OSIRIS

In Mythology, one of the chief Egyptian divinities,the brother and husband of Isis, and, together with her, the greatest benefactor of Egypt, into which he introduced a knowledge of religion, laws, and the arts and sciences. After having accomplished great reformations at home, he visited the greater part of Europe and Asia, where he enlightened the minds of men by teaching them the worship of the gods and the arts of civilization; but, on his return, he found his own subjects excited to rebellion by his brother Typhon, by whose hand he was ultimately a a inated. Both ancient and modern writers have differed considerably respecting the powers and attributes of Osiris.* His principal office, as an Egyptian deity, was to judge the dead, and to rule over that kingdom into which the souls of the good were admitted to eternal felicity. The characters of Osiris, like those of Isis, who was thence called Myrionymus, or " with 10,000 names," were numerous. He was that attribute of the deity which signified the divine goodne ; and in his most mysterious and sacred office, as an avatar, or manifestation of the divinity on earth, he was superior to any even of the Egyptian gods; for, as Hero dot us observes, though all the Egyptians did not worship the same gods with equal reverence, the adoration paid to Osiris and Isis was universal. He was styled "the Manifester of Good;" and to this title he had an undisputed right, for he appeared on earth to benefit mankind; and after having performed the duties he had come to fulfil, and fallen a sacrifice to Typhon the evil principle (which was at length overcome by his influence after his leaving the world), he " rose again to a new life," and became the "judge of mankind in a future state." Other titles of Osiris were, " President of the West," " Lord of the East," " Lord of Lords," " Eternal Ruler," "King of the Gods," . These, with many others, are commonly found in the hieroglyphic legends accompanying his figure; and the Papyri frequently present a list of 49 names of Osiris in the funeral rituals. Osiris has been identified with many of the Grecian divinities; but more especially with Jupiter, Pluto, and with Bacchus, on account of his reputed conquest of India. Osiris was particularly worshipped at Philae and Abydus: so sacred was the former that no one was permitted to visit it without expre permi ion; and the latter was regarded with such veneration that persons living at a distance from it sought, and with difficulty obtained, permi ion to po e a sepulchre within its necropolis. The worship of Osiris was at a later period introduced into Rome; but the prurient imagination of the Romans soon converted the rites and mysteries of this deity into a means for practising the most unbounded licentiousne , which at length reached such a height that his worship was prohibited by law. Osiris was venerated under the form of the sacred bulls Apis and Mnevis; or as a human figure with a bull's head, distinguished by the name Apis-Osiris. He is usually represented as clad in pure white; and his usual attributes are the high cap of Upper Egypt, a crosier, a flngellum, and sometimes a spotted skin, an emblem supposed to connect him with the Grecian Bacchus. (For full particulars respecting the supposed history of Osiris, together with explanations thereof, we beg to refer to Plutarch's Treatise on Isis and Osiris; and for a resume of the whole subject illustrated with ingenious observations, the reader may consult Sir O. Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.) See Is is. [s. 880]