Osiris

Osiris is one of the most prominent deities in ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the afterlife, death, and rebirth; ruler of the underworld; and a symbol of agricultural vitality tied to the Nile’s floods. He is central to funerary beliefs and the moral order that governed ancient Egyptian culture.

In most traditions, Osiris is the son of Geb and Nut, husband and brother of Isis, and father of Horus; his siblings include Set and Nephthys. He is typically depicted as a mummified king, wearing the atef crown and a false beard, with green or dark skin symbolizing rebirth, and holding a crook and flail.

The central myth recounts his murder by his brother Set, Isis’s retrieval and magical reassembly, and his reign as ruler of the underworld after death. Through Isis’s resurrection, Osiris becomes the god of the dead and the afterlife, judge of the deceased, and a symbol of eternal life. The death-and-resurrection motif is tied to the annual cycle of the Nile and agricultural renewal. Horus, their son, is said to have avenged Osiris by defeating Set and becoming ruler of Egypt.

In the afterlife, Osiris presides over the Hall of Ma’at, where the heart of the deceased is weighed against Ma’at’s feather to determine acceptance into the afterlife. He also embodies the ideal king and the promise of rebirth for the righteous.

Osiris was worshiped throughout Egypt, with major cult centers at Abydos and in temple complexes elsewhere. His worship continued into the Greco-Roman period, where he was identified with other fertility and underworld deities, influencing later beliefs about death and life after death.