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Osiris
The Osiris
myth is the most elaborate and influential story in
ancient
Egyptian mythology. It
concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a
primeval king of
Egypt, and its consequences. Osiris'
murderer, his brother Set, usurps his
throne. Meanwhile, Osiris' wife Isis restores her
husband's body, allowing him to posthumously conceive a son with
her. The remainder of the story focuses on Horus, the
product of Isis and Osiris' union, who is first a vulnerable child
protected by his mother and then becomes Set's rival for the
throne. Their often violent conflict ends with Horus' triumph,
which restores order to Egypt
after Set's unrighteous reign and completes the process of Osiris'
resurrection. The myth, with its complex symbolism, is integral to
the Egyptian conceptions of kingship and succession, conflict
between order and disorder and, especially, death and
the afterlife. It also
expresses the essential character of each of the four deities at
its center, and many elements of their worship in
ancient
Egyptian religion were derived
from the myth.
The Osiris
myth reached its basic form in or before the 24th century BC. Many
of its elements originated in religious ideas, but the conflict
between Horus and Set may have been partly inspired by a regional
struggle in Egypt's early history or prehistory. Scholars
have tried to discern the exact nature of the events that gave rise
to the story, but they have reached no definitive
conclusions.
Parts of the
myth appear in a wide variety of Egyptian
texts, from funerary
texts and magical spells to short stories. The
story is, therefore, more detailed and more cohesive than any other
ancient Egyptian myth. Yet no Egyptian source gives a full account
of the myth, and the sources vary widely in their versions of
events. Greek and Roman writings,
particularly De Iside et
Osiride by Plutarch, provide
more information but may not always accurately reflect Egyptian
beliefs. Through these writings, the Osiris myth persisted after
knowledge of most ancient Egyptian beliefs was lost, and it is
still well known today.
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