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
Caroline Bush
This was a really interesting article to read, I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into your research. I don’t know much about Egyptian mythology so I learned a lot by reading this article. I didn’t know that Osaris was the ruler of the underworld and I also didn’t realize that he came to be that way due to him being killed by his brother. I found It really interesting that because Osaris didn’t have all the parts of his body he was unable to rule over the living, so instead became the rule of the dead. Overall I really enjoyed this article and now want to learn more about Egyptian mythology.
Hanadi Sonouper
Egypt Mythology is always a captivating aspect of history, it has so many fascinating stories that gives detail about the Egyptian culture. The story of the sibling gods is no surprise that Osiris and Set end up having controversial jealousy over one’s success, and thus being an Egyptian culture the dead must be put in coffins. Osiris’s unfortunate death lead to a greater a power, having been driven into the Nile River and being cut up, he still managed to vindicate his death and use it as a power to be ruler of the underworld.
Evian-loren Salgado
This was a very interesting article to read. Egyptian Mythology is one of my favorite things to learn about. Along side Greek Mythology. This was a very informative article and I loved learning how Osiris came to be the ruler of the underworld. I had no idea that their was such a huge backstory to the Ruler of the underworld. Most stories that I have heard of involving Osiris was just him weighing the hearts of those who died against a feather.
Samuel Ruiz
Great article! I have learned more about Egyptian mythology from this reading. The attention to detail in explaining the story was understandable and very well written. In fact, I found the early motives for the killing of Osiris by Set to reflect the motives for the killing in the biblical story of Cain and Abel. I especially found interest in the symbolism in the entirety of the image of Osiris, such as the translation of his name to “powerful” and the colors that he is commonly associated with like green and black.
Sofia
I enjoyed this article quite a lot since I find mythology stories very intriguing and interesting, although I am never able to distinguish between what it is meant to be real and what it is meant to be a metaphor. This story made me think about how far a woman would be willing to go for the person she loves and what someone would do for jealousy.
Carlos Sandoval
This article was such an interesting read, I had never read anything on Egyptian mythology. However, I have heard of the God Osiris in other classes before. It was even more interesting to read and find out about his origin as I didn’t know he had a brother either. It’s crazy that even the gods had family problems, when they have it all.
Noah Laing
I found this article very interesting because I’ve heard of Osiris in other history classes I’ve taken, but never really understood how he came to be the ruler of the underworld. His brother, Set, must’ve been completely consumed by jealousy to go to the great lengths that he did to insure Osiris would never be the ruler of the living again, which makes him perform greats acts of betrayal on his own family.
Julian Aguero
Egyptian mythology is always fun to read. I don’t know much about Egyptian mythology but it always catches my attention. Ive heard of the God Osiris but I never knew the origin of why he was ruler of the Underworld. This story lived up to the strange and intriging style of Egyptian mythology. I found this to be a great article. I loved the facts and background of Osiris which were highlighted. It made me want to keep reading.
Vanessa Tombo
From the beginning to the end of your article, I was captivated and almost bewitched. Not only was your article easy to understand but it also created a story-line that left me yearning for more to read. The manner in which you wrote ” The union of these two gods…” to how one could lose their Ka and Ba was enchanting! With all this said, I have but one question, why didn’t the Gods intervene with Set’s plans if they were happy with the accomplishment of the Osiris? Or in defining a god or goddess, they are but a simple human being given a grand the title?
Nathan Hudson
I have loved reading and seeing Egyptian things since the “Mummy” movies with Brennan Fraser. The story of Osiris is one of the best ones I have read because it is so interesting. I had no idea that his brother betrayed him and went to extreme lengths to keep him dead. I also did not know that it was due to his incomplete physical form that he could not walk amongst the living. That’s so cool!