Excerpt from Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection The Chapters printed in these volumes are the result of a study undertaken with the object of attempting to discover the source of the fundamental beliefs of the indigenous Religion of Ancient Egypt, to trace their development through a period of some two score centuries, and to ascertain what were the foreign influences which first modified Egyptian beliefs, then checked their growth, and finally overthrew them. There is no doubt that the beliefs examined herein are of indigenous origin, Nilotic or Sudani in the broadest signification of the word, and I have endeavoured to explain those which cannot be elucidated in any other way, by the evidence which is afforded by the Religions of the modern peoples who live on the great rivers of East, West, and Central Africa. The central figure of the ancient Egyptian Religion was Osiris, and the chief fundamentals of his cult were the belief in his divinity, death, resurrection, and absolute control of the destinies of the bodies and souls of men. The central point of each Osirian's Religion was his hope of resurrection in a transformed body and of immortality, which could only be realized by him through the death and resurrection of Osiris. I have therefore made Osiris, and the beliefs which grew up under his cult, the central consideration of this enquiry, and have grouped about the history of the god the facts in modern African Religions which are similar and which I consider to be cognate to the old beliefs. The general argument of the book is indicated in the following paragraphs. The materials now available for the enquiry may be divided roughly into two main classes: - 1. The Magical, Religious, and Mythological Texts written by native Egyptians for Egyptians. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.