Editing Osiris myth (section)

===Osiris and funerary ritual===
[[File:Opening of the Mouth - Tutankhamun and Aja.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Fresco of a crowned man holding a curved stick-like implement in front of a man in mummy wrappings|The [[opening of the mouth ceremony]], a key funerary ritual, performed for [[Tutankhamun]] by his successor [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]]. The deceased king takes on the role of Osiris, upon whom Horus was supposed to have performed the ceremony.{{sfn|Roth|2001|pp=605–608}}]]
From at least the time of the ''Pyramid Texts'', kings hoped that after their deaths they could emulate Osiris's restoration to life and his rule over the realm of the dead. By the early Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BCE), non-royal Egyptians believed that they, too, could overcome death as Osiris had, by worshipping him and receiving the [[Ancient Egyptian burial customs|funerary rites]] that were partly based on his myth. Osiris thus became Egypt's most important afterlife deity.{{sfn|David|2002|pp=154, 158}} The myth also influenced the notion, which grew prominent in the New Kingdom, that only virtuous people could reach the [[Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs|afterlife]]. As the assembled deities judged Osiris and Horus to be in the right, undoing the injustice of Osiris's death, so a deceased soul had to be judged righteous in order for his or her death to be undone.{{sfn|Smith|2008|p=3}} As ruler of the land of the dead and as a god connected with ''maat'', Osiris became the judge in this posthumous trial, offering life after death to those who followed his example.{{sfn|Griffiths|1980|pp=181–184, 234–235}} New Kingdom funerary texts such as the ''[[Amduat]]'' and the ''[[Book of Gates]]'' liken Ra himself to a deceased soul. In them, he travels through the Duat and unites with Osiris to be reborn at dawn.{{sfn|Griffiths|1975|pp=303–304}} Thus, Osiris was not only believed to enable rebirth for the dead; he renewed the sun, the source of life and ''maat'', and thus renewed the world itself.{{sfn|Assmann|2001|pp=77–80}}

As the importance of Osiris grew, so did his popularity. By late in the Middle Kingdom, the centuries-old tomb of the First Dynasty ruler [[Djer]], near Osiris's main center of worship in the city of [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], was seen as Osiris's tomb. Accordingly, it became a major focus of Osiris worship. For the next 1,500 years, an annual festival procession traveled from Osiris's main temple to the tomb site.{{sfn|O'Connor|2009|pp=90–91, 114, 122}} Kings and commoners from across Egypt built chapels, which served as [[cenotaph]]s, near the processional route. In doing so they sought to strengthen their connection with Osiris in the afterlife.{{sfn|O'Connor|2009|pp=92–96}}

Another major funerary festival, a national event spread over several days in the month of Khoiak in the [[Egyptian calendar]], became linked with Osiris during the Middle Kingdom.{{sfn|Graindorge|2001|loc=vol. III|pp=305–307}} During Khoiak the ''[[djed]]'' pillar, an emblem of Osiris, was ritually raised into an upright position, symbolizing Osiris's restoration. By Ptolemaic times (305–30 BCE), Khoiak also included the planting of seeds in an "Osiris bed", a mummy-shaped bed of soil, connecting the resurrection of Osiris with the seasonal growth of plants.{{sfn|Mettinger|2001|pp=169–171}}