Segal/Myth Theorized, 4. Frazer on Osiris

In chapter four I present Frazer’s interpretation of just one of his four main Mediterranean gods: Osiris. On the one hand Frazer treats all four examples as gods from the start, even if in their myths they by no means are. Frazer does not treat them as cases of euhemerism, or the transformation of an exceptional king into a god, either at death or even during life. On the other hand Frazer treats the case of Osiris as that of euhemerism. He offers scant evidence for euhemerism in Osiris. Yet Osiris does fit euhemerism more closely than do Frazer’s other three Mediterranean gods of vegetation. For Frazer, Osiris parallels Jesus, who is prototypically euhemeristic.