Osiris Quotes

“Osiris, whose death was a troublesome topic for those inscribing on the funerary monuments since it was thought that simply mentioning his death could “magically harm the deceased.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“The general creation story contains within it two aspects that are crucial to understanding all of the myths of ancient Egypt: maat and isfet. Isfet represents chaos or disorder, generally speaking, and it was seen as a fundamental element of everything in existence. There was no notion of trying to eradicate isfet from their general lives in ancient Egypt; after all, it was said to be one of the elements that was present in the limitless ocean at the dawn of creation. The only desire for ancient Egyptians was that isfet never became more prevalent than maat, its opposite: justice. Maat was often depicted as a goddess wearing a feather on her head, which was also the hieroglyph that represented her.[10] She, or simply the concept of justice, was believed to be present in all aspects of life and if it was broken by anyone, there would be a punishment. According to the Middle Kingdom “Coffin Text” it was believed that Atum, the “Great Finisher” of creation,[11] inhaled maat in order to gain his consciousness: “Inhale your daughter Maat [said Nun to Atum] and raise her to your nostril so that your consciousness may live.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“One such concept is that of the creation of the universe. Generally speaking, there was a limitless dark ocean of “chaos” called Nun, out of which a god was born who instigated creation.[8] The different cult centers felt at liberty to amend or augment that concept to incorporate local tastes and allegiances to deities. Later on, during the period of the New Kingdom, the cult center of Thebes gained prominence and the priests there tried to unify the earlier traditions of Egypt. In this attempt, Amun was the creator god but the Thebans also incorporated the traditions of the major cult centers like Hermopolis, Memphis and Heliopolis, which often seem quite disparate accounts to the modern reader but were quite ingeniously brought together at Thebes around 1200 BCE.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“Later scholars further subdivided these various types of myth according to the cult center that either produced or “standardized” them.[7] They refer to them as “theologies,” such as the “Memphite Theology” (myths from Memphis) or the “Heliopolitan Theology” (myths from Heliopolis). There is the theory that these “theologies” were competing in some way with others from different cult centers.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“The word “nome” comes from the ancient Greeks who, during the rule of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty (332-30 BCE) in Egypt, referred to each as a kind of “pasturage” coming under the overarching rule of the Pharaoh of that kingdom. This made for a useful way of organising the inhabitants of the two kingdoms, but it causes problems when trying to define what version of a common myth is the “correct” or “most widely believed”. The reason for this is that the myths, though they had some similarities, could diverge widely from nome to nome. That is why writers such as the ancient historian Plutarch chose to single out a particular version of a myth and record or study it alone.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“In order to understand why modern scholars chose to divide history into longer periods of dynastic rule, it is necessary to understand the geography of Egypt’s ruled dominions. The river that defined and dictated much of ancient people’s lives and ideologies, the Nile, runs from south to north, with a sprawling delta in the north and more barren land to the south. This distinction is the reason for one of the most confusing aspects of Egyptian history, as the “Upper Kingdom” was in the south and the “Lower Kingdom” was in the north.[6] These “Two Lands” were represented by two distinct crowns – the “Red Crown” for the Lower Kingdom and the “White Crown” for the “Upper Kingdom” – each worn by their distinct rulers and worn as a “Double Crown” when both kingdoms were unified. It was during the “intermediate” periods that the country was divided into the two kingdoms, and these periods were often marked by political turmoil and a distinct drop in cultural production, such as art and architecture. From as early as the Early Dynastic Period, the country was divided into smaller dominions along the river that modern scholars call “Nomes”.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“Ancient Egypt spans a history of some 3,000 years, depending on how people want to divide it up. Many cultures, such as ancient Greece, divided their lengthy histories either according to cultural changes, such as the “Classical Era” beginning with the onset of democracy and ending with the death of Alexander the Great, or by following the reigns of each subsequent ruler. In ancient Egypt, the vast history was originally divided into dynasties. Living in the 3rd century BCE, the Egyptian priest Manetho divided history into 30 dynasties, which later Egyptologists have grouped into longer periods according to how much of what is considered Egypt today fell under the rule of each king.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead

“The absolute dating of individual pharaohs has been a matter of long debate among Egyptologists, mostly due to the existence of several king lists that vary in the number of years they assign to each ruler. The basic outline comes from Manetho, one of two priestly advisors to Ptolemy I (305-282 BCE). Manetho’s History divides the pharaohs into 30 native dynasties and gives the number of years each ruler was on the throne, but no complete copy of Manetho’s work exists.”
― Charles River Editors, Osiris: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead