| Osiris, in Egyptian
mythology, one of the principal deities. Originally the local god of Abydos
and Busiris, Osiris, who represented the male productive force in nature,
became identified with the setting sun. Thus he was regarded as the ruler
of the realm of the dead in the mysterious region below the western horizon.
Osiris was the brother and husband of Isis, goddess of the earth and moon,
who represented the female productive force in nature. According to legend,
Osiris, as king of Egypt, found his people plunged in barbarism and taught
them law, agriculture, religion, and other blessings of civilization. He
was murdered by his evil brother, Set, who tore the body to pieces and
scattered the fragments. Isis found and buried his scattered remains, however,
and each burial place was thereafter revered as sacred ground. Their son
Horus, sired by a temporarily regenerated Osiris, avenged his father's
death by killing Set and then ascended the throne. Osiris lived on in the
underworld as the ruler of the dead, but he was also, through Horus, regarded
as the source of renewed life. |
A
golden statue of Isis, Osiris, and Horus, from about 870 B.C., is displayed
at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
