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Osiris (, alternatively Ausir, Asiri or Ausar, among other spellings), was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead, but more appropriately as the god of transition, resurrection, and regeneration. He was classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail. Osiris was at times considered the oldest son of the earth god Geb, though other sources state his father is the sun-god Ra and the sky goddess Nut, as well as being brother and husband of Isis, with Horus being considered his posthumously begotten son.〔 He was also associated with the epithet Khenti-Amentiu, meaning "Foremost of the Westerners", a reference to his kingship in the land of the dead.〔"How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs", Mark Collier & Bill Manley, British Museum Press, p. 41, 1998, ISBN 0-7141-1910-5〕 As ruler of the dead, Osiris was also sometimes called "king of the living": ancient Egyptians considered the blessed dead "the living ones".〔"Conceptions of God In Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many", Erik Hornung (translated by John Baines), p. 233, Cornell University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8014-1223-4〕 Osiris was considered the brother of Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus the Elder, and father of Horus the younger. 〔Kane Chronicles〕 Osiris is first attested in the middle of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, although it is likely that he was worshipped much earlier;〔Griffiths, John Gwyn (1980). ''The Origins of Osiris and His Cult''. Brill. p. 44〕 the Khenti-Amentiu epithet dates to at least the first dynasty, also as a pharaonic title. Most information available on the myths of Osiris is derived from allusions contained in the Pyramid Texts at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, later New Kingdom source documents such as the Shabaka Stone and the ''Contending of Horus and Seth'', and much later, in narrative style from the writings of Greek authors including Plutarch〔"Isis and Osiris", Plutarch, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, 1936, vol. 5 Loeb Classical Library. (Penelope.uchicago.edu )〕 and Diodorus Siculus.〔"The Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus", vol. 1, translated by G. Booth, 1814. (Google Books )〕 Osiris was considered not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. He was described as the ''"Lord of love''",〔"The Gods of the Egyptians", E. A. Wallis Budge, p. 259, Dover 1969, org. pub. 1904, ISBN 0-486-22056-7〕 ''"He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful''"〔 and the ''"Lord of Silence"''.〔"The Burden of Egypt", J. A. Wilson, p. 302, University of Chicago Press, 4th imp 1963〕 The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. By the New Kingdom all people, not just pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death, if they incurred the costs of the assimilation rituals.〔"Man, Myth and Magic", Osiris, vol. 5, p. 2087-2088, S.G.F. Brandon, BPC Publishing, 1971.〕 Through the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with the cycles observed in nature, in particular vegetation and the annual flooding of the Nile, through his links with the heliacal rising of Orion and Sirius at the start of the new year.〔 Osiris was widely worshipped as Lord of the Dead until the suppression of the Egyptian religion during the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire.〔"History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian", ''The Suppression of Paganism'' – ch22, p371, John Bagnell Bury, Courier Dover Publications, 1958, ISBN 0-486-20399-9〕 ==Etymology of the name== ''Osiris'' is a Latin transliteration of the Ancient Greek , which in turn is the Greek adaptation of the original theonym in the Egyptian language. In Egyptian hieroglyphs the name is written ''Wsjr'', as the hieroglyphic writing does not restitute all the vowels, and Egyptologists transliterate the name variously as Asar, Yasar, Aser, Asaru, Ausar, Ausir, Wesir, Usir, Usire or Ausare. Several proposals have been made for the etymology and meaning of the original name ''Wsjr''. John Gwyn Griffiths (1980) proposed a derivation from ''wser'' signifying "the powerful". Moreover, one of the oldest attestations of the god Osiris appears in the mastaba of the deceased Netjer-wser (God Almighty). David Lorton (1985) proposed that ''Wsjr'' is composed by the morphemes ''set-jret'' signifying "ritual activity", Osiris being the one who receives it. Wolfhart Westendorf (1987) proposed an etymology from ''Waset-jret'' "she who bears the eye".〔 : Les origines d'Osiris〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Osiris」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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