The god Osiris was one of the most important gods in the more than three-thousand-year-long civilization of ancient Egypt. A possibly faithful description of the life, death and revival of Osiris in the underworld is given by the Greek historian Plutarch.
The sky goddess Nut was the wife of the sun god Re. But she had a secret affair with Geb. She soon became pregnant with Geb. However, Re learned of this out-of-wedlock delivery and stated that his wife was not allowed to give birth to her child in any month of the year. But Re had not reckoned with the god Thoth. Thoth was secretly in love with Nut. Thot challenged the moon god Khonsu to play a number of games with the Sennet game. Thoth won and thus obtained from Khonsu five extra days which he added to the year. On the first day of these extra days, Nut gave birth to Osiris. On the other days the gods Horus the Elder, Seth, Isis and Nephthys were born.
Trap
Osiris took Isis as his wife. He succeeded his father Geb as king of Egypt. The country experienced peace and prosperity and Osiris went to countries outside Egypt to transfer his knowledge to these countries as well. On his return, his brother Seth, who desired the throne, together with the queen of Ethiopia (Aso) and 72 other conspirators organized a large banquet. At this banquet, Seth presented a beautiful sarcophagus to the one who fitted it. But Seth had inside information. He knew the measurements of Osiris. The unsuspecting Osiris tried on the sarcophagus and… the coffin fitted. Immediately Seth and his friends closed the box and threw it into the Nile.
Return
Soon Isis learned what had happened to her husband. Accompanied by the god Anubis, she went in search of Osiris' body. The coffin, meanwhile, had fallen between the branches of a tamarind tree, which grew to a very great height and absorbed the coffin into its trunk. King Melcarthus admired the tree, had it cut down and used it as a pillar in his palace. When Isis heard that the tree had been cut down, she went to a well where the king's harem maidens also came. The goddess spoke lovingly to the harem girls and made their hair more fragrant with her breath than any flowers. The queen of the land, Astarte, asked the girls why their hair smelled so wonderful. The girls told her about Isis, whereupon the queen asked Isis to come to the palace. The queen appointed her as nurse to one of the princes. Instead of feeding the child in the normal way, Isis gave him her finger to suck on. Every night she placed the king's son in the fire to have his mortal parts consumed by the fire and thus make him immortal.
One day the queen saw her son standing in the flames. Immediately the queen cried out. But with this she deprived her son of his immortality. Isis told the queen her events and begged to give her the pillar with the sarcophagus in which Osiris lay. The queen agreed. Isis opened the pillar, took out the coffin, and departed with it to Egypt. When she arrived in Egypt she hid the coffin.
Underworld
One night, while hunting boars, Seth found the chest. He tore the body of Osiris into 14 pieces and threw the parts into the Nile. The body parts were carried by the current of the Nile and scattered along the banks. Except his phallus, which was devoured by three fishes (a Lepidotus, a Phagrus, and an Oxyrhynchus). When Isis learned of this, she gathered all the parts, buried each part, and built a tomb over it. Osiris was now in the underworld.
Other version
Another version of the Osiris myth relates that when the fragments of Osiris' body were found, not only Isis, but also Nephthys lamented over Osiris. The tears of Isis are said to cause the annual flooding of the Nile. Re heard these lamentations and sent the god Anubis from heaven. Anubis, with the help of Thoth and Horus, reunited Osiris' body and then wrapped it in linen bandages. This would explain the mummy shape of Osiris. Then the winged Isis soared above the body of Osiris. The wind caused by her entered Osiris' nose, and Osiris came back to life. After this Osiris obtained the office of judge and king of death.