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The Ogdoad were eight deities who were the basis of the Egyptian creation myth
during the Middle Kingdom. They were primarily worshipped in Heliopolis, but
their aspects of the creation were combined in other areas with existing myths.
Each one is a member of a masculine-feminine pair and each pair represents an
aspect of the primordial chaos out of which the world was created.
They all came into being at the same time. Nun and Naunet represent the primordial seas, Kuk and Kauket represent the infinite darkness, Hu and Hauhet represent empty space, and Amun and Amaunet represent quintessence, or the secret powers of creation. The gods are usually depicted as men with the heads of snakes, the goddesses as women with the heads of frogs. Together they built an island in the middle of the vast emptiness and the egg that was placed upon it. From this egg, the sun god Atum was born, and he began the process of creating the world while the others withdrew.
A god of war and hunting who originated at This (the Thinite region) near Abydos, Anhur (Han-her, Inhert)), was more commonly known by his Greek name, Onuris (Onouris). His name (Anhur) literally means "he who leads back the distant one" (which might also mean "Sky Bearer"), which appears to reference the mythical manner in which this god is said to have journeyed to Nubia in order to bring back the leonine "Eye of Re", who became his consort as the lioness-goddess Mekhit. This legend is paralleled by another surrounding the god Shu at Heliopolis, who was supposed to have also brought back the fearsome "eye" as his own consort, Tefnut. However, the name Anhur suggests that the tradition may have originated with him. This nevertheless led to Anhur often being equated with Shu and also to his link to the sun god under the epithet, "son of Re". Onuris was thus supposed to hunt and slay the enemies of his solar-deity father.
Onuris, as a war-like god, was also associated Montu and Sopedu and had a strong rapport with Horus, whose claims he vociferously advocates in the tribunal judging the rights to the Egyptian throne. Later during the Greek period, he was identified with the Hellenistic war god, Ares. The Romans maintained this war-like identity of Onuris as evidenced by a depiction of Emperor Tiberius on a column shaft in the temple of Kom Ombo which shows Tiberius wearing the characteristic crown of Onuris.
The iconography of Onuris that has survived depict him as a standing god, with a beard and a short wig that is surmounted by a uraeu and either two or four tall plumes. He is frequently depicted wearing a long kilt which is often decorated in a feather-like pattern. His right hand is raised as if to thrust a lance (he is also known as the "lord of the lance") or spear, while his left hand holds a length of rope that may be symbolic of his role in capturing his lioness consort. His association with the spear and ropes also provides an inevitable link with the mythological struggle between Horus and Seth, in which the hawk god used the same weapons to entrap and kill his foe, the Hippopotamus.
However, in other instances the rope is absent, and the god may be depicted grasping his raised spear in both hands and at other times neither rope nor spear is present, though his arms are raised as if to hold these objects. This iconography clearly shows that rather than throw the spear, he intends to thrust his spear downward into a subdued enemy. Hence, Onuris controls rather than attacks his enemies.
Though Onuris seems to have originated at This near Abydos in Upper Egypt, his main area of worship in later periods was in the Delta town of Sebennytos (modern Samannud), where he was venerated alongside or as a form of Shu. There is a temple of Onuris-Shu called Phersos (Per-shu) at this site that has been dated to the reign of Nectanebo II, though its construction may have started during the reign of Nectanebo I of Egypt's 30th Dynasty, though worship of Onuris in this location would have predated this temple. Silver and bronze amulets of the god occasionally have been unearthed in Late Period burials elsewhere in Egypt.
Patron of: the Underworld, the dead, past Pharaohs, agriculture (old form), fertility (old form).
Appearance: In his original form, a green-skinned man dressed in the raiment of a pharaoh. Following the Legend of Osiris, he appears as a green-skinned man in the form of a mummified pharaoh. He is often depicted wearing the atef crown with a pair of ram horns at its base.
Description: Throughout the height of Egyptian civilization, Osiris was the primary deity. In power, he was second only his father, Ra, and was the leader of the gods on earth. He was the husband of Isis and the father of Horus (and a number of other gods in some stories). Osiris resided in the underworld as the lord of the dead, as after being killed by Set, even though he was a god, he could no longer dwell in the land of the living.
After Osiris was killed, Isis resurrected him with the Ritual of Life, which was later given to the Egyptians so that they could give eternal life to all their dead. The spells and rituals cast by Isis, plus many others given to the people by the gods over the centuries, were collected into The Book of Going Forth by Day, colloquially known as The Book of the Dead.
In the underworld, Osiris sits on a great throne, where he is praised by the souls of the just. All those who pass the tests of the underworld become worthy to enter The Blessed Land, that part of the underworld that is like the land of the living, but without sorrow or pain. In some texts, in addition to the Judging of the Heart, Osiris passes final judgment over the dead, acting in this capacity as an Egyptian version of Radamanthus.
There is an interesting parallel between Osiris, a fertility/agriculture god, and the Greek Persephone, an agriculture goddess. Both end up in the underworld through treachery and both are kept there by "legal loopholes" in the laws of the gods. Persephone remains in the underworld for half a year because she tasted the food of the dead. Osiris remains in the underworld because Ma'at dictates that the dead, even dead gods, may not return to the land of the living.
Worship: Worshipped widely throughout all of Egypt, and his cult center was Abydos.
Variants:
Ptah-Seker-Osiris
A composite funerary god worshipped during the Middle Kingdom period. In this
form he represents the three aspects of the universe: creation, stability, and
death.