Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 24, 2012



The Osiris myth is the most elaborate and influential story in ancient Egyptian mythology. It concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a primeval king of Egypt, and its consequences. Osiris' murderer, his brother Set, usurps his throne, while Osiris' wife Isis restores her husband's body and posthumously conceives a son, Horus, by him. Horus' triumph over Set restores order to Egypt and completes the process of Osiris' resurrection. The myth is integral to the Egyptian conceptions of kingship and succession, conflict between order and disorder, and especially, death and the afterlife. The Osiris myth reached its essential form in or before the 25th century BC. Parts of the myth appear in a wide variety of Egyptian texts, from funerary texts and magical spells to short stories. The story is, therefore, more detailed and more cohesive than any other ancient Egyptian myth. Greek and Roman writings, particularly De Iside et Osiride by Plutarch, provide more information but may not always accurately reflect Egyptian beliefs. (more...)

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