Detail of a vignette from a Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Hunefer), dating to the XIX dynasty (1317-1285 B.C.), now in the British Museum, London. The god of the dead, Osiris, is represented sitting on a throne, holding in his hands a crosier and a flail, symbols of royal power. The color of his flesh is green, to mean his function as god of vegetation and fertility. According to some versions of the myth, Osiris, after having been killed by Seth, was brought to life again by his son Horus, who descends in the Netherworld. Osiris’s rebirth was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as guarantee of the plant fertility and of all the reproductive powers, becoming the personification of the sources of fecundity and generation. During the New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.) it was a common practice to place in private and royal tombs the so-called “Osiris beds”, wooden frames reproducing the silhouette of the god, which was filled of Nile silt and barley seeds. When the seed sprouted, it was regarded as a symbolic resurrection of the deceased in the shape of Osiris (Remler 2010). This is one of the most significant expressions of the deep linkage that unites the world of the dead with the forces which promote fertility and growth in every form of life.

[Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunefer]