The Osiris myth is the most elaborate and influential story in ancient
Egyptian mythology. It concerns the murder of the god Osiris, a primeval
king of Egypt, and its consequences. Osiris' murderer, his brother Set,
usurps his throne, while Osiris' wife Isis restores her husband's body
and posthumously conceives a son, Horus, by him. Horus' triumph over Set
restores order to Egypt and completes the process of Osiris'
resurrection. The myth is integral to the Egyptian conceptions of
kingship and succession, conflict between order and disorder, and
especially, death and the afterlife. The Osiris myth reached its
essential form in or before the 25th century BC. Parts of the myth
appear in a wide variety of Egyptian texts, from funerary texts and
magical spells to short stories. The story is, therefore, more detailed
and more cohesive than any other ancient Egyptian myth. Greek and Roman
writings, particularly De Iside et Osiride by Plutarch, provide more
information but may not always accurately reflect Egyptian beliefs.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_myth>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
622:
Muhammad and his followers completed their Hijra from Mecca to
Medina to escape religious persecution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(Islam)>
1180:
The Byzantine Empire was weakened by the death of Emperor
Manuel I Komnenos (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_I_Komnenos>
1853:
Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New
Caledonia for France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonia>
1903:
Alfred Deakin became the second Prime Minister of Australia,
succeeding Edmund Barton who left office to become a founding justice of
the High Court of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Deakin>
1964:
The Warren Commission released its report, concluding that Lee
Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of U.S. President John F.
Kennedy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Commission>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
heretofore:
Prior to now, until now, up to the present time.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heretofore>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil, it consists in treating
another human being as a thing.
--John Brunner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner>
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