Osiris

OSIRIS:  King Osiris is the Egyptian judge of the dead and ruler of the underworld.  His realm is the infertile wasteland that exists beneath the earth beyond the distant horizon.  All departed souls must appear before Osiris so their hearts can be weighed on a scale against "feather of truth."  His judgment determines what happens to the spirit after death, as he has the power to distribute both rewards and punishments in the next world.

Osiris is also the archetypal Egyptian mummy.  According to the legend, Osiris's brother Seth grows jealous of him and he murders the king.  After this fratricide, Set cuts his brother's dead body into fourteen pieces.  he then scatters the sections throughout the land.  Osiris's wife (and sister) Isis gathers the pieces and reassembles his body, using strips of cloth to bind it together, thus creating the first mummified pharaoh.  The gods offer to restore the beloved Osiris to life, but he chooses instead to become the ruler of the dead.  Under his instruction, proper embalming and mummification became essential to pharaohs hoping to enjoy a pleasant afterlife.

According to Egyptian myth, when a person dies, the soul follows the "river of the sky" in the boat of Ra, the sun god.  The boat must pass through seven gates, and the decreased must call each gatekeeper by name.  (The names are listed in the BOOK OF THE DEAD, a text detailing what one must do to avoid the horrors of the afterlife.)  Anubis, a supernatural guide, then escorts the spirit to the "Hall of Justice" for Osiris's ruling.

Here, Osiris weighs the soul's heart against the feather of truth.  If the heart sinks under the burden of its sins, it will be devoured by the monster AMMUT.  Even spirits who pass this test face a number of horrors in DUAT, the Egyptian underworld.  These include ravenous serpents, flesh-eating locusts, and even second death.

Osiris appears in Milton's PARADISE LOST as a pagan agent of the DEVIL sent to divert humanity's attention from the true God.  He is set up as a pagan deity, a mockery of the heavenly Father of the Christian faith.  The ancient king and his death rituals have also been the topic of MYSTERY PLAYS.  (o)

OSIRIS:  Osiris is the ancient Egyptian lord of the dead and judge of the souls in the afterlife.  The deity is based on a historical figure, the first pharaoh who, after death, is said to have become ruler of the world beyond.  According to the legend, Osiris's jealous brother Set murders the pharaoh and chops his corpse into pieces, then scatters them throughout the land.  Osiris's sister-wife ISIS gathers the pieces and binds them together with strips of cloth, creating the first mummy.  Enraged by Set's behavior, the gods restore Osiris to life and allow him to return to Isis.  But Osiris decides instead to journey to the land of the dead, where he will rule for all eternity.

Osiris figures prominently in the BOOK OF THE DEAD.  The text contains numerous spells, rituals, and incantations designed to curry favor with Osiris in the next world.  Early accounts claim that only wealth lords and powerful statesmen will enjoy eternal pleasure in the House of Osiris.  However, over the centuries, the hope of a pleasurable afterlife was extended to the peasantry as well. 

Osiris is aided in the afterlife by ANUBIS, the jackal-headed deity who serves as guardian of the dead.  Anubis escorts departing souls to the Hall of Osiris, then reviews the record of teh person's actions.  Before determining the spirit's fate, Osiris weighs the deceased's heart against the "feather of truth" to see how honest the soul has been.  If the scales tip in favor of virtue, the spirit will find its way to paradise.  However, if the scales reveal the spirit as wretched, it will be consumed by monsters or left to die a "final death."  The scribe THOTH (son of Osiris) records the verdict in his sacred annals. 

Osiris remains one of the most intriguing otherworld gods ever studied.  Over time, aspects of this Egyptian ruler were mingled with Greek and Roman deities, resulting in the hybrid deity SERAPIS.  He appears as a pagan lord of hell in Milton's PARADISE LOST, and his temple is the setting for Mozart's opera the MAGIC FLUTE.  The rituals of Osiris have served as the basis for MYSTERY PLAYS, which reenact ceremonies of his cult of the dead.  Modern authors have likewise included him in SHORT STORIES about the world beyond.  (p)

Resource List - all entries are taken verbatim from the original source:

(o) "The Encyclopedia of Hell."  Miriam Van Scott.  St. Martin's Press.  ©1998