Osiris was the Egyptian god of the dead, the afterlife and resurrection — the murdered and resurrected king who became the lord of the underworld and the judge of the dead, whose death and rebirth gave every Egyptian the hope of eternal life. His murder by his brother Set, his resurrection by his wife Isis, and his vindication through his son Horus form the central and most beloved myth of all Egyptian religion.
The Good King
Osiris (Egyptian Wsir) was, in the myth, the eldest son of the earth-god Geb and the sky-goddess Nut, and he became the first great king of Egypt. He was a good and beloved ruler who, with his sister-wife Isis, civilised the Egyptians — teaching them agriculture, law, and the worship of the gods, bringing them from savagery to civilisation. He was depicted as a mummified king, his skin green (the colour of vegetation and rebirth) or black (the colour of the fertile Nile silt), holding the crook and flail of kingship and wearing the tall white Atef crown.
The Murder by Set
Osiris's good kingship earned him the murderous envy of his brother Set, god of chaos and the desert. Set plotted against him: he had a beautiful chest made exactly to Osiris's measurements, and at a banquet offered it as a gift to whoever it fit. When Osiris lay down in it, Set and his conspirators slammed the lid, sealed it, and threw it into the Nile, drowning Osiris. The chest floated away and lodged in a tree at Byblos. The grieving Isis searched the world and recovered her husband's body — but Set found it again, and this time hacked Osiris into fourteen pieces, scattering them throughout Egypt so that he could never be made whole.
The Resurrection
But Isis would not be defeated. With her sister Nephthys, she searched all Egypt and gathered the scattered pieces of Osiris's body, finding all but one (which had been eaten by a fish). Using her great magic, and with the help of Anubis (who invented embalming for the purpose), Isis bound the body together, wrapped it as the first mummy, and breathed life back into Osiris long enough to conceive a son, Horus. Osiris was resurrected — but, having died, he could not remain among the living. Instead he descended to become the king and judge of the underworld, the ruler of the realm of the dead.
Lord of the Dead and Judge of Souls
As lord of the Duat, the underworld, Osiris became the god who offered every Egyptian the hope of eternal life. In the great judgement of the dead, the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of Ma'at (truth) before Osiris and his assessors; if the heart was light and the person had lived justly, they were granted eternal life in Osiris's blessed realm, the Field of Reeds. Because Osiris had died and risen again, every Egyptian hoped to follow him — to be resurrected and live forever, identified with Osiris in death. The annual flooding of the Nile and the yearly cycle of the crops were also bound to Osiris, the god of the dying and reviving vegetation, who died and rose like the green shoots from the black earth.
The Risen God of Eternal Life
Osiris endures as one of the most important and beloved gods of ancient Egypt — the murdered and resurrected king, the lord of the dead, the judge of souls, the promise of eternal life. He embodies the deepest hopes of Egyptian religion: that death is not the end, that the just may live forever, and that resurrection is possible — for the good king who was murdered and torn apart rose again to reign eternally, and offered that same triumph over death to all who followed him.
Murdered by his brother, torn into fourteen pieces, gathered and revived by his wife's love and magic — the risen king became the lord of the dead, and the promise of eternal life to all of Egypt.