Egypt was the home of the resurrected god myth, although it also existed in
a lot of other cultures. Egyptians had long chanted something similar to the
"I am the Resurrection and the Life", about the god Osiris, who judged the
dead.

The Egyptian myth has Osiris being being killed by his evil brother, who was
a "power of darkness". His sister and wife put the fragments of his body
together again and he rose from the dead. He then ascended to the world of
souls where he judged men according to their works.

This Osiris resurrection yarn was the basis of the Egyptians' belief in life
after death. Egyptians had yearly rites where they mourned Osiris' death,
and then rejoiced over his resurrection.

Sound familiar?

By 2400 BC, more 2000 years before the supposed resurrection of jesus,
Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the
embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn
combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death
became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king's son, the living
king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were
thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was
thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered
the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch,
Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and
flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and
buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to
Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. Isis
revived Osiris by magical means and conceived her son Horus by him. Horus
later successfully fought against Seth and became the new king of Egypt.