Osiris and the Four Sons of Horus
Osiris and the Four Sons of Horus, tempera on paper facsimile by Nina de Garis Davies and Hugh R. Hopgood, 1915; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; based on a scene depicting Osiris (right) and the sons of Horus from the Tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky at Thebes, Egypt, c. 1400–1352 bce.
Osiris
Egyptian god
Also known as: Usir
Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of...