Memphis, and with Khenti-Amenti of Abydos. In the inscriptions the deceased prays to Osiris Khenti-Amenti and to Ptah- Seker for sepulchral offerings.

This monument dates Osiris seated in a shrine from the roof of which hang bunches of grapes. From the Papyrus of Nebseni. With the rise to power of the XVIIIth dynasty, the representations of Osiris become numerous, and as we should expect, the best authorities for them are papyri of the Book of the Dead.

He has a long, plaited beard and sits under a canopy made in the form of a funeral coffer, from which the side has been removed. The roof is supported by two pillars with lotus capitals, and from it hang many clusters of grapes. The titles of the god are mutilated, but he is certainly called " Lord of Abydos, great god. Governor of Eternity, Lord of Aukert, king of Ever- lastingness. Before the god is a table loaded with offerings of all kinds.

Didot, Book I, Chap. His plaited beard is un- usually long, and round his neck he wears a deep collar. The skin of the god is of an earthy-red colour, and his general appearance is that of the large painted limestone Osirid figure of Amen-hetep I in the British Mu- seum. In the Papyrus of Ani Plate 4 the flesh of Osiris is painted a green colour, and his long single white garment is decorated with a design of scale work. In addition to the sceptre and whip he holds in his hands another sceptre.

From the back of his neck hangs the mendt jY amulet, which betokens "joy, pleasure, virility," etc. Behind him stand I sis and Nephthys, and before him, standing on a lotus, are the " four children of Horus," who assisted their father in rejoining the members of the god. Below these, hanging to a pole, is the skin of a 1 Northern Egyptian Gallery, No.

The Name and Iconography of Osiris 41 decapitated bull. The god is seated within a funeral coffer as before, but the raised part of the cover is in the form of a hawk's head, which probably indicates the fusion of Osiris and Seker, the old god of the dead of Memphis. Above the cover rise twelve uraei, and on the cornice is a row of uraei, each of which has a crown on its head ; the capitals of the pillars of the coffer are also decorated with uraei.

The side of the throne of Osiris is painted to represent the door of a tomb, with a row of uraei wearing disks on the cornice. The coffer rests upon a low pylon-shaped building, and is approached by a flight of steps. The god is called simply " Osiris, Lord of Eternity. On the sarcophagus of Seti I we have a most interesting figure of Osiris, seated on his throne, which is here in the form of a chair, in his Hall of Judgment. The throne has nine steps, similar to the throne represented on the mace of Nar-mer, and on each is one of the nine gods who formed the " Company " of Osiris.

Osiris is not here seated within a funeral coffer, but in a sort of chamber, and he is dispensing judgment after the manner of an African king. From the Papyrus of Nesi-ta-neb-ashru. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 43 form of Osiris remains substantially the same, but in some particulars the decoration of his shrine is modified. Instead of Isis the goddess who is the personification of Amenti stands behind the god in the shrine. He is described as "he who is on his throne, " Lord of Eternity, Maker of Everlastingness, the great " god, chief of Aqert.

The legend which refers to the embracing of the god by Horus may be the name of the serpent.

Osiris or the Egyptian Religion of Resurrection V2

From the above it seems that the throne of Osiris was guarded by a monster serpent, which does not appear in the older vignettes in papyri, etc. In late papyri it is tolerably common. In another papyrus of the same period XXI I nd dynasty Osiris is seen lying on the slope of a mound of earth, with his right arm extended to the top of it.

His hand nearly touches the head of a huge serpent, the body of which passes down the back of the heap, and emerg- ing from under the front of it continues in deep undulations. From the leather roll of Nekht. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 45 the bull's skin hanging from a pole, and behind him stand Isis and Nephthys. Before the open door of the shrine stand the Mert-goddess of the South and the Mert-goddess of the North, the former wearing a red, and the latter a green garment. The god is seated on his throne as usual, and behind him rises the mountain of Amenti, from the top of which two arms are extended to receive the solar disk.

Between the deceased and his wife and the god is a lake, or ornamental piece of water, from the sides of which grow date-palms, etc. From one corner of it a vine springs, and its luxuriant leaves and bunches of grapes extend towards the face of the god. Here again Osiris is specially connected with the vine, and the fact that the Lady Anhai appears m her papyrus with vine branches about her see Plate VI as she stands before him is a further proof of this fact see the Frontispiece to this volume.

Before him stands " Horus, son of Isis and Osiris," holding a knife in his left hand. Between the god and his father is the terrible " slave stick" T, which is stuck in the ground, and to it is tied by the arms an ass-headed man in a kneeling position. Three knives stick in his stomach. This Osiris-Res, or " Osiris the Riser. In another relief are given the seven forms of Osiris as follows: Osiris in Het-Tetet, i. Another form of Osiris Khenti-Amenti. The four remaining forms of Osiris resemble No. The object is, in my opinion, the Horus and his four sons, each armed with a knife, standing before Osiris and Serapis.

The animal-headed man, with knives stuck in his body and bound by his arms to a forked stick, represents Set or Typhon, conquered. Qsiris wearing the Atef Crown. From Lanzone, Plate Osiris, Lord of Eternity. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 51 I. The Tet, from which proceed "Life" 3. The Tet, with human arms and hands and a pair of arms supporting the holding the sceptre and whip of Osiris.

P'rom the Papyrus of Ani. From the Papyrus of Ani. Tet as an old man. A priest supporting Tet with the head of Osiris in the presence of Isis, " Busirls. The Tet can hardly have been a tree with branches, but it may have been confused with a tree trunk, or a sort of coffer or framework made of a tree trunk, in which the relic of Osiris, which was venerated at Busiris, was kept. Under the New Empire it was confidently asserted that Abydos possessed the veritable body of Osiris, and the symbol of Osiris- Tet is described as the " holy Tet in Abydos.

Rarely, Khenti-Amenti is represented as an old man, whose head forms the base of the Tet, on which rest the feathers, horns, etc.

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On a high pylon- shaped pedestal is a kneeling human figure, on the neck of which stands a Tet, within the loop of the symbol of "life," which takes the place of a head and neck. The attributes of Un-nefer are not known. It is probable that in his oldest form he was a god of the 1 Mariette, Abydos, torn. The name seems to mean " Beneficent Being," and in the New Empire it had already become a tide of Osiris, as we see from the following phrases from the Hymn to Osiris in the Papyrus of Hunefer Sheet 3: Isis setting up the standard with box containing the head of Osiris upon it, while a priest anoints it with holy oil.

Praise be to Osiris! Adorations be given to him! Smelling of the earth to Un-Nefer! Prostrations to the ground to the Lord of Ta- tchesert! When seated he holds in his The goddesses of the North and South setting up the standard with the box containing the head of Osiris upon it. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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