THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF

ANC I ENT
YPT
DONALD B. REDFORD
EDITOR IN CHIEF

VOLUME 2
M ^R

OXJ.ORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

2001

Kingdom Writings. Norman, Okla., 1991. A broad variety of texts
from, or thought to date to, the Middle Kingdom, the so-called clas-
sical period of Eglptian writing. Includes an excellent discussion
of Egyptian genres, with short, helpful introductions to each text
and an emphasis on the oral basis of many Egyptian writings.
Simpson, W. K., ed. The Literature of Ancient Egtpt: An Antholog of
Stories, Itstructions, and Poetry. New Haven, 1973. Standard one-
volume collection of materials from all periods, with short intro-
ductions for each text.
Secondary Discussions
Dijk, J. van. "Myth and Mlthmaking in Ancient Egypt." In Civilizn-
tions in the Ancient Near Edst, edited by J. Sasson, vol. 3, pp. 1697-
1709. New York, 1995. Short overview with a current bibliography
of primary sources and secondary discussions.
Foley, J. M. Ihe Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodolog.
Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1988. A classic in the field.
Foley, J.M. 'Word-Power, Perfoimance, and Tladition." Ioumal of
Ameican Folklore 105 (1992), 275-301. Brings together different
strands of discussion of oral tradition.
Hollis, S. T. The Ancient Egtptian'Thlz of Two Brothers": The Oldest
Fairy Tale in theWorld. Norman, Okla., 1990. A "thick description"
of the New Kingdom tale in its Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern
context, suggesting the kinds of thinking an audience might have
brought to a performance of the tale.
Lord, A. B. The Singer of Tales. Cambridge, Mass., 1960. The classic
work on oral composition that forms the basis for any fiscussion
of the topic.
Lord, A. B. Epic Singers and Oral kadition. Ithaca, 1991. Collection
of Lord's papers, some refining the work presented in 1960. The
opening essay, 'Words Heard and Words Seen," is particularly rele-
vant to the present discussion.
Muhawi, I., and S. Kanaana. Speak, Bird, Speak Again: Palcstinian
Arab Folktales. Berkeley, 1989. Examples of contemporary oral folk-
tales collected from illiterate and semiliterate narrators, accompa-
nied by an excellent discussion explaining and setting the tales in
their contemporary context.
Niditch, S. Oral World and Written Word: Ancient Israelite Literature.
Louisville, 1996. Excellent discussion ofbiblical materials as origi-
nating in an oral culture.
Ong, W. J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Lon-
don and New York, 1 982. Discussion of the psychodynamics of oral-
ity, and theory about the impact of writing and eventual literacy on
oral cultures.
Redford, Donald B. "Ancient Eg;ptian Literature: An Ovewiew." In
Civilizations ofthe Ancient Near East, editedby J. Sasson, vol. 4, pp.
2223-2241. New York, 1995. Fine overview with a short introduc-
tory section paying special attention to oral composition and trans-
mission.
Vansina, J. Oral Tiadition as History. Madison, Wis., 1985. A classic in
the field.
SUSAN TOWER HOLLIS
OSIRIS. In origin a royal mortuary god, Osiris exempli-
fied a cult that was begun in a fairly restricted context,
but one which achieved wide popularity and a notable
expansion of functions. The exclusive link with royalty
was abandoned just prior to the Middle Kingdom; the fu-
nerary aspect, howevel always persisted, and Osiris was
always shown in mummy wrappings. While the funerary
aspect was primarily based on the experience of death, it
OSIRIS 615
enabled believers, through the force of myth and ritual, to
accept the conviction that life after death was warranted.
Fom and Name. The representation of Osiris in its
developed form shows him wearing the White Crown of
Upper Egypt and carrying the crook and the flail. Else-
where, the White Crown often became the atef-crown
through the addition of feathers, and there were various
complex vensions of it. The preponderance of the White
Crown in the earlier versions of Osiris suggests an Upper
EgSptian origin for the god. As for the crook and the flail,
they both raise questions of political and sociological im-
port. The crook suggests a shepherd god, and Wolfgang
Helck (1962) has argued that the Syrian Adonis provides
the closest contemporary analogy. Marked differences ex-
isted, howeve4 in both myths and cults; and, in fact, the
concept of a sovereign gd as shepherd of his people was
shared by other religious ideologies of the ancient Near
East, expressed both in art and literature. The function
and origin of the flail are more enigmatic. Perhaps it is a
fly-whisk or a shepherd's whip. It is shown sometimes
with other deities, such as Min. Bothflail and crook, how-
evef,, appear with the god Andjety of the ninth Lower
Egyptian nome, which suggests a possible source.
The constant feature of the figure of Osiris was its
mummified form, with a close linkage of the legs. The fu-
nerary import was thus stressed. Whereas the Old King-
dom, by and large, has yielded no iconographic evidence,
a relief on a block from the pyramid temple of the king
Djedkare Izezi of the fifth dyttasty presents a figure bear-
ing the name of Osiris; it belongs to a row of divine fig-
ures, today partly damaged, and it has been dated to the
closing years of that dynasty (c.2405 nce). The lower part
of the Osiris figure is missing, but the left arm hangs
freely, suggesting that here the figure was not mummi-
form. Absent also are the flail and the crook, although the
missing right arm might be grasping something; on the
head is a long wig. Since the form is that of a standing
anthropomorphic figure, with none of the distinctive Osi-
rian attributes, discussion and debate about it have
emerged (see Griffrths 1980; Lorton 1985; and Eaton-
Krauss 1987). Rival gods at that time were Anubis, Khen-
tamenthiw, and Wepwawet, and all three had jackal
forms; that Osiris, too, was originally imagined as a jackal
has been suggested by words in the pyramid of Neferkare,
which say of the dead king, "thy face is [that of ] a jackal,
like Osiris." Osiris'ensuing human form clearly became a
vital feature of his appeal, and his identity with the dead
king contributed to his popularity.
The god's nameWsir (in Coptic, Oycipe or Oycipi) was
written at first with the sign for a throne, followed by the
sign for an eye; later the order was inverted. Among the
many meanings suggested is one cognate with Ashur; irr'-
plyrng a Syrian origin; but also "he who takes his seat or
throne"; "she or that which has sovereign power and is
 616 OSIRIS

creative"; "the place of creation"; "seat of the Eye,,, with

OSIRIS. Bronze statuette of Osiis, from the ptolemaic period.
(University of Pennsylvania Museum, philadelphia.
Neg. # S8-31580)
the Eye explained as the Sun; "the seat that creates,,; and
"the Mighty One," deriving from wsr (..mighty,,). Since the
throne sign occurs also with the deity Isis, Wolfhart Wes_
tendorf tried to relate the two names, but he ended by
positing an originally female Osiris, although the deitys
male potency was so often emphasized. No consensus has
been reached on the basic and original meaning of the
name. Perhaps we must be content with the popular ety_
mology offered in the Pyramid Texts, 2054 (pN): ,,The king
makes his seat like Osiris"; there, elements of the name
were deployed but without a valid order (Erman 1909).
Myth and Kingship. Although the pyramid Texts do
not provide a consecutive account of the Osiris myth, they
abundantly supply in scattered allusions the principal de_
tails about his fate and especially about his relationship
to the deceased pharaoh. He was presented as the brother
and husband of Isis and as a member of the Great Ennead
of Heliopolis; and in that group, Geb and Nut were named
(clearly as parents) before Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Neph_
thys. Osiris' brother Seth was said to have caused his
death and yet there is a lack of explicit statements about
the death of Osiris. Not that the death of gods was unmen_
tionable to the Eglptian mind-even the sun god Re was
depicted as suffering old age and death.
In the case of Osiris, howeve4 despite the absence of a
firm dictum that he died, a cluster of details have allowed
that conclusion to be held. Above all, he was constantly
represented as mummified. He was smitten by his brother
Seth in a place called Nedyet or Gehestey. With that ac_
count should perhaps be connected the tradition, found
in the Memphite Theology (late eighth century ecn) and
elsewhere, that Osiris was drowned-a tradition that re_
sulted in the ancient Egyptian idea that being drowned in
the Nile River was a blessed death. yet doubt has been
cast on the validity of that tradition in an important study
by Pascal Vernus (1991), in which he examines numerous
allusions to the god's death; he concludes that the myth
represents Osiris as being dead when he was hurled into
the wate6 that it never tells of his being drowned.
In the Memphite Theology, Horus commanded Isis and
Nephthys to grasp Osiris so that they might protect him
from the action of mhii. They had been shocked when
they saw him, but then they brought him to land, and the
sequel implied a glorious burial in Memphis. In Eg5ptian,
the verb ml.ti can mean "drown," but also ,.swim,, or..drift,
float," and Vernus (1991) opted for the last meaning in
that and other contexts, including three references in the
Pyramid Texts to "the place where you (Osiris_King) were
drowned." There, "the place where you have drifted
[or
floated]" is not convincing, since a corpse that is drifting
in the river can scarcely be attached long to a defined
place. It should be added that the idea of an Osirian apo_

theosis by drowning has been well attested for
the New
Kingdom and later, when special honors in burial were
accorded to the drowned.
In the earliest evidence, Osiris was given the role of
sovereign ruler of the realm of the dead, and the deceased
pharaoh was equated with him. Utterance 219
is the old_
est Osiris-litany in the plramid Texts, and it affirms
that
"he lOsiris] lives, this king lives; he
lOsiris] is not dead,
this king is not dead." That claim was made to Atum,
then
to several other deities: an analogy between Osiris and
the
dead king was being urged, and the claim that the king
was still alive was based on the continued life of Osiris.
The argument might be made that there is a suggestion
of Osiris himself being in origin a king who had died, as
was the view of Plutarch and of a few modern scholars.
The Turin Canon and Manetho,s dynasties name several
gods, with Osiris among them, as early rulers
of Egypt.
Yet no one has suggested that those gods_such u" R",
Geb, and Horus-were originally human kings; that
would imply a form of Euhemerism, with its belief that
all deities were at first outstanding human beings. In the
case of Osiris, it was his identification with the deceased
pharaoh that furthered the idea of his historical
origin as
OSIRIS 617
OSIRIS. Three Osiis-figures, probably
from the Late period.
The mummified penis of the defunct was kept in
a small
opening in the base. Sometimes the opening was used
to store
a paplrrus roll bearing the text of the Book of
Going Forth by
Day (Book of the Dead). On the right is a figurine
of a ba_bird,.
All the figures are of painted wood, now in the Agyptisches
Museum in Berlin. (@ photograph by Erich Lessing
/ Art
Resource, Ny)
a real king. Sometimes it was by analogy (as in the
ex_
ample quoted above) that this equating was promoted;
or
a categorical claim was made, as in the pyramid Texts
(1657 a MN) "this king is Osiris.', Far
more often, the iux_
taposition of the names occurs, as in Osiris_Unas, which
means, in effect, "Unas who has now become Osiris."
In
the Coffin Texts, where the exclusive Osirian royal identity
was relaxed, the deceased,s ba is said to be the ba of
Osiris;
but the method of simple juxtaposition was regularly fol_
lowed.
From the end of the fifth dynasty, references to Osiris
occurred in private tombs, mostly in offering formulas
(Begelsbacher-Fischer 1981, pp. 124_125),
but with no
suggestion of a special relationship to the god. A much
wider area was covered by the Coffin Texts, when the ..de_
mocratization of royal prerogatives,, meant a more varied
choice of religious themes (Silverman 19g9, p. 36). yet
a
steady increase in the range and appeal of O.i.i,
plainly attested; one reason for that was the stability-..
of
his concern with death and its sequel_his Sitz im Tod., it
one can thus describe it. The living Horus_King, in spite
of his divine theological import, has been shown of late to
be subject, in facets of Egyptian literature, to the foibles
 618 OSIRIS
of humanity. In constrast, the dead Osiris-King has es-
caped all that, mainly because he is rooted in the experi-
ence of death; and the same inviolate sanctity attends his
identity with the multitude of nonroyal believers.
Cult Centers and Ideologly. Some early sources con-
nect Osiris with the towns of Heliopolis and Busiris, both
in Lower Eg5rpt; but others connect him with Upper
Egypt, especially with the town of Abydos and its nome
(province), where kings of the first two dynasties were
buried. Moreove4, Osiris often wore the crown of Upper
Egypt. Some texts link the god with both Busiris and
Abydos, and David Lorton has suggested that a court at
Memphis might well have planned the double emphasis,
with a pan-Eg5ptian political purpose.
The early ritual of royal burial points to Osiris as the
central ideological figure. Mummification was the basic
rite, and the deity Anubis, guide to the underworld, was
considered the embalmer who rendered that service to the
deceased king, just as he did to Osiris. The rites of mourn-
ing and of "Opening the Mouth" led to the idea of the
mummy being endowed with renewed life. A concomitant
idea was the defeat of the deity Seth, Osiris' brother and
the perpetrator of his death. That was prominent in the
Osirian rites portrayed in the Stela of Ikhernofret, from
the twelfth dynasty: there, Sethian enemies were said to
attack the Nimt-bark of Osiris, but they were repulsed,
after which Osiris was glorified in Abydos.
The burial rites, including mummification, had an ear-
lier origin than did Osiris; and probably the deity Anubis
should be credited as the divine originator of the process
of embalming. Perhaps Khentamentiu, the ..first of the
Westerners" and another jackal god at Abydos, whose
identity was merged into that of Osiris, was involved. The
revivified co{pse, which received offerings, became the
basis of belief in an afterlife; and Osiris, as the initial par-
adigm, received the epithet Wn-nfr (Gr., Onnophis),,He
Who Is Permanently Benign and youthful."
As the ruler of the realm of the dead, Osiris was physi-
cally associated with the earth, which embraces the dead.
Yet his chthonic aspect never excluded him from gener-
ous access to the celestial world, of which the sun god Re
was the chief deity. In that astral world, Osiris was espe-
cially associated with the circumpolar stars, with the con-
stellation of Orion and with the brightest star in the sky,
Sirius. During the Ramessid era, he was shown as a com-
posite figure, united with the sun god Re, as in the tomb
of Nefertiri; this striking figure was unusual, and it did
not affect the figure of the god as it was regularly shown
throughout most of the pharaonic era and beyond (with
the exception of part of the Amarna age). Akhenaten,
when king, clearly rejected Osirian my,th and doctrine,
promoting a form of monotheism based on Aten.
Although the mortuary role of Osiris could arouse fear
and dread, his benign promise of renewed life came to be
expressed through the appeal of new life, in the cycle of
nature's fertility, especially with water and vegetation. Ini-
tially it was the water used in the libations for the dead,
but through links with Orion, Sirius, and the new yea{,
Osiris was associated with the Nile and its annual inunda-
tion. He was also equated with Nepe4 the prehistoric har-
vest god, and he was credited with the creation of wheat
and barley. In association with this were the funerary
practices of the Grain-Osiris and Osiris-Bed; for the Festi-
val of Khoiak, a mold in the form of Osiris was filled with
sprouting plants.
In the Greco-Roman era, the human appeal of the
Osiris cult-which was spread to other countries-
achieved emotional intensity; this direction is especially
evident in the works of the ancient writers Diodorus, plu-
tarch, and Apuleius, who bear witness, also, to the force
of Greek religion, particularly from the deities Demeter
and Dionysus, and from the Eleusinian Mysteries. Isis
then assumed a more prominent role and, to some extent,
Osiris was replaced by the god Sarapis, also of Egyptian
origin, in a combined form of Osiris and Apis. The basic
elements of the myth and cult remained Eg5rptian.
An idea that was wrongly inferred from some of the
classical and other sources was that parts of the body of
Osiris were worshipped as relics in various regions. yet
the true Egyptian belief was that parts of his body were
explicitly equated with the nomes of Eg5rpt, often in rela-
tion to their standards and symbols, so that Osiris was
thus identified with the whole of Egypt, but without spe-
cific cults.
The rule of Osiris over the realm of the dead led to his
most important role-that of supreme arbiter in the judg_
ment ofthe dead. The general concept ofsuch ajudgment
appeared in the early Old Kingdom sources, but in the
New Kingdom it was elaborately developed, both textually
and pictorially, the locus classicus being Spell 125 of the
Book of Going Forth by Day (Book of the Dead). There, the
weighing of the heart before Osiris as the presiding judge
depicts many supporting divine functionaries; among
them is Thoth as "Recordef," Anubis as "Lord of the Bal-
ance," aided by Horus, and the figure of the goddess Maat,
who is conceptually dominant. Magic doubtless entered
into the popular idea of such a scene; a copy of Ihe Book
of Going Forth by Day pushed into a tomb provided all
the questions and the ready-made answers (but the moral
criteria expressed in the "Declarations of Innocence"
point to a deep concern with humanitys final destiny). In
the Roman era, an urge to intensiSr the deceaseds' iden-
tity with Osiris is seen in representations of the deceased
in the form of the god; with private persons accoutred
with his royal crown. The judgment before Osiris had a
strong impact on other religions, particularly on the es_
 OSIRIS 619

chatology of Judaism and then Christianity-with the de- Griffiths, John Gwyn. Triads and Trinity. Cariltr, 1996.
velopment of Judgment Day and the Last Judgment. Heerma van Voss, Matthieu. Anoebis en de Demonen. Leiden, 197g. A
perceptive study of part of a pap).rus in Leiden that contains a
Punishments and rewards were conspicuous elements
twenty-first dynasty version of extracts from the Book of Going
in the Egyptian doctrine, and the punishments were most Forthby Day.
often portrayed in iconography. In the ptolemaic era, at Helck, Wolfgang. "Osiris." Paulys Realcncyclopiidie der Classischen Al-
Alexandria, Osiris was sometimes identified with Aion, teftumswissenschaften, edited by George Wissowa, suppl. 9: 469_
the snake-clad god of time, who was much honored in 514. Stuttgart, 1962.
Mithraism. Aion was seen as a peacefirl deity, beyond the Helck, Wolfgang. "Zu Klaus Kuhlmann, Zur Etymologie des G<it-
ternamens Osiis." Studien zur,4ltdglptischen Kultur 4 (1976), 121-
force of change; so was Osiris, "Lord of Eternity," for the 124.
most part, but it has been shown by L5A6 Kiikosy (1977) Hornung, Enk. Conceptions dG'od in Anciznt Eg,pt. Translated from
that Osiris displayed an aggressive and warlike aspect in the German by John Baines. London, 1983.
the mythic matter relating to his feud with Seth. K6kosy, L6zl6. "Osiris-Aion." Oriens Antiquus 3 (1964), t5-25.
I(ikosy, L6d6. "Osiris als Gott des Kampfes und der Fiache." ln Fragen
lSee also Hymns, article on Osiris Hyrnns; and Myths,
an die altAgptische Literatur: Studien zum Gedenkcn an Eberhard
article on the Osiis Cycle.l O/to, edited by Jan Assmann, et al., pp. 285-288. Wiesbaden, 1977.
I*ikosy, L5zl6. "Probleme der Ag5ptischen Jenseitsvorstellungen in der
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