Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-02

terial, either complete or in fragments.
In the rubbish which was desert SAND
were found hundreds of small cups or
tumb!ers of coarse earthen ware. quite
terry led directly to the tomb Prof. Petrie
calls Ter: Prof. Erman. khent. and Prof
Naville. Shesti, an epithet given to Horus
in the Pyramid texts.
important secondary history as the shrine
of Osiris The tomb was usurped in the
eighteenth dynasty for this worship. II
was visited as the veritable tomb or
twenty-sixth dynasty slabs of sculpture
very ornate were added to its walls. Its
sacred character was maintained until
the end of the thrtieth dynasty.
Key to the Mystery.
In the restored cult of Osiris lies the So
luton Of all these obscurties. The spirit
Of that great faith through ever-lengtheu-
ing centuries of ceremonies pervades the
very dust of the place to this day. The key
that unlocks the mysteries of Abydos.
a metropolis vast in extent, where Egyp-
tians liked to be buried to have tombs,
from earliest times down to the Roman
emperors, is the one word, Osiris. BY
Its magic potency directed by these point
ing ruins we may unravel those rites,
recover the ceremonies, comprehend the
sacred literature.
Briefly all the evidence goes to prove
that Osiris was man-god who was muir
dered, whose body was mutilated and the
various members of his body reassembled.
al Denderah that during the full month
of khoiack number of festivals were
celebrated at all the chief sanctuartes OF
Osiris In Egypt. and that elaborate oerer
monies were performed commemorating
every event which took place in the life,
death and resurrection of the god.
Observances Occupy Month.
These observances require a full month.
We know that Of all these sanctuaries
Abydos was the most sacred. Here. &C
cordinS to tradition, was buried the head
Of Osiris. AS Osiris after his resurrec-
ticn had departed from Abydos to the
underworld, SO an ancient and widespread
belief compelled all souls to leave the
valley of the Nile by fixed road to the
west of Abydos.
dynasty to Roman times came a convoca-
ton Of pilgrims annually from the bor-
ders Of Nubia. from the shores of the
Mediterranean to do homage to the great
god now the judge of the dead in the
underworld.
Here at his ancient temple from the
eighteenth to the thirtieth dynasties were
offered hundreds of the ushabti figurines
in the mummified form of the dead Osiris,
to witness for the worshiper and to pro-
vide him service when he in his turn
should become an Osiris after death and
journey thence. In 1900 the fund pre-
sented to every member in England and
the United States one of these votive
offerings from the Temple of Osiris at
Abydos. But cut in the open metropolis.
sanctif1ed by the purifying sand. was
brought by each worshiper an offering Of
another sort.
Meaning of the Heap Of Cups.
The 1S3d chapter Of the Book of the
Dead" says: Vaccinations are made in
thy name, libations are poured out to thy
ka, sepulchral meals are brought unto
thee and water is sprinkled upon the Of
ferings both sides OF the souls of the
dead in this land" Therefore we now see
the meaning of these heaps of cups.
They are the remains Of countless little
libation vases Of rough red pottery which
were dedicated here ex votos by the pious
between the nineteenth and twenty-sixth
dynasties to the memories of the ancient
kings and of the great god Osiris.
Intermingled with these later fragments
are pieces of the original first dynasty
vases, which were filled with wine and
provisions and placed in the tombs for
the refreshn1ent of the royal doubles
when they should pay ghostly visits to
their eternal abodes" at Abydos These
jars and pots were thrown out and bro
ken when the tombs were anciently plum
dered in the eighteenth dynasty.
From what has been said 1t is clear
that the cult of Osiris at this place is as
old as the first dynasty.
We have no means as yet of finding out
what were the earliest conceptions about
Osiris. but it seems that we may rightly
and nutritive powers of the Nile in gen.
eral and the inundation in particular.
Natural Opponent Of Osiris.
The natural opponent Of Osiris was Set,
who typif1ed death and destruction and
who was par excellence the god of the
desert. Therefore in various ways we
have the story of the contest between the
powers Of life and death, light and dark
ness, regeneration and decay. We are
familiar with these subjects from the re-
ligious texts of every age, but 1t is star
thing to find those obscure texts visual:
lied before our eyes in actual practices.
Not forty yards from the tomb of Ter.
where had been discovered the famous
stone bed Of Osiris. just beyond the line
of pots on a bed of hard sand were found
good workmanship. The statuettes all
lay face upward with bead to the west.
Considerable light is thrown upon this
curious find by the following reference to
Dead: He who is on his sand" This
refers to the dead Osiris who has been
mummified. his body placed in a coffin
and deposited in sandhill. The reading
is found in hymns in which Vhoch ad-
dresses Osiris and restores him. to life by
his words Of power" And in the tomb
in front of these statuettes sanctifed by
the sand descended the "staira6Se of the
great god'' also mentioned inAene Book
of the Dead to his imaged burial
Lesson Taught by Discoveries.
These discoveries speak in no uncer-
tain tone Of the necessity of taking
Egyptian literature literally. Under the
theory of symbolism we have gone far
afield. forgetting that We have to con-
slider in the dawn of the world of thought
that we have to do with clever children
whose thoughts were literally expressed
in their acts.
The most stupendouS proof of this con-
fronts us in the royal tOmbs. These
tombs hold no kingly occupants. NJ. Ma
vile energetically maintains that these
first dynasty tombs never were occupied
by the royal dead. Kings whose tOdies
were actually buried elsewhere had Sec
ond tombs at Abydos that they might
have last resting places near the tomb of
Osiris though they might not care to be
buried there.
Usertesen III of the twelfth dynasty
was really buried in his pyramid tomb at
Illahun in the north But he had a great
rock tomb cut for him in the cliffs at
Abydos.
Al,