Editing Osiris (section)

== Worship ==

[[File:Osirisinbudge.png|thumb|Names of Osiris span six pages in Budge's 1920 hieroglyphic dictionary.]]
[[File:Tomb_TT3_of_Pashedu_(Kairoinfo4u).jpg|right|thumb|200x200px|A personified Eye of Horus offers incense to the enthroned god Osiris in a painting from the tomb of [[Pashedu]], thirteenth century BC{{sfn|Wilkinson|1992|pp=42–43}}]]
Annual ceremonies were performed in honor of Osiris<ref>[[Franck Goddio]] and David Fabre: ''Osiris - Egypt's Sunken Mysteries'', Flammarion 2017, 
ISBN 978-2-0813-7873-5</ref> in various places across Egypt.<ref>Racheli Shalomi-Hen, ''The Writing of Gods: the Evolution of Divine Classifiers in the Old Kingdom'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), 69-95.</ref> Evidences of which were discovered during underwater archaeological excavations of [[Franck Goddio]] and his team in the sunken city of [[Thonis-Heracleion]].<ref>The Mysteries of Osiris at the British Museum : https://britishmuseum.tumblr.com/post/151617763422/the-mysteries-of-osiris/</ref> These ceremonies were [[fertility rites]] which symbolised the resurrection of Osiris.<ref>Early 20th-century scholar [[E.A. Wallis Budge]] (over) emphasizes Osiris' action: "Osiris is closely connected with the germination of wheat; the grain which is put into the ground is the dead Osiris, and the grain which has germinated is the Osiris who has once again renewed his life." E.A. Wallis Budge, ''Osiris and the Egyptian resurrection'', Volume 2 (London: P. L. Warner; New York: [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]], 1911), 32.</ref> Recent scholars emphasize "the androgynous character of [Osiris'] fertility" clear from surviving material. For instance, Osiris' fertility has to come both from being castrated/cut-into-pieces and the reassembly by female Isis, whose embrace of her reassembled Osiris produces the perfect king, [[Horus]].<ref>Ann M. Roth, "Father Earth, Mother Sky: Ancient Egyptian Beliefs about Conception and Fertility", in ''Reading the Body: Representations and Remains in the Archaeological Record'', ed. Alison E. Rautman (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 187-201.</ref> Further, as attested by tomb-inscriptions, both women and men could syncretize (identify) with Osiris at their death, another set of evidence that underlines Osiris' androgynous nature.<ref>Roth, 199.</ref>

===Death and institution as god of the dead===
[[Image:Osiris-nepra.jpg|thumb|left|Osiris-Nepra, with wheat growing from his body. From a bas-relief at [[Philae]].<ref>"Egyptian ideas of the future life.", E. A Wallis Budge, chapter 1, E. A Wallis Budge, org pub 1900</ref> The sprouting wheat implied resurrection.<ref>"Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses", George Hart, p119, Routledge, 2005 {{ISBN|0-415-34495-6}}</ref>]]

[[Plutarch]] and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were "gloomy, solemn, and mournful..." (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] commemorating the death of the god, on the same day that grain was planted in the ground (Isis and Osiris, 13). The annual festival involved the construction of [[Corn mummy|"Osiris Beds"]] formed in shape of Osiris, filled with soil and sown with seed.<ref>Teeter, Emily (2011). ''Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–66</ref> The germinating seed symbolized Osiris rising from the dead. An almost pristine example was found in the [[KV62|tomb of Tutankhamun]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/gallery/p2024.html |title=Osiris Bed, Burton photograph p2024, The Griffith Institute }}</ref> The imiut emblem- an image of a stuffed, headless skin of an animal tied to a pole mounting a pot, was a symbol associated both with Osiris as god of the underworld and with [[Anubis]], god of mummification, was sometimes included among a deceased person's funerary equipment.<ref name=":0" />

The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search for his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set.

According to [[Julius Firmicus Maternus]] of the fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who "beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders.... When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined...they turn from mourning to rejoicing." (''De Errore Profanarum Religionum'').

The passion of Osiris was reflected in his name 'Wenennefer" ("the one who continues to be perfect"), which also alludes to his post mortem power.<ref name="Mark Collier p42"/>

===Ikhernofret Stela===
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
Much of the extant information about the rites of Osiris can be found on the [[Ikhernofret Stela]] at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]] erected in the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]] by [[Ikhernofret]], possibly a priest of Osiris or other official (the titles of Ikhernofret are described in his stela from Abydos) during the reign of [[Senwosret III]] (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC). The ritual reenactment of Osiris's funeral rites were held in the last month of the inundation (the annual Nile flood), coinciding with Spring, and held at Abydos which was the traditional place where the body of Osiris drifted ashore after having been drowned in the Nile.<ref name="passion play">{{cite web |url=http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/743017 |website=ancientworlds.net |title=The passion plays of osiris |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626111529/http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/743017 |archive-date=2007-06-26 }}</ref>

The part of the myth recounting the chopping up of the body into 14 pieces by Set is not recounted in this particular stela. Although it is attested to be a part of the rituals by a version of the Papyrus Jumilhac, in which it took Isis 12 days to reassemble the pieces, coinciding with the festival of ploughing.<ref>J. Vandier, "Le Papyrus Jumilhac", pp.&nbsp;136–137, Paris, 1961</ref> Some elements of the ceremony were held in the [[Egyptian temple|temple]], while others involved public participation in a form of theatre. The Stela of Ikhernofret recounts the programme of events of the public elements over the five days of the Festival:
* ''The First Day, The Procession of [[Wepwawet]]'': A mock battle was enacted during which the enemies of Osiris are defeated. A procession was led by the god Wepwawet ("opener of the way").
* ''The Second Day, The Great Procession of Osiris'': The body of Osiris was taken from his temple to his tomb. The boat he was transported in, the "[[Neshmet]]" bark, had to be defended against his enemies.
* ''The Third Day:'' Osiris is mourned and the enemies of the land are destroyed.
* ''The Fourth Day, Night Vigil'': Prayers and recitations are made and funeral rites performed.
* ''The Fifth Day, Osiris is Reborn'': Osiris is reborn at dawn and crowned with the crown of [[Ma'at]]. The statue of Osiris is brought back to the temple.<ref name="passion play"/>
[[File:Terre cuite pleureuse Louvre E27247.jpg|thumb|left|A rare sample of Egyptian terra cotta sculpture which may depict [[Isis]] mourning Osiris. The sculpture portrays a woman raising her right arm over her head, a typical gesture of mourning. [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris.|upright]]

===Wheat and clay rituals===
Contrasting with the public "theatrical" ceremonies sourced from the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] Ikhernofret Stele, more esoteric ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests. Plutarch mentions that (for much later period) two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water...and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected). Then they knead some fertile soil with the water...and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water." (''Isis and Osiris,'' 39). Yet his accounts were still obscure, for he also wrote, "I pass over the cutting of the wood" – opting not to describe it, since he considered it as a most sacred ritual (''Ibid.'' 21).

In the Osirian temple at [[Denderah]], an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece is discovered by Isis. At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris were made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water was added for several days, until finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple to be buried (the sacred grain for these cakes were grown only in the temple fields). Molds were made from the wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, the cakes of "divine" bread were made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god with ''the inward parts of Osiris'' as described in the [[Book of the Dead]] (XVII).
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