Osiris

And therefore the desire of truth, especially in what relates to the Gods, is a sort of grasping after divinity, it using learning and enquiry for a kind of resumption of things sacred, a work doubtless of more religion than any ritual purgation or charge of temples whatever, and especially most acceptable to the Goddess you serve, since she is more eminently wise and speculative, and since knowledge and science (as her very name seems to import) appertain more peculiarly to her than any other thing. For the name of Isis is Greek, and so is that of her adversary Typhon, who, being puffed up through ignorance and mistake, pulls in pieces and destroys that holy doctrine, which she on the contrary collects, compiles, and delivers down to such as are regularly advanced unto the deified state; which, by constancy of sober diet, and abstaining from sundry meats and the use of women, both restrains the intemperate and voluptuous part, and habituates them to austere and hard services in the temples, the end of which is the knowledge of the original, supreme, and mental being, which the Goddess would have them enquire for, as near to herself and as dwelling with her.

Preliminary Material /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- The Original Myth /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- The Original Cult /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- An Upper Egyptian God of The Royal Dead /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- The Association with Water and Vegetation /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- The Ruler and Judge of the Dead /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- The Cult and the Society /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- An Embryonic System of Salvation /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- Addenda /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- Bibliography /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- Index of Texts Cited /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- General Index /J. Gwyn Griffiths -- Linguistic Indices /J. Gwyn Griffiths.

"Was there a advanced prehistoric civilization in ancient Egypt? Who were the people who built the great pyramids and carved the Great Sphinx? Did the pyramids serve as energy devices and not as tombs for kings? Independent Egyptologist Stephen S. Mehler has spent over 30 years researching the answers to these questions and believes the answers are "Yes!" An indigenous oral tradition still exists in Egypt, and Mehler has been able to uncover and study it with the help of a living master of this tradition, Abd1El Hakim Awyan. He has also been given permission to share these teachings—presented heretofore in fragments by other researchers—to the Western World, teachings that unfold a whole new understanding of ancient Egypt"--Publisher's description.

Volume 2 of the most comprehensive, scholarly work on Osiris. Includes translations of numerous texts, reproductions of classical Egyptian art ? iconography, the Heaven of Osiris, liturgy, shrines and mysteries, funeral and burial practices, human sacrifice, judge of the dead, links between Osiris worship and African religions, much more.

In their Book of the Dead, the ancient Egyptians left humanity a comprehensive understanding of the death experience and the afterlife. Becoming Osiris is an accessible account of the initiatic stages of the immortalization process and the techniques necessary for the soul to achieve its objective of becoming a solarized being after death.

The story of Osiris is one of the central cultural myths of ancient Egypt, a story of dismemberment and religious passion that also exemplifies attitudes about personal identity, sexuality, and the transfer of royal power. It is, moreover, a story of death and the overcoming of death, and in this it lies at the center of our own means of engagement with ancient Egypt. ReMembering Osiris takes as its focus this tale as it is recorded in Egyptian texts and memorialized on the walls of temples and tombs. Since such a focus is attainable only through Egyptian representational systems, especially hieroglyphs, the book also engages broader questions of writing and visual representation: decipherment, controversies about the "ideograph," and the relation between visual images and writing.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading To the ancient Egyptians, as was the case with any society made up of inquiring humans, the world was a confusing and often terrifying place of destruction, death and unexplained phenomena. In order to make sense of such an existence, they resorted to teleological stories. Giving a phenomenon a story made it less horrifying, and it also helped them make sense of the world around them. Unsurprisingly, then, the ancient Egyptian gods permeated every aspect of existence. Given the abundance of funerary artifacts that have been found within the sands of Egypt, it sometimes seems as though the Ancient Egyptians were more concerned with the matters of the afterlife than they were with matters of the life they experienced from day to day. This is underscored most prominently by the pyramids, which have captured the world's imagination for centuries. Thus, it's little surprise that Osiris was one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon, and he could well be the most famous of the Egyptian gods today. Aside from the ubiquity of the sun-god Re in much of modern popular culture, it is Osiris who captivates the minds of modern readers most. His story is both familiar and strangely alien. He is the god of the dead, but he became so by the very fact of his mortality. All the gods of ancient Egypt were capable of dying, but Osiris was also a symbol of resurrection, not unlike Christ in Christian theology. Osiris was betrayed by somebody close to him (in this case, his brother Seth) and was murdered and reborn, but here is where Osiris and Christ part ways. Osiris's death is brutal, and his resurrection is the product of his wife Isis's love for him. Furthermore, Osiris was associated with the kings of Egypt because the Egyptians believed he was a king himself. The ancient Egyptians could trace their kings back, one by one, to a time when the gods were believed to have ruled the land in person. Osiris was the third or fourth successor to the Egyptian throne after creation, and the Egyptians believed that Osiris's connection with kingship is what allowed their kings to be reborn in a way themselves. He was also said to be physically enormous - almost 15 and a half feet according to some sources - which was said to have aided him in his military campaigns. Despite his grotesque appearance - it's likely that his green and black skin coloration was an early attempt at depicting putrefaction - Osiris was the epitome of hope and renewal. His skin later came to represent the lush green of the crops around the Nile and the fertile black land they grew out of nearby. He was often shown as a mummified king sitting on a throne with the flail of a pharaoh and the crook of a shepherd, since he was the shepherd of people to the land of the dead, Duat. In fact, although Osiris was said to be capable of sending "demons" to the world of the living, he was generally considered to be a benevolent king of the underworld. Depending on the phenomenon or feeling the ancient Egyptians experienced, there was a corresponding deity and a story to explain the connection. Acclaimed Egyptologist Garry Shaw described this ethos an "an endless repetition of creations, destructions and rebirths, entangled in a net of divine interactions ... each person [living] as the hero of his own mythic narrative each day." In this way, the ancient Egyptian would "assimilate" themselves with the corresponding deity that defined their situation at any given time. Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead looks at the mythology surrounding one of antiquity's most famous deities. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Osiris like never before.

Volume 2 of the most comprehensive, scholarly work on Osiris. Includes translations of numerous texts, reproductions of classical Egyptian art—iconography, the Heaven of Osiris, liturgy, shrines and mysteries, funeral and burial practices, human sacrifice, judge of the dead, links between Osiris worship and African religions, much more..