Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God By Bojana Mojsov

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Bojana Mojsov tells the story of the cult of Osiris from beginning to end, sketching its development throughout 3,000 years of Egyptian history. Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God

i wasn't sure what rating this book should get (and you'll see later why), so i gave it an average 3*. I give this book a 2*, because any relation between the title and the content of this book is mere coincidence. The parts relating to Osiris, his myth etc. combine perhaps 10% of this book. I was disappointed, and others will probably feel the same once they start reading the book. If this book didn't have any title at all, I wouldn't have guessed its main theme is Osiris. The rest of the book describes the history of Egypt, from its pre-dynastic period, to the Greek influence of the first few centuries AD. The book's 176 pages are packed with information about battles/dynasties/kings/gods and what not, making it hard for the average person (by that, I mean people who haven't read about Egypt at all) to understand what's going on. Plus, this makes the book seem like a collection of events and you might even stop reading it after a few pages. For those who do know a bit about Egypt, this book could be great and help you solidify your knowledge. So if I regard this book as a textbook concerning Egyptian history/religion, I give it a 4*. And hence my 3* average. Paperback I bought it thinking it was all about the one and only Osiris. But no. It is a book about ancient Egypt's History with some focus on Osiris. A bit too general for what was expected... Paperback
As other reviewers have said, this book is not at all what it seems. I too had the distinct impression that I would be reading an intensive study of the worship and cult activities of Osiris. Instead what we get is a general history of ancient Egypt, and a mediocre one at that. The author relies far too much on classical sources instead of Egyptian ones or the archaeological evidence, and much of the text is very brief, essentially skimming over the key points at best. Some statements are just outright incorrect, for example that the Coma Berenices constellation got its name after Queen Berenike II’s hair fell out (it didn’t fall out; she cut a single lock of her hair and dedicated it in a temple for the safe return of her husband from war, but when the lock disappeared overnight, court astronomers declared the gods had taken it and set it in the night sky). Not a terrible book, but very misleading, and not worth the read. Paperback I was rather disappointed in this book. The description on the back made it sound like a religious history on the cult of Osiris, and how the religion and the perception of the god changed over the history of Egypt. (I was thinking along the lines of Susan Cahill's excellent book on the Queen Mother of the West). I was concerned in the beginning when it said it was drawing mainly on the works of Herodotus, and other Greeks, who were writing 1000 years or more later and can hardly be considered primary sources. I wondered about the Egyptian texts and archaeological discoveries. This book read more like a popular history of Egypt. It didn't expect the reader to have any prior knowledge and repeated most of the familiar stories. For a general (brief) introduction to Egyptian history it was quite good, but for a book about Osiris that was only 120 pages having whole chapters where he didn't get mentioned seemed like a bit of a waste. I wonder if the knowledge of Egyptian religion is just much poorer because it is so ancient, and there is no established history of exactly what happened and how things changed and what the priests did and how the rituals and rites evolved. I suspect that this information is available. A little was covered in this book. The talk about Osiris being associated with the early pharaohs was interesting. As was the mentioning of Ra going to the underworld and the two traveling together, uniting the two, in the post Akhenaton Egypt. But apart from some descriptions from the book of the dead there was nothing talking about his cult for the middle kingdom, and no mention of who his priests were and what they did. If you're looking for a nice quick overview on the history of Egypt and religion this is probably a good book to read. If you're looking for an in-depth look at a religion then it'll be disappointing. In the last chapter the author states how the history of Osiris is the history of Egypt. It definitely is the way they write it, personally I would have liked more of the history of Osiris and less of the general history. Paperback