(the consonantal script form is wsjr; the Coptic form is Usire) In ancient Egyptian religion, the son of the earth-god → Geb and of the sky-goddess → Nut. The main centres of his cult were, in Lower Egypt, Busiris (Dedu) where he merged into the figure of the ancient tutelary god Anezti, and, in Upper Egypt, Abydos, where he was equated with the god of the dead → Chontamenti. The myth tells how Osiris was murdered and cut into pieces by his brother → Seth: the remnants were collected by his sister → Isis and given new life so that she could receive from Osiris her son → Horus. Horus took over the royal inheritance of Osiris, while the latter acts as regent and judge in the realm of the dead, and causes the plants to sprout forth from the surface of the earth.
This shows him as a fertility god, an aspect which is underlined by his connection with the annual flooding of the Nile. As the ‘eternally good being’ he appears under the name of Wennofer. As lord of the underworld, Osiris represents the sun in its nocturnal transit. He was even seen in certain circles as a moon-god, the lunar phases being taken as tokens of the god’s death and resurrection. His attributes are the crooked staff and the so-called scourge.
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