Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian
language name is variously transliterated Asar,
Aser, Ausar, Wesir, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god
of life, death, and fertility. He is also called
the All-father. At the height of the ancient Nile
civilization, Osiris was regarded as the primary
deity of a henotheism. Osiris was not only the
merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but
also the underworld agency that granted all life,
including sprouting vegetation and the fertile
flooding of the Nile River. Beginning about 2000
B.C. all men, not just dead pharaohs, were
believed to be associated with Osiris at death.
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