In accordance with the Heliopolis creation myth, Atum was the first god to exist. The god, lonely, then decided to create the god Shu and the goddess Tefnut. The union of these two gods resulted in the birth of gods Geb and Nut. Finally, the children of Geb and Nut were Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.1
Osiris was the first ruler in Egyptian history, and he brought civilization to the land. Because of Osiris, agriculture, laws, religious institutions, and culture were given to the people of Egypt. During his reign was a time of prosperity for the ancient Egyptians. People were happy and so were the gods, except his brother Set. Set grew jealous, and resentful of Osiris’ success. Soon he began to plot his brother’s demise.2
Set threw a lavish and delicious banquet for his brother and his constituents. During the party, Set stood up and brought out a beautiful coffin, and announced a game. He told everyone at the feast that the person who could fit in the coffin could keep it. Unknown to the party attendees, Set had the coffin made to his brother’s exact measurements. One by one each of the guests attempted to fit into the coffin but were unsuccessful. Many tried to squeeze and shove themselves inside the carved box, but no one could fit comfortably inside the coffin. Finally, Osiris stood up to take his turn. As Osiris climbed into the box, Set seized the opportunity he had been plotting for. He shut and sealed the coffin with Osiris inside, and threw it into the Nile River. The river waters rushed Osiris’ living body out to sea, before finally resting in a tamarisk tree that was growing on the banks near Byblos in Phoenicia. Osiris, unable to break the seal on the coffin, struggled and fought for his life before dying in the very device intended to bury him.3
Isis, his wife and sister, was distraught by the events that transpired at Set’s feast. She decided that she would not rest until her husband’s body was found. Eventually, Isis succeeded in finding and retrieving Osiris’ body, and brought it back to Egypt. Once Isis and Osiris’ body were safely back in their homeland, the goddess then looked for a way to resurrect her beloved husband. As Isis searched for a solution, Set heard about his brother’s return. Set knew he had to act quickly, in order to make sure his plan for Osiris’ demise remained successful. Set found his brother’s body and cut it up into many pieces, and scattered them all over Egypt. Isis, upset about Set’s jealousy and interference, went on an expedition to find her husband, every piece of him. The goddess managed to retrieve all of Osiris’ body parts, except for one, to continue with her plan of revival. Isis was unable to find her husband’s penis, because it had been eaten by an oxyrhyncus fish. Regardless, Isis still managed to bring her husband back to life. During the resurrection, despite Osiris missing his genitalia, the god Horus was conceived during this time. Although Osiris was now alive and had co-created a son with his wife, he was still incomplete. Because of his missing body part he was unable to rule the land of the living. So Osiris was crowned the ruler of the Underworld.4
The word Osiris comes from the Egyptian word “Wsir.” This word can be translated to ‘powerful’ or ‘mighty’ in English.5 His job as ruler of the Underworld is to judge each Egyptian soul to determine their eligibility for the afterlife. In Egyptian art, the ruler of the Underworld is shown as being wrapped up from the chest downwards in mummy bandages. Another important feature of Osiris’ is his skin color, which is either green or black. He is typically these colors because green represents the color of rebirth and black symbolizes the color of fertility of the Nile Valley.6
Osiris judges the dead by weighing their hearts against a feather. If your heart is light, then you are allowed to pass into the Land of Two Fields. There are three requirements for entering the afterlife. First, your name had to be written down. Second, you had to have a preserved body and a tomb. Lastly, during your life you had to perform good deeds so your heart would be light enough to pass the weighing test when you met Anubis or Osiris in the underworld. The first two criteria were to insure that Ba and Ka, the two parts of ones soul, would be able to find its body each night to rest. The Ba was ones personality, and each day it would go and watch over ones family members in the land of the living. While ones Ka was a life force, it was unique to each person, and it would go each day to indulge in the Land of the Two Fields. If one lacked a written name on ones tomb or a preserved body then ones Ba and Ka would get lost and have no place to rest each night.7
- Don Nardo, Egyptian mythology (Detroit: Lucent Books an imprint of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013), 48. ↵
- Don Nardo, Egyptian mythology (Detroit: Lucent Books an imprint of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013), 49. ↵
- Don Nardo, Egyptian mythology (Detroit: Lucent Books an imprint of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013), 50. ↵
- Don Nardo, Egyptian mythology (Detroit: Lucent Books an imprint of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013), 52-53. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, January 2016, s.v. “Egyptian mythology,” by Shari P. Miller. ↵
- Robert A. Armour, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt (New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2001), 73, 141, 177. ↵
- Anthony Spalinger, “The Limitations of Formal Ancient Egyptian Religion,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, no. 4 (1998): 241. ↵
94 comments
Christopher Hohman
Nice article. We just finished learning about the Egyptians in my historical survey class. We heard the story of Osiris there too. It is fascinating that almost every major civilization has some concept of an after life. Osiris’ story is a really cool story. I love how his wife is so devoted to him, and I am glad that the gods reward her for her faithfulness. The weighing of the feather is also really cool too. The idea that that is all you have to do is weigh less than a feather is just a cool visual
Madison Guerra
The article was well organized and interesting, but i think the author could have used more detail. It seemed a little rushed and with as much information as there was. I would have liked to have learned more about the god Osiris in more detail. the author had the write idea, but i think that they should have done a long descriptive article.
Luisa Ortiz
Before reading this article I had a few knowledge about Osiris, all I knew was that he was the “guard” for the underworld. I had no idea about his brother, his wife or his descending. Real or not this story is so good and fascinating, I like the drama and the family affairs! like the Egyptian telenovela! I really like the wife Isis she did a lot to bring his husband back, another determined woman!
Luke Lopez
This was a very informative article on Osiris, and how he became the ruler of the Underworld. I did not know that Osiris was killed by his brother, Set, and was made the ruler of the Underworld after the majority of his body parts were recovered. It was interesting reading about the Egyptian gods, because the gods I hear the most about are the Greek and Roman gods.
Clarissa Gonzalez
The first paragraph that gave insight to Osiris’ family tree, helped with the knowledge that I had already about this range of history. I was able to connect him to Shu and Tefnut. The story of Osiris is something I didn’t know. He brought great prosperity over Egypt and reigned properly over the country. Even after dying and being brought back to life, he managed to become the ruler of the underworld and bring forth a child with his wife.
Antoinette Johnson
This article, “Osiris: The Ruler Of The Underworld” was great. Set should not have been jealous of his brother’s success. He should have been proud. He was so envious he killed his brother, then went back to cut him apart. Isis was a very loyal wife to try and find all her husband’s body parts and resurrect him. I feel sorry that Osiris has to rule the underworld when he was so use to ruling the land of the living.
Alexander Manibusan
I did not know that Osiris was responsible for culture, religious places, and agriculture. That is very interesting. Although I was aware he was a god of the underworld, I did not know how he became the deity until now. Exactly did how Isis resurrect Osiris? Simply by putting his parts together? I would assume Isis consulted somebody to assist her in her quest for reviving her husband.
Esperanza Rojas
I am so happy I came by this article, for it is entertaining and humorous. I couldn’t help but laugh at the “missing genitalia” part because it came out so suddenly. I never really got into the Egyptian myths, nor even heard about it, but this story really intrigued me to earn more about the gods and how they were thought up. I was shocked through the entire story and kept on thinking of how crazy of a myth this was, but is so captivating. I did think it was a bit fast paced, and wished to know a little more about the relationship between the siblings and how Set’s jealousy evolved, also how the brother ended up after the revival of his brother.
Matthew Bustamante
What a very informative article. I have never learned about Egyptian mythology in High School nor have I taken the initiative to learn. It is truly interesting to learn about Osiris and the tale that goes along with the belief of the Egyptians about the afterlife. Once again this is an expression of man’s longing for meaning and life. Great article.
Madison Downing
I just love reading about history and your article was such a delight to read about! It always hurts to see how much Set hated his brother Osiris for bringing joy and happiness to the people, but I personally believe that it was Set who wished he could be doing that. And I honestly see beauty in how much Isis tried to bring him back and never stopped looking for him no matter how difficult Set made it for her. These were different times but yet it’s amazing how old Egyptian myths can still able to today’s society and issues. Also, it is unbelievable how well thought out the myths were to be able to answer any question the commoners had about how the world worked, I wish I could go back in time to hear these stories first hand, yet maybe even meet the people who created them.