Egyptian

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Egyptian

Osiris

The Lord of the Underworld

Domain: Rebirth & Justice
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Earth
Relics of Power: Atef Scepter

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The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Ancient Egyptians

Region

Nile Valley, Egypt

Period

c. 3100 BC – 400 AD

The Egyptian gods were worshipped for over three millennia along the banks of the Nile, with monumental temples at Karnak, Luxor, and Heliopolis. The pharaohs were held to be divine, and life revolved around cosmic order (Maat) and preparation for the afterlife. The cult endured until the rise of Christianity in Roman Egypt.

At the Opet festival, Amun's sacred barque sailed from Karnak to Luxor amid celebrating crowds. In the temples, priests woke, dressed, and fed the god's statue every day, and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley carried the deities to visit the shore of the dead.

At a glance

Osiris is the supreme sovereign of the Egyptian underworld, god of resurrection, agriculture, and the fertile Nile inundation. Murdered and dismembered by Seth, he was reconstituted by Isis to rule eternally over the righteous in the Duat.

6 min read · Reviewed on September 25, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Crook and flail, Atef crown, the Djed pillar and the green color of vegetation

Family

Parents

Geb (Earth)Nut (Sky)

Siblings

Isis SethNephthys

Osiris

Unions

Isis

Children

Horus Anubis

Genealogy according to Textos das Pirâmides, Enunciação 219; Livro dos Mortos, Capítulo 185; Plutarco, Sobre Ísis e Osíris, capítulos 12-14

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Budge, E. A. Wallis (trad.), The Book of the Dead (The Papyrus of Ani). read
Budge, E. A. Wallis, Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts. read
Budge, E. A. Wallis, The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians. read

Studies

Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. 2003.
Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian Mythology. 2002.
George Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. 2005.
Erik Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. 1982.

Name and epithets

The theonym 'Osiris' represents the classical Greek vocalization of the Egyptian hieroglyphic name 'Wsjr' (or Wesir/Asir), formed by the glyphs of the throne ('st') and the sacred eye ('jr'), interpreted by philologists…

In the ancient sources

Pyramid Texts, c. 2350 BCE (Old Kingdom). Primary mortuary inscriptions from Saqqara identifying the deceased pharaoh with Osiris, celebrating his victory over bodily dissolution and stellar rebirth.

The myths

The Feast of the Golden Chest and the Treachery of Seth. During the golden age when Osiris reigned as the first and most enlightened pharaoh of Egypt, he lifted humanity out of primordial savagery, imparting the arts of…

Worship and archaeology

The veneration of Osiris blossomed into the most widespread religious movement in pharaonic civilization, democratizing the promise of personal afterlife salvation beyond the exclusive sphere of the royal family.

How the god was depicted

In tomb paintings and temple reliefs, Osiris is portrayed as an enthroned, majestic figure wrapped in tight white mummy shrouds, from which only his green or black hands and face emerge.

What scholars debate

The Democratization of the Afterlife. Egyptologists have debated the historical scope of the 'democratization of the afterlife' during the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom.

After antiquity

The archetype of Osiris as a deity who experienced human mortality, suffered betrayal, and achieved bodily resurrection deeply influenced Hellenistic and late Roman religious thought.

Did you know?

The sacred Djed pillar amulet, representing Osiris's backbone raised upright by the gods, was one of the most widely used protective talismans buried with Egyptian mummies to ensure spinal strength in the afterlife.

Codex relic

Atef Scepter. The staff of resurrection, symbolizing rebirth and cyclical harvest.

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The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.

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