The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

• The myths associated with Osiris (oh-SIGH-rus), the Egyptian god of the Underworld, reflect the agricultural cycle of death and regeneration and explain the origins of mummification in Egyptian burial ritual.
• The ancient Egyptians believed that if certain gods were worshiped, and proper procedures followed, the souls of their dead would live on in the Underworld.
• The pictures that decorated mummy cases and coffins were highly symbolic and standardized.

The kind and gentle god Osiris ruled on earth for many years and brought the gifts of civilization and agriculture to Egypt. He let his wife-sister, Isis (EYE-sus), rule Egypt for a short time while he traveled the world to spread law and order and to teach people farming skills. His brother, Seth, became jealous of Osiris's popularity and power. So, upon Osiris's return, Seth murdered him, put his body in an elaborate cedar coffin, and cast it into the Nile River.

The coffin washed ashore at Byblos (BIB-lus) in Lebanon, where a tamarisk tree arose and encased it. Impressed by the tree's tremendous size, the king of Byblos had it cut down and placed as a pillar in his main hall. Isis searched for her husband's body and eventually located it in the pillar in the king's hall. She then won permission to bring his remains back to Egypt. Seth, furious that his brother's remains had been retrieved, cut Osiris's body into pieces and scattered them throughout the land.

Isis set out again to find her husband, a much more difficult task this time. Wherever she found a part of his body, she created a wax duplicate of the part; she presented the wax part to the local priest and demanded that it be placed in a temple and worshiped, so that her husband's memory would be preserved.

When nearly all the body parts were gathered, Isis used her own great magic, and the help of several other gods, to put Osiris back together. They preserved his body and wrapped it in linen bandages, creating the first mummy and establishing the funereal ritual for all subsequent burials of important people. Magically, Isis breathed life back into Osiris and the god-king rose from the dead. But instead of living on earth, Osiris chose to rule in the Underworld. He left earthly rule up to his son, Horus (HOR-us).

Background

The Osiris myth has grown and changed over time. Osiris was first worshiped only as a god of vegetation because his life cycle - birth, death, and rebirth - paralleled the growth cycle of the crops on which Egyptians depended. He was later associated with other natural cycles that ordered the Egyptian world, including the flooding of the Nile and the rising and setting of the sun. Many Egyptians came to consider him a one-time earthly ruler, or pharaoh (FAIR-oh), and some viewed him as god of the moon. But it was his association with strong family ties and eternal life that made him one of the most widely worshiped gods.

Initially, Osiris was worshiped mainly by the pharaohs and their royal families because only they, considered descendants of the gods, were entitled to the privilege of eternal life. However, by the 18th Dynasty (1551-1310 B.C.), everyone who worshiped Osiris was promised the possibility of life after death.

As god of the Underworld, Osiris appeared regularly on funereal objects, including mummy coffins and cases. His presence assured that the dead man or woman would, like Osiris, rise and live again.

Mummification
Because the Egyptians believed that each person possessed a ka (kah), a double that lived on in the Afterworld, they preserved the dead through a complex system of embalming and mummification. The prepared bodies were often enclosed in cases like this one, made of plastered, painted, and varnished linen and were then placed in decorated coffins. They preserved the body because the ka could live on only if it had a place to reside (a body or a ka statue, for example). Many standardized images covered the cases and coffins to assist the ka in its passage to the Afterworld.

This mummy case encloses the remains of Lady Teshat (TEH-shet), a fifteen-year-old girl. Because her father was closely associated with the pharaoh, she received an elaborate burial.

Detail of Osiris
Symbolic pictures of Osiris appear in several places on Lady Teshat's mummy case. Each image embodies ATTRIBUTES that identify the god. In this painting from the right shoulder he is depicted as an enthroned king, reinforcing his role as ruler of the dead. (See detail.) He holds a shepherd's crook and whip, SYMBOLS of his authority. He wears the red crown of Lower Egypt decorated with a curly ostrich plume, to signify his earthly life and reign. His ritual straight false beard is like those worn by Egyptian pharaohs to indicate their godly status. The green color of Osiris's skin, associated with vegetation, symbolizes life after death.

Osiris is tightly wrapped like a mummy in an orange-red garment, an indication that he lived on after death through mummification. His stiff pose is also due in part to the FORMULAIC standard Egyptians used to show the human body; they regularly depicted the most characteristic aspects of a figure. The head, legs, and feet are shown in profile, while the eye and shoulder are represented as though seen from the front.
At the base of the throne is a stacked form, which might be a djed (jed) pillar. The djed pillar represents Osiris's backbone (certainly an appropriate image for a mummy case), recovered by Isis; to the Egyptians it symbolized stability and continuity.

Discussion Questions

Look
1. Osiris was the first Egyptian to be mummified. How has the artist shown that Osiris was mummified? Hint: Look at the lower half of his body.

2. What colors did the artist use to depict Osiris? Look at his hands and face. Is this a natural skin color?

3. An outline is a line that describes the outside edge of an object or figure. Where do you see outlines in the figure of Osiris? (Torso and legs, crown, face, wrists, and hands.) Does the outline make the figure of Osiris appear flat or THREE-DIMENSIONAL? (Heavy outlines weight the figure down and make it appear flat.)

4. Is Osiris painted from a side view or a frontal view? (Both.) Which of Osiris's features are viewed from the side? (Face, hands, and legs.) Which are viewed from the front? (Torso.) Is this an active figure or a still figure? What makes it seem so still? Consider: outline, NATURALISTIC detail. (Stiff pose and outline make the figure appear TWO-DIMENSIONAL, lack of modeling on figure and lack of detail discourage visual movement.)

5. An ATTRIBUTE is a distinctive symbolic feature that identifies a character. Discuss Osiris's attributes and their symbolic meaning. Find Osiris's attributes: throne, shepherd's crook and whip, red crown with ostrich plume, beard, and green skin. Do you think you could identify Osiris by his figure alone, without his attributes? Why not? (Egyptian figural STYLE is standardized. All figures look the same - human! They have no distinct individual characteristics.)



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Think
1. Osiris is god of vegetation, god of the Underworld, and god of the moon. Which of these roles do you think his green skin refers to? (God of vegetation.)
In what ways does green suggest life and growth? (The color green in plants indicates life; green is associated with spring, a time of growth.) Green has other symbolic meanings in present-day American cultures too. What meanings of green can you think of? ("Green with envy"; "green around the gills," meaning illness.)

2. Why do you think it was important to have Osiris represented on this mummy case? Recall Osiris's role as god of the Underworld. How did Osiris help the ka in its passage to the Afterworld?

3. Do you think the Egyptian artist who painted this mummy case was interested in showing us what Osiris really looked like, in telling his story, or in showing us his special powers? Explain your answer. (Parts of Osiris's story are recalled in his mummy wrapping and green skin. Special powers are identified by his attributes: throne, shepherd's crook and whip, crown with ostrich plume, and beard. Individual characteristics are unimportant in Egyptian figural style.)

4. A leading theologian makes the following argument:

Now the vast majority of European art, including Greek art as well, is religious art. It was conceived and executed by religious people who aspired to express their homage to (a) God. Therefore, a nonbeliever cannot possibly understand or experience the music, the paintings, the poetry, or any artform created by believers.

Is the theologian right about what nonbelievers can understand of religious art? Do we have to believe in Osiris as a god and pay homage to him in order to understand and appreciate this painting? (No right answer.)