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63-563: Osiris was at times considered the eldest son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut , as well as being brother and husband of Isis , and brother of Set , Nephthys , and Horus the Elder , with Horus the Younger being considered his posthumously begotten son. Through syncretism with Iah , he was also a god of the Moon . Osiris was the judge and lord of the dead and the underworld ,

126-572: A Nile Goose regarded as a form of the then forbidden god Amon. In Greco-Roman Egypt, Geb was equated with the Greek titan Cronus , because he held a quite similar position in the Greek pantheon, as the father of the gods Zeus , Hades , and Poseidon , as Geb did in Egyptian mythology. This equation is particularly well attested in Tebtunis in the southern Fayyum : Geb and Cronus were here part of

189-626: A fragmentary relief of the god was as an anthropomorphic bearded being accompanied by his name, and dating from king Djoser 's reign, during the Third Dynasty , and was found in Heliopolis. However, the god never received a temple of his own. In later times he could also be depicted as a ram , a bull or a crocodile (the latter in a vignette of the Book of the Dead of the lady Heryweben in

252-457: A local version of the cult of Sobek , the crocodile god. The equation was shown on the one hand in the local iconography of the gods, in which Geb was depicted as a man with attributes of Cronus and Cronus with attributes of Geb. On the other hand, the priests of the local main temple identified themselves in Egyptian texts as priests of "Soknebtunis-Geb", but in Greek texts as priests of "Soknebtunis-Cronus". Accordingly, Egyptian names formed with

315-468: A pole mounting a pot, was a symbol associated both with Osiris as god of the underworld and with Anubis , god of mummification, was sometimes included among a deceased person's funerary equipment. The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search for his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set. According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of

378-499: A ram-specific necropolis . Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris. Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god's traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile. Plutarch recounts one version of the Osiris myth in which Set (Osiris' brother), along with

441-532: A red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, the cakes of "divine" bread were made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god with the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII). The idea of divine justice being exercised after death for wrongdoing during life is first encountered during the Old Kingdom in a Sixth Dynasty tomb containing fragments of what would be described later as

504-431: A separate genus and whose usual Egyptian name was smn , Coptic smon . A coloured vignette irrefutably depicts a Nile Goose with an opened beak ( Ngg wr !) in a context of solar creation on a mythological papyrus dating from the 21st Dynasty. Similar images of this divine bird are to be found on temple walls (Karnak, Deir el-Bahari), showing a scene of the king standing on a papyrus raft and ritually plucking papyrus for

567-400: A state of non-being awaits, but there is no suggestion of eternal torture. During the reign of Seti I , Osiris was also invoked in royal decrees to pursue the living when wrongdoing was observed but kept secret and not reported. Geb Geb ( Ancient Egyptian : gbb , Egyptological pronunciation : Gebeb ), also known as Ceb ( / ˈ s ɛ b / , / ˈ k ɛ b / ), was

630-773: Is from the middle of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (25th century BC), although it is likely that he was worshiped much earlier; the Khenti-Amentiu epithet dates to at least the First Dynasty , and was also used as a pharaonic title. Most information available on the Osiris myth is derived from allusions in the Pyramid Texts at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, later New Kingdom source documents such as

693-430: Is taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts. Purification for those who are considered justified may be found in the descriptions of "Flame Island", where they experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned, complete destruction into

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756-508: The Atef crown, which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt , but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side. He also carries the crook and flail . The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherd's whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed. He

819-653: The Egyptian god of the Earth and a mythological member of the Ennead of Heliopolis . He could also be considered a father of snakes. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter created earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow. The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward and was originally wrongly read as Seb . B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W The oldest representation in

882-545: The Egyptian Museum , Cairo ). Geb was frequently feared as father of snakes (one of the names for snake was s3-t3 – "son of the earth"). In one of the Coffin Text spells Geb was described as father of the mythological snake Nehebkau of primeval times. Geb also often occurs as a primeval divine king of Egypt from whom his son Osiris and his grandson Horus inherited the land after many conflicts with

945-523: The Fourth Dynasty , is found: "An offering the king gives and Anubis " . By the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes " An offering the king gives and Osiris ". Osiris is the mythological father of the god Horus , whose conception is described in the Osiris myth (a central myth in ancient Egyptian belief ). The myth describes Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set , who wanted Osiris' throne. His wife, Isis , finds

1008-484: The Greek Titan Cronus . Ptah and Ra, creator deities, usually begin the list of divine ancestors. There is speculation between Shu and Geb and who was the first god-king of Egypt. The story of how Shu, Geb, and Nut were separated in order to create the cosmos is now being interpreted in more human terms; exposing the hostility and sexual jealousy. Between the father-son jealousy and Shu rebelling against

1071-515: The Negative Confessions performed in front of the 42 Assessors of Ma'at . At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Ma'at , who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the kingdom of Osiris. If found guilty, the person was thrown to the soul-eating demon Ammit and did not share in eternal life. The person who

1134-598: The Shabaka Stone and " The Contendings of Horus and Seth ", and much later, in the narratives of Greek authors including Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus . Some Egyptologists believe the Osiris mythos may have originated in a former living ruler — possibly a shepherd who lived in Predynastic times (5500–3100 BC) in the Nile Delta , whose beneficial rule led to him being revered as a god. The accoutrements of

1197-463: The hope of new life after death , Osiris began to be associated with the cycles in nature, in particular the sprouting of vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile River , as well as the heliacal rising of Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year. He became the sovereign that granted all life, "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful". The first evidence of the worship of Osiris

1260-551: The "Lord of Silence" and Khenti-Amentiu , meaning "Foremost of the Westerners". In the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) the pharaoh was considered a son of the sun god Ra who, after his death, ascended to join Ra in the sky. After the spread of the Osiris cult, however, the kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death – as Osiris rose from the dead, they would unite with him and inherit eternal life through imitative magic. Through

1323-587: The Qubba el-Hawa desert-ridge (opposite Aswan ), namely on the left (southern) wall near the open doorway, in the first line of the brightly painted funerary offering formula. This confusion is to be compared with the frequent hacking out by Akhenaten 's agents of the sign of the Pintail Duck (meaning 'son') in the royal title 'Son of Re', especially in Theban temples, where they confused the duck sign with that of

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1386-626: The Queen of Ethiopia , conspired with 72 accomplices to plot the assassination of Osiris. Set fooled Osiris into getting into a box, which Set then shut, sealed with lead, and threw into the Nile. Osiris' wife, Isis , searched for his remains until she finally found him embedded in a tamarisk tree trunk, which was holding up the roof of a palace in Byblos on the Phoenician coast . She managed to remove

1449-408: The Theban god Amun -Re-Kamutef. The latter Theban creator god could be embodied in a Nile goose, but never in a Whitefronted Goose. In Underworld Books a diacritic goose-sign (most probably denoting then an Anser albifrons ) was sometimes depicted on top of the head of a standing anonymous male anthropomorphic deity, pointing to Geb's identity. Geb himself was never depicted as a Nile Goose, as later

1512-408: The adoption of Greek terms by later historians. The division of ancient Egypt into nomes can be traced back to prehistoric Egypt (before 3100 BC ). These nomes originally existed as autonomous city-states , but later began to unify. According to ancient tradition, the ruler Menes completed the final unification. Not only did the division into nomes remain in place for more than three millennia,

1575-580: The areas of the individual nomes and their ordering remained remarkably stable. Some, like Xois in the Nile Delta or Khent in Upper Egypt , were first mentioned on the Palermo Stone , which was inscribed in the Fifth Dynasty . The names of a few, like the nome of Bubastis , appeared no earlier than the New Kingdom . Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history,

1638-470: The aspect and form of Seker-Osiris. Osiris' soul, or rather his ba , was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes . This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet , which is grammatically feminine (also spelt " Banebded " or " Banebdjed "), literally "the ba of the lord of the djed , which roughly means The soul of

1701-408: The body of Osiris and hides it in the reeds where it is found and dismembered by Set. Isis retrieves and joins the fragmented pieces of Osiris, then briefly revives him by use of magic. This spell gives her time to become pregnant by Osiris. Isis later gives birth to Horus. Since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as a representation of new beginnings and the vanquisher of

1764-410: The coffin and retrieve her husband's body. In one version of the myth, Isis used a spell to briefly revive Osiris so he could impregnate her. After embalming and burying Osiris, Isis conceived and gave birth to their son, Horus. Thereafter Osiris lived on as the god of the underworld. Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris was associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with

1827-614: The country was divided into 42 nomes. Lower Egypt (Egyptian: "Ā-meḥty"), from the Old Kingdom capital Memphis to the Mediterranean Sea , comprised 20 nomes. The first was based around Memphis, Saqqara , and Giza , in the area occupied by modern-day Cairo . The nomes were numbered in a more or less orderly fashion south to north through the Nile Delta, first covering the territory on the west before continuing with

1890-430: The death of the god, on the same day that grain was planted in the ground (Isis and Osiris, 13). The annual festival involved the construction of "Osiris Beds" formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed. The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun . The imiut emblem- an image of a stuffed, headless skin of an animal tied to

1953-407: The disruptive god Set , brother and killer of Osiris. Geb could also be regarded as personified fertile earth and barren desert, the latter containing the dead or setting them free from their tombs, metaphorically described as "Geb opening his jaws", or imprisoning those there not worthy to go to the fertile North-Eastern heavenly Field of Reeds . In the latter case, one of his otherworldly attributes

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2016-633: The divine order, Geb challenges Shu's leadership. Geb takes Shu's wife, Tefnut, as his chief queen, separating Shu from his sister-wife. Just as Shu had previously done to him. In the Book of the Heavenly Cow , it is implied that Geb is the heir of the departing sun god. After Geb passed on the throne to Osiris, his son, he then took on a role of a judge in the Divine Tribunal of the gods. Some Egyptologists (specifically Jan Bergman, Terence Duquesne or Richard H. Wilkinson) have stated that Geb

2079-547: The extant information about the rites of Osiris can be found on the Ikhernofret Stela at Abydos erected in the Twelfth Dynasty by Ikhernofret , possibly a priest of Osiris or other official (the titles of Ikhernofret are described in his stela from Abydos) during the reign of Senwosret III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC). The ritual reenactment of Osiris's funeral rites were held in the last month of

2142-413: The father to the four lesser gods of the system – Osiris , Seth , Isis and Nephthys . In this context, Geb was believed to have originally been engaged with Nut and had to be separated from her by Shu, god of the air. Consequently, in mythological depictions, Geb was shown as a man reclining, sometimes with his phallus still pointed towards Nut. Geb and Nut together formed the permanent boundary between

2205-548: The fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who "beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing." ( De Errore Profanarum Religionum ). The passion of Osiris was reflected in his name 'Wenennefer" ("the one who continues to be perfect"), which also alludes to his post mortem power. B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Much of

2268-587: The higher numbers to the east. Thus, Alexandria was in the Third Nome; Bubastis was in the Eighteenth. Upper Egypt was divided into 22 nomes. The first of these was centered on Elephantine close to Egypt's border with Nubia at the First Cataract – the area of modern-day Aswan . From there the numbering progressed downriver in an orderly fashion along the narrow fertile strip of land that

2331-521: The inundation (the annual Nile flood), coinciding with Spring, and held at Abydos which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile. The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recounted in this particular stela. Although it is attested to be a part of the rituals by a version of the Papyrus Jumilhac, in which it took Isis 12 days to reassemble

2394-451: The lord of the pillar . The djed , a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris. The Nile supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetable regeneration) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. As Banebdjed , Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the ( sun god ) Ra . Ba does not mean "soul" in

2457-445: The name in various ways, such as Asar, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, or Usire. Several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name; as Egyptologist Mark J. Smith notes, none are fully convincing. Most take wsjr as the accepted transliteration, following Adolf Erman : However, recently alternative transliterations have been proposed: Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing

2520-481: The name of the god (H.te Velde, in: Lexikon der Aegyptologie II, lemma: Geb). An alternative ancient name for this goose species was trp meaning similarly 'walk like a drunk', 'stumbler'. The Whitefronted Goose is never found as a cultic symbol or holy bird of Geb. The mythological creator 'goose' referred to above, was called Ngg wr "Great Honker" and always depicted as a Nile Goose/Fox Goose or Egyptian goose ( Alopochen aegyptiacus ) who ornithologically belongs to

2583-420: The name of the god Geb were just as popular among local villagers as Greek names derived from Cronus, especially the name "Kronion". Nome (Egypt) A nome ( / n oʊ m / , from Ancient Greek : νομός , nomós , "district") was a territorial division in ancient Egypt . Each nome was ruled by a nomarch ( Ancient Egyptian : ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ , "Great Chief"). The number of nomes changed through

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2646-433: The perfect king, Horus . Further, as attested by tomb-inscriptions, both women and men could syncretize (identify) with Osiris at their death, another set of evidence that underlines Osiris' androgynous nature. Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were "gloomy, solemn, and mournful..." (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos commemorating

2709-607: The pieces, coinciding with the festival of ploughing. Some elements of the ceremony were held in the temple , while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. The Stela of Ikhernofret recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival: Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the Middle Kingdom Ikhernofret Stele, more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside

2772-483: The primeval waters and the newly created world. As time progressed, the deity became more associated with the habitable land of Egypt and also as one of its early rulers. As a chthonic deity he (like Min ) became naturally associated with the underworld , fresh waters and with vegetation – barley being said to grow upon his ribs – and was depicted with plants and other green patches on his body . His association with vegetation, healing and sometimes with

2835-654: The shepherd, the crook and the flail – once insignia of the Delta god Andjety , with whom Osiris was associated – support this theory. Osiris is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek Ὄσιρις IPA: [ó.siː.ris] , which in turn is the Greek adaptation of the original name in the Egyptian language . In Egyptian hieroglyphs the name appears as wsjr , which some Egyptologists instead choose to transliterate as ꜣsjr or jsjrj . Since hieroglyphic writing lacks vowels , Egyptologists have vocalized

2898-545: The so-called "nome coins", which still reflect individual local associations and traditions. The nomes of Egypt retained their primary importance as administrative units until the fundamental rearrangement of the bureaucracy during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine the Great . From AD 307/8, their place was taken by smaller units called pagi . Eventually powerful local officials arose who were called pagarchs, through whom all patronage flowed. The pagarch's essential role

2961-604: The substance of Earth and Water." ( Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet his accounts were still obscure, for he also wrote, "I pass over the cutting of the wood" – opting not to describe it, since he considered it as a most sacred ritual ( Ibid. 21). In the Osirian temple at Denderah , an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to

3024-402: The sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion . These ceremonies were fertility rites which symbolised the resurrection of Osiris. Recent scholars emphasize "the androgynous character of [Osiris'] fertility" clear from surviving material. For instance, Osiris' fertility has to come both from being castrated/cut-into-pieces and the reassembly by female Isis, whose embrace of her reassembled Osiris produces

3087-494: The temples by priests. Plutarch mentions that (for much later period) two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as

3150-409: The town where each piece is discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water was added for several days, until finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple to be buried (the sacred grain for these cakes were grown only in the temple fields). Molds were made from the wood of

3213-421: The underworld and royalty brought Geb the occasional interpretation that he was the husband of Renenutet , a minor goddess of the harvest and also mythological caretaker (the meaning of her name is "nursing snake") of the young king in the shape of a cobra , who herself could also be regarded as the mother of Nehebkau , a primeval snake god associated with the underworld. He is also equated by classical authors as

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3276-432: The usurper Set. Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of the creator god Ptah with Seker ) thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris . As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and was subsequently "reborn" every morning, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as king of the underworld , god of the afterlife , life, death, and regeneration. Osiris also has

3339-642: The various periods of the history of ancient Egypt . The term nome comes from Ancient Greek νομός, nomós , meaning "district"; the Ancient Egyptian term was sepat or spAt . Today's use of the Ancient Greek rather than the Ancient Egyptian term came about during the Ptolemaic period , when the use of Greek was widespread in Egypt. The availability of Greek records on Egypt influenced

3402-400: The western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian , Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in

3465-471: The yearly growth and death of crops along the Nile valley. Diodorus Siculus gives another version of the myth in which Osiris was described as an ancient king who taught the Egyptians the arts of civilization, including agriculture, then travelled the world with his sister Isis, the satyrs , and the nine muses , before finally returning to Egypt. Osiris was then murdered by his evil brother Typhon , who

3528-444: Was Amun, called on some New Kingdom stelae explicitly: "Amun, the beautiful smn - goose" (Nile Goose). The only clear pictorial confusion between the hieroglyphs of a Whitefronted Goose (in the normal hieroglyphic spelling of the name Geb, often followed by the additional -b-sign) and a Nile Goose in the spelling of the name Geb occurs in the rock cut tomb of the provincial governor Sarenput II (12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom) on

3591-482: Was an ominous jackal-headed stave (called wsr.t Mighty One') rising from the ground onto which enemies could be bound. In the Heliopolitan Ennead (a group of nine gods created in the beginning by the one god Atum or Ra), Geb is the husband of Nut , the sky or visible daytime and nightly firmament, the son of the earlier primordial elements Tefnut ( moisture ) and Shu ("emptiness"), and

3654-407: Was as an organizer of tax-collection. Later the pagarch assumed some military functions as well. The pagarchs were often wealthy landowners who reigned over the pagi from which they originated. For most of the history, each nome was headed by a nomarch . The position of the nomarch was at times hereditary, while at others they were appointed by the pharaoh . Generally, when the national government

3717-406: Was associated with a mythological divine creator goose who had laid a world egg from which the sun and/or the world had sprung. This theory is assumed to be incorrect and to be a result of confusing the divine name "Geb" with that of a Whitefronted Goose ( Anser albifrons ), also called originally gb(b) : "lame one, stumbler". This bird-sign is used only as a phonogram in order to spell

3780-408: Was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) in mummiform (wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward). The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of

3843-647: Was identified with Set. Typhon divided the body into twenty-six pieces, which he distributed amongst his fellow conspirators in order to implicate them in the murder. Isis and Hercules (Horus) avenged the death of Osiris and slew Typhon. Isis recovered all the parts of Osiris' body, except the phallus , and secretly buried them. She made replicas of them and distributed them to several locations, which then became centres of Osiris worship. Annual ceremonies were performed in honor of Osiris in various places across Egypt. Evidences of which were discovered during underwater archaeological excavations of Franck Goddio and his team in

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3906-502: Was stronger, nomarchs were the king's appointed governors. When the central government was weaker, however—such as during foreign invasions or civil wars—individual nomes would assert themselves and establish hereditary lines of succession. Conflicts among these different hereditary nomarchies were common, most notably during the First Intermediate Period , a time that saw a breakdown in central authority lasting from

3969-865: Was the Nile valley. Waset (ancient Thebes or contemporary Luxor ) was in the Fourth Nome, Amarna in the Fourteenth, and Meidum in the Twenty-first. Some nomes were added or renamed during the Graeco-Roman occupation of Egypt. For example, the Ptolemies renamed the Crocodilopolitan nome to Arsinoe. Hadrian created a new nome, Antinoopolites, for which Antinoöpolis was the capital. The nomes survived into Roman times. Under Roman rule, individual nomes minted their own coinage,

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