Osiris, god of the dead, was one of the most important deities in ancient Egypt. The earliest secure evidence for belief in him dates to the fifth dynasty (c.2494–2345 BC). He continued to be worshipped until the fifth century AD. This book is concerned with Egyptian conceptions of the relationship between Osiris and the deceased, or what might be called the Osirian afterlife. What was the nature of this relationship and what were the prerequisites for enjoying its benefits? The book does not provide a continuous or comprehensive account of Egyptian ideas on this subject. Rather, it focuses on ... More

Osiris, god of the dead, was one of the most important deities in ancient Egypt. The earliest secure evidence for belief in him dates to the fifth dynasty (c.2494–2345 BC). He continued to be worshipped until the fifth century AD. This book is concerned with Egyptian conceptions of the relationship between Osiris and the deceased, or what might be called the Osirian afterlife. What was the nature of this relationship and what were the prerequisites for enjoying its benefits? The book does not provide a continuous or comprehensive account of Egyptian ideas on this subject. Rather, it focuses on five distinct periods in their development, spread over four millennia. The periods in question are ones in which significant changes in Egyptian ideas about Osiris and the dead are known to have occurred, or where it has been argued that they did. An important aim of this book is to investigate when and why such changes happened, treating religious belief as a dynamic rather than a static phenomenon. Egyptian aspirations for the Osirian afterlife took time to coalesce and reach their fullest form of expression. This book seeks to trace the key stages in the development of these aspirations, from their origin to their demise, and see how these are reflected in the textual and archaeological records. It also explores broader issues, making use of cross-cultural comparisons, for instance, how different societies regard death and the dead, why people convert from one religion to another, and why people abandon belief in a god or gods altogether.