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Detail from a coffin lid (E14344) , showing a deceased person being
presented to Osiris by Horus and Thoth. Behind Osiris stand his
sisters, Isis and Nepthys. Dynasty 21 or 22 (1075-712 B.C.)
Originally
thought of as a fertility god, Osiris soon took on the role of king
of the dead. Murdered by his jealous brother Seth,
Osiris was mummified and revivified by his sister-wife Isis,
who then bore a son, Horus. Horus
was thought of as the living, ruling pharaoh and Osiris had continued
to be associated with the dead king. In addition to his role as
the leading funerary deity, Osiris also had associations with the
growth of agricultural crops, which were thought to undergo the
same type of rebirth that Osiris experienced.First a seed was buried,
then it rested in the ground, then it was "resurrected" and it sprouted
from the earth. Osiris is usually shown as a mummified man wearing
the white crown with two plumes on either side. He carries the crook
and the flail as symbols of his rule. |
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