Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’ll be discussing Osiris,
the lord of the underworld in Egyptian Mythology.
Alright, let’s get into it.
Osiris’s defining accessories were the Atef crown that surmounted his head and the crook and flail
that he, respectively, held in his right and left hand. The Atef crown is tall and conical,
flanked by two ostrich feathers on either side. The crook was a shepherds crook, symbolizing
his role as the shepherd of souls, presiding over the underworld and the transcendence of the dead;
and the flail was a threshing flail, used to separate wheat from chaff, symbolizing his role
as god of fertility and agriculture. Another defining feature is his mummified body. This,
like the crook, conveys his connection to the underworld, but also, in a more direct sense,
harkens back to his resurrection, brought back to life by Isis and Anubis after Set murdered him,
something we’ll come back to later on. His skin was either green or black - perhaps
originally depicting putrescence - symbolizing his connection to the cyclical nature of life
and death and the cyclical reaping and regeneration tied to the seasons.
Osiris was the chief underworld god, all other chthonic deities subordinate to him. The Weighing
of the Heart ceremony was an integral part of the Ancient Egyptian belief in the afterlife,
where the deceased's heart was weighed against the feather of Maat, the goddess of truth, justice,
and balance. This ritual took place in the Hall of the Two Truths and was presided over by Osiris
himself. Anubis, the god of mummification, managed the scales, while Thoth, the god of wisdom,
recorded the results. A heart equal in weight to Maat's feather meant the deceased led a life in
keeping with the principles of Maat, granting them eternal peace in the afterlife. However, a heart
heavy with wrongdoing outweighed the feather. These hearts were devoured by Ammit, a voracious
monster with the head of a crocodile, the forelegs of a lion, and the hindlegs of a hippo.
Souls who had their hearts devoured faced oblivion. But when the scales of judgment balanced
perfectly, the soul was deemed worthy to enter the afterlife, specifically the paradisiacal Field of
Reeds (Aaru). The Field of Reeds was envisioned as an idyllic version of Egypt, where the soul could
live in bliss for all of eternity, free from pain and suffering. It was often depicted as a lush,
fertile land where the souls who earned its reward could engage in activities they enjoyed in life.
Another important aspect of Osiris’s mythology was his nightly union with Ra, who took many forms
each day as he arced across the sky: an infant in the morning when reborn at sunrise, a triumphant
falcon at midday when the sun was strongest, and and old man in the evening as the the day faded
away. The setting of the sun symbolized Ra’s descent into the underworld, a perilous place
filled with challenges, the most dire of which was the nightly battle between Ra and Apophis,
the chaos serpent that sought to swallow the sun and end the current cycle of creation.
Beyond needing to survive, Ra’s presence itself was paramount. His light and energy reinvigorated
the underworld and the myriad upon myriad souls within. And likewise, Osiris imparted
his power to Ra, who became rejuvenated so that he could rise anew each morning,
accounting for his transition from aged sunset to newborn sunrise. In this way, the land of
the living and the domain of the dead was mutually renewing and guaranteed each other’s continuation,
with the nightly union of Ra and Osiris as the fulcrum atop which creation itself balanced.
Osiris, along with his three siblings (Set, Isis, and Nephthys) was the child of Geb,
the personification of the earth, and Nut, the personification of the sky. Isis was his
sister-wife, and the two of them ruled as king and queen for years uncounted. Osiris’s reign, though
a time of peace and prosperity, came to an abrupt end. His younger brother Set, who coveted the
throne, murdered him in the pursuit of power. Of how this was perpetrated, there are many versions,
trampling and drowning the most common. It was also said that Set had the body chopped up and
the pieces scattered across the sands of Egypt. The usurpation was a success. Osiris was no more,
and Set became the new king. However, given the nature of his rise, blood-soaked and betrayal
laden, he came into power with enemies working to cast him down, Isis in particular. She recovered
Osiris’s body, and using her magic in concert with the arts of Anubis, Osiris was resurrected.
Though he once again graced the mortal plane, his return was momentary and not permanent. He
came back long enough to impregnate Isis - Horus to be their son - but that was about the extent of
it. Where before he ruled over the living world, he was now the ruler of the underworld, becoming
greater than he ever was before. And herein lies an important aspect of Set’s nature. Ostensibly,
he was an enemy of order and harmony, yet though this was the case, often positive outcomes
inadvertently came from his actions. This fact highlights the complex view held by the Ancient
Egyptians about order and chaos: a delicate balance of both needed, neither vanquished.
When Horus was grown, He and Set competed in a protracted series of clashes and contests,
vying for decades. Despite the legitimate claim being Horus’s, some of the gods felt he was too
young and inexperienced for the kingship, favoring Set despite his dubious claim and
moral shortcomings. Thus, because he lacked the consensus of the Pantheon - some siding with him,
others with Set - he had to endure challenge after challenge for about 80 years. In the end,
good does finally win out, Horus finally taking his rightful place on the throne. And it was
Horus who would be the last divine king, the time of the pharaohs beginning afterwards.
And that’s it for this video. If you enjoy the content,
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