The Ancient Egypt: The Osireion - The West Section .. Part ( 5 )

About the Site

Behind the temple of Seti I, and at a distance of only 26 feet from its wall behind the seven sanctuaries and Osiris chambers, lies a very remarkable building, which was discovered in 1902-3 by Prof. Margaret Alice Murray and Sir Flinders Petrie, partly excavated in 1911-1914 by Dr. Henri Édouard Naville, for the Egypt Exploration Society, and in 1925-1926 by Dr. Henri Frankfort, for the same society .

It proved to be a structure of extraordinary – the Cenotaph of the Pharaoh Seti I, who was responsible for the great temple so close to it . On this point there can be little doubt, though the building is still sometimes called the Osireion . The rock-like gebel, at a distance of about sixty feet under the floor of the temple of Seti I, was cut in a slope like a staircase from the surface of the desert, sloping down towards the wall . Two mud-brick retaining walls had been built across it to hold back the sand .

This imposing subterranean building is one of the great puzzles of Egyptian Archeology . No one really knows who built it or for what purpose or when was built, and so far as is known, there is not another one like it in the whole of Egypt . Curiously enough, certain elements of its architecture closely resemble the " Gates of the Sun " in Peru, high up in the Andes Mountains . This imposing, fascinating, mysterious building of bewildering charm deserves from us some detailed description .

The entrance to the Osireion was discovered by Miss ( later Professor ) Margaret Murray, who was then working under Professor Flinders Petrie for the Egyptian Exploration Society, as we mentioned before . But it was not until the early 1920's that the whole building was excavated and an account was published by Professor Henri Frankfort . Because he found the name of Seti I in the decoration of the ceiling of one of the rooms, he attributed the building to him and called it the Cenotaph of Seti I . This king's name was also found on a black granite dove-tailed cramp inserted between two blocks of red granite architrave . The latter were apparently springing apart, and the cramp was inserted to hold them together . This is only of the many restorations to ancient monuments carried out by Seti . But it is no proof of his contribution to the construction of the building .

The Osireion has also been attributed to the Middle Kingdom, but judging by its style, the method of building, the material used, and its original stark simplicity, it seems much more likely to be a product of the early 4^th Dynasty although the level at which it lies might tempt one to think of a much earlier date . That it was not built by Seti I may be deduced from the following facts :-

a. When any king built a monument, he always put an inscription saying, " He made it as his monument for his father, Osiris ( or whatever was the name of the god to whom it was dedicated ) " . This formula, which is repeated over and over again in temples, is not found anywhere here .

b. The entrance to the building lies outside the northern Temenos Wall of the temple of Seti I . If Seti had built it, we should expect to find it inside the Temenos .

c. It is obvious, as we shall see, that it was the presence of this building which forced the architects to change the plan of Seti's temple . A certain amount of " holiness " seemed to be attached to the building since part of Seti's temple is actually constructed over the ruins of an older temple, but the architect found it imperative to avoid building in any way over the Osireion itself .

d. The inner corners of the walls of the halls and chambers are cut in one block of stone thus avoiding a vertical joint . This is a characteristic of 4^th Dynasty architecture and may also be seen in the Valley Temple of Khafra beside the Great Sphinx of Giza .

e. The massive granite pillars are all monolithic, another Old Kingdom characteristic, whereas the pillars and columns of the temple are all built up in sections . Also, no granite was used in the temple .

f. The Entrance Passage and two of the chambers have saddle roofs, another Old Kingdom characteristic . All the roofs in the temple are flat or vaulted .

g. There is no connection at all between this building and the temple .

h. Frankfort made sondage pits down the outside walls of the main hall . At the bottom he found pottery of the Archaic Period and early Old Kingdom . There was no more pottery until very near the present ground level when pots of the 30^th Dynasty were found .

These suggest that in the period between these dates, the monument was buried in the sand and was inaccessible . Perhaps the structure was built during the early 4^th Dynasty ( maybe by Khufu himself ), became neglected and buried under the sand after the downfall of the Old Kingdom and was rediscovered when Seti's men were digging the foundations for his temple, and so forced them to change the plan of the latter as we shall see later .

It is certain however, that Seti made some repairs to the Osireion . He certainly had the ceiling of one of the chambers sculptured ; again we must stress that he made no claim whatsoever to having built the monument .

Yet there can be no doubt that the whole structure was destined to be buried under a great mound of stones, sands , and waters, so that it did not show at all above ground, save as a mound surrounded by trees . It is believed that the central hall, with its island and surrounding pool of water and its seventeen cells, is simply an attempt to embody a great cosmogonic myth, in which Osiris is buried on the primeval hill ( the island ), surrounded by the primeval waters, while the cells represent the so-called pylons of the Book of the Dead . The sarcophagus-chamber beyond the central hall is the actual cenotaph of the Pharaoh who conceived the extraordinary idea of representing in actual stone the papyrus-pictures of Osiris as " He who is at the Head of His Stairway " . If this belief is justified, then Seti I is, as Dr. Henri Frankfort has said, " the first and last king to have undertaken this extraordinary architectural expression of things religious " .

The fact that, as revealed in the course of excavation, the front and back walls of the sarcophagus-chamber of the cenotaph were raised above the roof so as to act as retaining-walls for the sand-bed on which the great temple of Seti I was built may possibly suggest ( though not necessarily ) that the building of the cenotaph preceded that of the temple . Whether this is so or not, it seems that the existence of, or the intention to create, such a building, accounts for the change of axis of the supplementary buildings of the temple ; while the water-surrounded island, whose moat is naturally fed from the subsoil sheet of water underlying the desert, may represent the " spring ", or " well ", which Strabo describes as being " reached by passages with low vaults consisting of a single stone, and remarkable for their extent and mode of construction " .

The Northern Entrance Passage

As we have said, the original entrance lies some distance outside the northern Temenos Wall of the Temple of Seti I . It leads to a long passage which slopes gently downwards . This passage is cut in a strata of sandy clay and lined, paved and originally roofed with blocks of limestone . The northern end of the passage must have been partly destroyed in very ancient times as Seti had it restored by lining its walls with the same huge mud-bricks used in the construction of the Temenos Wall, and where the latter wall passes over the passage, a massive vaulted roof was built of the same material . South of this restoration, the saddle roof of the passage was of limestone . Apparently the walls were originally undecorated, but Merenptah, the grandson of Seti I, had them crudely painted in color with copies of two funerary works that were popular in the royal tombs of the New Kingdom .

The decorations and inscriptions on the walls of the passage on the western wall ( right wall ) are from " The Book of Gates " . And on the eastern wall ( left wall ) are from " The Book of What is in the Underworld " ( also known " The Book of Caverns " ) . They were executed by Merenptah, the grandson of Seti ; but there is no doubt that the design was that of Seti .

An ostrakon ( potsherd ) found in the passage gives an account of the transport of stone for the work, and incidentally informs us that Seti took such an interest in the building that he established a royal castle close at hand, so as to be able to come and watch its progress . It also tells us that the cenotaph was named " Seti I-is-serviceable-to-Osiris " . Both are believed by modern scholars to be a kind of " guide book " to the underworld, and to describe the nightly passage of the Sun God through these regions . In the " Book of Gates " the twelve hours of the night are represented by twelve sections of the underworld divided from each other by gates guarded by fire-spitting cobras . Through these sections, the Sun God, in the form of a ram-headed man, is towed in his boat by various gods and spirits and the dead King sails with him as a passenger . This passage is 110 yards long, and leads to an antechamber ( The Great Hall ), decorated with religious texts and scenes, from which opens a smaller chamber ( The South Chamber ) .

Many are the obstacles in the way, but these are overcome . The evil serpent Apep seeks to bar the passage of the Solar Boat but is prevented . In another place he is bound by chains pegged into the ground, from which he struggles vainly to escape .

At midnight the boat reaches the section in which is the dreaded Court of Osiris where the God is seated in judgement upon all who had died during the day . The heart of the deceased, as being the seat of the conscience, is weighed in a balance against an ostrich feather symbolizing absolute Truth and Justice . In this scene, the upright post of the balance is replaced by a mummiform being whose shoulders support the cross-beam . Some gods ascend the stairs leading to the throne of Osiris, and above, a pig, the Devourer of the Damned, is driven away in a boat by a spirit in the form of an ape . Osiris, apparently wearing the Double Crown, is seated at the top of a flight of stairs . Before him is the balance ( top of stairs ) in which the heart ( conscience ) of the deceased is weighed against the Feather of Truth . A curious feature is that the support of the balance, in the form of a mummy-Amit, the Devourer, who eats the heart of evil-doers, is here shown in the form of a wild pig standing in a boat and threatened by an ape ( over the stairs ) . At the top left-hand corner is Anubis ( scene is partly obliterated ) .

A very curious scene shows a number of gods carrying a long serpent from whose back protrude human heads . The accompanying inscription says that these heads only appear when the Sun God enters this section of the underworld . As he passes by, the heads all sing a hymn of praise, but when he has vanished from their sight, the heads are reabsorbed into the serpent's back ! Schoolboy naughtiness ! .

After the highly ethical idea underlying the scene of the Judgment Hall of Osiris, this scene of the serpent and its singing heads seems to be childish nonsense, and it is hard to understand intelligent and objective men like the pharaohs of the 19^th Dynasty taking it seriously . Moreover, there are certain scenes which have no bearing at all on their accompanying inscriptions . These things make one wonder if there is a hidden meaning to the " Book of Gates " for which we do not hold the key . This is mere conjecture, for which we have no proof . But we are inclined to believe that the scene of the multi-headed serpent must have some worthy and basically serious interpretation .

The last majestic scene at the southern end of the passage is an imposing composition and is supposed to represent " The Dawn " . A huge figure of the God Nun triumphantly raises the Solar Boat out of the Primeval Ocean . The ram-headed night form of the Sun God is now replaced by the scarab, Kheperi, God of the Morning Sun . With his serrated forelegs, the great scarab lifts up the solar disk towards the Sky Goddess Nut who stretches out her arms to receive it . She stands on the head of a male human figure bent round in a circle so that his toes touch the back of his head . He is inscribed, " Osiris who encircles the underworld .

Dante's " Inferno ", B.C. !

" The Book of What is in the Underworld ", which is inscribed on the eastern wall of the passage, is an ancient version of " Dante's Inferno " and gives much space to the sufferings of the dead who in their lifetime were displeasing to the gods . Some are beheaded and burned black .

Others evil persons turned upside down in the Other World and having their hearts cut out, note the master draughtsman's corrections to the figures .

While the shadows ( top row ) and spirits of evil-doers are immersed in great cauldrons of boiling water .

The Antechamber ( The Great Hall )

At the southern end of the passage is a rectangular antechamber on the western wall of which is a finely incised and colored scene showing King Merenptah presenting offerings to Osiris, before who stands Horus . Some of the offerings are placed in colored baskets which are identical with those made in Aswan at the present day .

Between the King and Osiris is a version of chapter 141 of the " Book of the Dead " enumerating all the names or epithets of Osiris . We will mention it later in detail .

A small side-chamber ( The South Chamber )

Leading out of the southern end of the antechamber is also decorated with scenes and inscriptions from the " Book of the Dead " .

From the eastern wall of antechamber another sloping short passage, 45 feet long, leads, at right angles to the first, to a long narrow Transverse Chamber of the full breadth of the building . This was roofed with large slabs of stone, in the familiar tent or saddle-shape, the granite saddle roof of which has now fallen in, and bore texts from the Book of the Dead, executed by Merenptah . We will mention it later in detail .