RESURRECTION OF OSIRIS, Vegetation god, Phoenix, Ram      from:  http://touregypt.net/osirfun.htm

The two commonest titles of Osiris are “Khent-Amenti,” and “Un-Nefer,” or,and as such he holds in his hands one or two sceptres and the whip, or flail,and wears the White Crown. Sometimes he appears as a man, with a large mouthand eyes and nose, and with a Tet surmounted by a disk, plumes, horns, uraei,etc. issuing from his hand. He once appears in the form of Ptah pouring outwater from a libation vase from a deceased person who kneels before him,and once he appears with the head of the Bennu. The Bennu is the ancientEgyptians’ phoenix, which was probably a heron and symbolized resurrectionas a sacred bird of Heliopolis.  In some scenes Osiris appears as godof vegetation, and in one instance the god is represented in mummied form,and wearing the Atef Crown, and from his body a row of plants is seen growing; in another he is represented by a small mound of earth, which is called”Osiris,” and from which four trees grow. Above the mound is a large serpentwith the White Crown upon its head, and two small serpents growing out fromits body ; on the right are : 1. A ram -headed god, holding a serpent, and2. the serpent Khebkheb, on the left are a ram-headed god holding a serpent,and a feather. The Osiris ceremonies varied in different places, accordingas the god was identified with local gods, but in all great religious centersOsiris, under one name or another, possessed his own sanctuary. Thus, asDr. Brugsch has pointed out, in Northern Nubia Osiris was known asKhnemu-ut-em-ankh, in Coptos as Amsu-Heru-ka-nekht, in Diopolis Parva asSekhem, in Lycopolis as Sekhem-taui, in Antaeopolis as Maui, in Cusae asUrt-ab, in Memphis as Seker, in Cynoplois and Oxyrhynchus as Anubis, inHerakleopolis asa Ka-hetep and Heru-shefi, in the Libyan Nome as Khent-Amenti,in Heroopolis as Ankh and Tem, in Busiris as Tet or Tettu, in Heliopolisas Ser-aa, and in other places in the Delta as Fenet-ankh, her-ap-shata.In the cxlist and cxliind Chapters of the Book of the Dead we have a completelist of the forms and shrines of Osiris, and they are of great importanancefor forming a right idea of the universality of the cult of Osiris in Egypt.

We have now traced the history of Osiris from the time when he was a riveror water god, and only quite local importance, up to the period when hisworship reached from the north of the Delta to the Nubian Nome at Elephantine,and he had become in every sense of the word the national god of Egypt. Wenow have to consider Osiris in his character of god and judge of the dead,and as the symbol of the resurrection, and the best source which we can drawfor information on this subject is the Book of the Dead. In this work Osirisis held to be the greatest of the gods, and it is he who is the judge ofmen after death, and he is the arbiter of their future destiny. He attainedthis exalted position because he was believed to have been once a human beingwho died and had been dismembered ; but his limbs had been dismembered ;but his limbs had been reconstructed and he had become immortal. The mostremarkable thing about him was that his body had never decayed like the bodiesof ordinary men, and neither putrefication nor worms ever acquired powerover it, or caused it to diminish in the least degree. It is true that itwas embalmed by Horus, and Anubis, and Isis , who carried out with the greatestcare and exactitude all the prescriptions which had been ordered by Thoth,and who performed their work so throughly well that the material body whichOsiris possessed on this earth served as the body for the god in the worldbeyond the grave, though only after it had had undergone some mysteriouschange, which was brought about by the words of power which these gods saidand by the ceremonies which they performed. A very ancient tradition declaredthat the god Thoth himself had acted the part of priest for Osiris, and althoughthe Egyptians believed that it was his words which brought the dead god backto life, they were never able wholly to free themselves from the idea thatthe series of magical ceremonies which they performed in connection withthe embalment and burial of the dead produced most beneficial results fortheir deceased friends.

Complete Egyptian Book of the Dead translated by Budgehttp://touregypt.net/bkofdead.htm