Osiris and Abydos Temple (and Omm Sety!)

Notes inspired by another virtual tour today...

Abydos

Considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt, the sacred city of Abydos was the site of many ancient temples, including Umm el-Qa'ab, a royal necropolis where early pharaohs were entombed. These tombs began to be seen as extremely significant burials and in later times it became desirable to be buried in the area, leading to the growth of the town's importance as a cult site.

Today, Abydos is notable for the memorial temple of Seti I, which contains an inscription from the Nineteenth Dynasty known to the modern world as the Abydos King List. This is a chronological list showing cartouches of most dynastic pharaohs of Egypt from Menes until Seti I's father, Ramesses I. It is also notable for the Abydos graffiti, ancient Phoenician and Aramaic graffiti found on the walls of the Temple of Seti I.

The Great Temple and most of the ancient town are buried under the modern buildings to the north of the Seti temple. Many of the original structures and the artifacts within them are considered irretrievable and lost; many may have been destroyed by the new construction.

From earliest times, Abydos was a cult centre, first of the local deity, Khentiamentiu, and from the end of the Old Kingdom, the rising cult of Osiris. A tradition developed that the Early Dynastic cemetery was the burial place of Osiris and the tomb of Djer was reinterpreted as that of Osiris.

Great Osiris Temple

From the First Dynasty to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, nine or ten temples were successively built on one site at Abydos. The temple was entirely rebuilt on a larger scale by Pepi I in the Sixth Dynasty. In the Twelfth Dynasty, Senusret I laid massive foundations of stone over the pavement of his predecessor. A great temenos was laid out enclosing a much larger area and the new temple itself was about three times the earlier size.

Temple of Seti I (Abydos)

The temple of Seti I also known as the Great Temple of Abydos is one of the main historical sites in Abydos. The temple was built by pharaoh Seti I. A principal purpose of the temple was to serve as a memorial to king Seti I, as well as to show reverence for the early pharaohs, which is incorporated within as part of the "Rite of the Ancestors". The temple of Seti I was built on entirely new ground half a mile to the south of the long series of the earlier temples. This surviving building is best known as the Great Temple of Abydos, being nearly complete and an impressive sight. It includes the Abydos King List.

The Abydos King List (aka the "Rosetta Stone" of Egyptian archaeology)

The long list of the pharaohs of the principal dynasties—recognized by Seti—are carved on a wall and known as the "Abydos King List" (showing the cartouche name of many dynastic pharaohs of Egypt from the first, Narmer or Menes, until Seti's time). There were significant names deliberately left off of the list. So rare, as an almost complete list of pharaoh names, the Table of Abydos, rediscovered by William John Bankes, has been called the "Rosetta Stone" of Egyptian archaeology, analogous to the Rosetta Stone for Egyptian writing, beyond the Narmer Palette.

The helicopter hieroglyphs 

The helicopter hieroglyphs is a name given to part of an Egyptian hieroglyph carving from the Temple of Seti I at Abydos. In paleocontact hypothesis circles, the hieroglyphs have been interpreted as an out-of-place artifact depicting a helicopter (above the nine short vertical bars) as well as other examples of modern technology.

The Osirion

The Osireion is a weird and wonderful structure, unique in Egypt and still baffling for Egyptologists. thearchaeologist.org

The Osirion or Osireion is an ancient megalithic structure located at Abydos, to the rear of the Mortuary Temple of Seti I. Its original purpose is unknown.

It is an integral part of Seti I's funeral complex and is possibly built to resemble an 18th Dynasty Valley of the Kings tomb. The site contains a stone-paved island in the centre, chambers in both wings and, around the island, a water basin of yet undetermined but no less than 10.4m depth which was probably used as a well. Access was via a 69m stone lined passage. In the whole of Egypt, there is no architectural equivalent to the Osireion with its massive blocks, numerous trilithons, extraordinarily narrow and regular joints as well as a lack of round pillars except for the Valley Temple in Giza.

Other learnings and tidbits:

Dorothy Louise Eady (1904-1981), also known as Omm Sety or Om Seti, was born in London and is known for her belief that in a previous life she had been a priestess in ancient Egypt. After falling down a flight of stairs at age 3 and briefly appearing to be dead, she began exhibiting strange behaviours, asking that she be "brought home". She had also developed foreign accent syndrome. 

After being taken by her parents to visit the British Museum, and on observing a photograph (of Seti I) in the New Kingdom temple exhibits room, the young Eady called out "There is my home!" but "where are the trees? Where are the gardens?" She ran about the halls of the Egyptian rooms, "amongst her peoples", kissing the statues' feet. After this trip she took every opportunity to visit the British Museum rooms. There, she eventually met E. A. Wallis Budge, who was taken by her youthful enthusiasm and encouraged her in the study of hieroglyphs. To make a very long story short, in 1931, she moved to Egypt, kissed the ground and announced she had come home to stay. In 1956, she moved to Abydos, which had special significance for her, because it is where she believed Bentreshyt had lived and served in the Temple of Seti. I want to learn more about this very interesting woman!

On 14 February 2021, Egyptian and American archaeologists discovered what could be the oldest brewery in the world dating from around 3100 BCE at the reign of King Narmer. Dr. Matthew Adams, one of the leaders of the mission, stated that it was used to make beer for royal rituals.

Abu Simbel

Today I attended a virtual tour of the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt. I learned a lot, the biggest part being the remarkable relocation of temples in the region the 60's (the Abu Simbel temple was previously located 65m below current location). Lots of insights to the markings and meanings as well. Keeping these notes for myself really...

CREATION

During his reign, Ramesses II embarked on an extensive building program throughout Egypt and Nubia, which Egypt controlled. Nubia was very important to the Egyptians because it was a source of gold and many other precious trade goods. He, therefore, built several grand temples there in order to impress upon the Nubians Egypt's might and Egyptianize the people of Nubia. The most prominent temples are the rock-cut temples near the modern village of Abu Simbel, at the Second Nile Cataract, the border between Lower Nubia and Upper Nubia. There are two temples, the Great Temple, dedicated to Ramesses II himself, and the Small Temple, dedicated to his chief wife Queen Nefertari.

Construction of the temple complex started in approximately 1264 BC and lasted for about 20 years, until 1244 BC. It was known as the "Temple of Ramesses, beloved by Amun".

DISAPPEARANCE

With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand. By the 6th century BC, the sand already covered the statues of the main temple up to their knees. 

REDISCOVERY

The temple was forgotten until 1813, when Swiss researcher Johann Ludwig Burckhardt found the top frieze of the main temple. Burckhardt talked about his discovery with Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni, who travelled to the site, but was unable to dig out an entry to the temple. Belzoni returned in 1817, this time succeeding in his attempt to enter the complex. A detailed early description of the temples, together with contemporaneous line drawings, can be found in Edward William Lane's Description of Egypt (1825–1828).

CAMPAIGN

In 1959, an international donations campaign (PDF) to save the monuments of Nubia began: the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were under threat from the rising waters of the Nile that were about to result from the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

RELOCATION

The salvage of the Abu Simbel temples began in 1964 by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators working together under the UNESCO banner. Between 1964 and 1968, the entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (up to 30 tons, averaging 20 tons), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Some structures were even saved from under the waters of Lake Nasser. (The overall relocations in the area were completed in 1980).

TODAY

The Abu Simbel complex consists of two temples. 

The larger one is dedicated to Ra-Horakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt's three state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. 

The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, personified by Nefertari, Ramesses's most beloved of his many wives. 

Today, a few hundred tourists visit the temples daily. Most visitors arrive by road from Aswan, the nearest city. Others arrive by plane at an airfield that was specially constructed for the temple complex.

MY LEARNINGS... 

In the virtual tour today, I learned:

The temples were relocated in the condition they were found in. If you look at the four seated figures at the front of the main temple, the two on the left (with partially missing heads) appear with rubble at their feet. This collapse of the structures was believed to be from an earthquake at the original site. When the temple was moved, they reconstructed them in the state they were found in.

The baboons shown in the temple signify time. This comes from the fact that baboons urinate hourly, so a baboon represents 1 hour. A god presenting a baboon is presenting a gift of a clock. 

Very much enjoying these virtual tours, funded by donations/tips.

Kurt Vonnegut at 100

 Apparently Kurt Vonnegut would have been 100 today. 

I believe I have just read my first Kurt Vonnegut work, Slaughterhouse-Five. I actually listened to the audiobook version, for a bookclub today. I didn't know it was about the bombing of Dresden in WWII. And interesting to be talking about this today, on Remembrance Day. So much I didn't know...

Kurt Vonnegut would have turned 100 today — his war novels are relevant as ever - NPR

What Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” Tells Us Now (Salman Rushdie New Yorker essay on the novel from 2019) 

Listing his works here, for myself, as reminders:

Novels

• Player Piano (1952)
• The Sirens of Titan (1959)
• Mother Night (1962)
• Cat's Cradle (1963)
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)
• Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) - read, liked it!
• Breakfast of Champions (1973)
• Slapstick (1976)
• Jailbird (1979)
• Deadeye Dick (1982)
• Galápagos (1985)
• Bluebeard (1987)
• Hocus Pocus (1990)
• Timequake (1997)

Short fiction collections

• Canary in a Cat House (1961)
• Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
• Bagombo Snuff Box (1997)
• God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
• Armageddon in Retrospect (2008) – short stories and essays
• Look at the Birdie (2009)
• While Mortals Sleep (2011)
• We Are What We Pretend to Be (2012)
• Sucker's Portfolio (2013)
• Complete Stories (2017)

Nonfiction

• Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974)
• Palm Sunday (1981)
• Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (1984)
• Fates Worse Than Death (1991)
• A Man Without a Country (2005)[66]
• Kurt Vonnegut: The Cornell Sun Years 1941–1943 (2012)
• If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young (2013)
• Vonnegut by the Dozen (2013)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Letters (2014)
• Pity the Reader: On Writing With Style (2019) with Suzanne McConnell
• Love, Kurt: The Vonnegut Love Letters, 1941–1945 (2020) Editor Edith Vonnegut

Plays

• The First Christmas Morning (1962)
• Fortitude (1968)
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)
• Between Time and Timbuktu (1972)
• Stones, Time and Elements (A Humanist Requiem) (1987)
• Make Up Your Mind (1993)
• L'Histoire du Soldat (1997)

Children's books

• Sun Moon Star (1980)

Update: returning periodically to record what I've read (not enough yet!)

A new word to me: prolepsis

From Wikipedia, about James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room:

After a year in Paris, penniless, he calls Jacques, an older homosexual acquaintance, to meet him for supper so he can ask for money. (In a prolepsis, Jacques and David meet again and discuss Giovanni's fall.) 

A prolepsis is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story.