More Important Topics Cylinder

Egypt had a highly developed view of the afterlife with elaborate rituals for preparing the body and soul for a peaceful life after death.

Beliefs about the soul and afterlife focused heavily on preservation of the body, or ba (The soul was known as the ka). This meant that embalming and mummification were practiced, in order to preserve the individual's identity in

the afterlife. Originally the dead were buried in reed caskets in the searing hot sand, which caused the remains to dry quickly, preventing decomposition, and were subsequently buried. Later, they started constructing wooden tombs, and the extensive process of mummification was developed by the Egyptians around the 4th Dynasty.

All soft tissues were removed, and the cavities washed and packed with natron, then the exterior body was buried in natron as well. Since it was a stoneable offence to harm the body of the Pharaoh, even after death, the person who made the cut in the abdomen with a rock knife was ceremonially chased away and had rocks thrown at him.

After coming out of the natron, the bodies were coated inside and out with resin to preserve them, then wrapped with linen bandages, embedded with religious amulets and talismans. In the case of royalty, this was usually then placed inside a series of nested coffins the outermost of which was a stone sarcophagus.

The intestines, lungs, liver and the stomach were preserved separately and stored in canopic jars protected by the Four sons of Horus. Other creatures were also mummified, sometimes thought to be pets of Egyptian families, but more frequently or more likely they were the representations of the Gods. The ibis, crocodile, cats, nile perch and baboon can be found in perfect mummified forms.

The Book of the Dead was a series of almost two hundred spells represented as sectional texts, songs and pictures written on papyrus, individually customized for the deceased, which were buried along with the dead in order to ease their passage into the underworld.

In some tombs, the Book of the Dead has also been found painted on the walls, although the practice of painting on the tomb walls appears to predate the formalization of the Book of the Dead as a bound text. One of the best examples of the Book of the Dead is The Papyrus of Ani, created around 1240 BC, which, in addition to the texts themselves, also contains many pictures of Ani and his wife on their journey through the land of the dead.

In later belief, the soul of the deceased is led into a hall of judgement in Duat by Anubis (god of mummification) and the deceased's heart, which was the record of the morality of the owner, is weighed against a single feather representing Maàt's (the concept of truth, and order).

If the outcome is favorable, the deceased is taken to Osiris, god of the afterlife, in Aaru, but the demon Ammit (Eater of Hearts) – part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus – destroys those hearts whom the verdict is against, leaving the owner to remain in Duat.

A heart that weighed less than the feather was considered a pure heart, not weighed down by the guilt or sins of one's actions in life, resulting in a favorable verdict; a heart heavy with guilt and sin from one's life weighed more than the feather, and wound up eaten by Ammit.

In Egyptian mythology, the human soul is made up of seven parts: the Ren, Sekhem, the Akh, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Sekhu. During life, the soul, including those of animals, and of gods, was thought to inhabit a body (named the Ha (??), meaning flesh).

Egyptians thought of the Akh, Ba and Ka as immortal aspects of the soul. Yet, though it may sound paradoxial, these concepts could only survive if the body of the individual was preserved properly. The Ba for example could not return to the body if it was rotten and unrecognizable and therefore was to roam around forever, hence the mummification of deceased bodies.

Embalmers were given the task to preserve the deceased. Not only did their job require knowledge of human anatomy, they also had to perform rituals at several stages during the process.

It is noteworthy that the Egyptians themselves considered embalming so sacred and secret that no record of the process comes from them but only from foreign observers.

Soon after a person died, their body was rushed to the embalmer to prevent early decay. A typical mummification took 70 days in which craftsmen raced to finish the tomb.

The first step in Egyptian mummification was the removal of all internal organs which are prone to rapid decay. The brain was removed by breaking the bone at the end of the nose with a chisel and inserting a special hook up the nostrils and into the skull. The hook was swished around, breaking down the brain. The now-liquified brain was poured out of the skull through the nose by tipping the head to its side.

Embalmers also removed the stomach, liver, lungs and intestines through a small incision on the left side of the abdomen. According to Herodotus, the man whose job it was to cut the incision was then chased away, for it was thought that the human body was sacred and it was a crime to harm it.

The heart was left in place because it was thought to be the centre of the body. The organs which were removed from the abdomen were stored in so called canopic jars, modelled after the four sons of Horus, who would protect the organs, and place them in the tomb during the burial ritual.

It was believed the person would need these organs to live in the afterlife. Because the function of the brain was not known at the time, it was discarded. In later dynasties, the abdominal organs were treated and wrapped and returned to the body, but unused canopic jars continued to be placed into tombs.

The body was then washed with palm wine. Because of its high alcohol content, it would kill much of the bacteria that had already begun to reproduce.

Next, all moisture would be removed from the body by inserting linen-wrapped pouches of natron (a type of salt found on the banks of Lake Wadi Natrun) into the abdominal cavity through the incision. The rest of the body was then covered with natron and left in the heat.

The result was a dried-out, but recognizable body. The abdominal incision was then covered with a metal plate bearing the Eye of Horus (wedjat) which symbolically healed it.

Finally, the body was wrapped in large amounts of linen, some of which contained spells to help the deceased in their passage to the afterlife. After several stages of wrapping, the body would also be coated in warm resin, before wrapping was continued. The coatings of resin would ensure that the linen wrappings stayed in place. The resins likely included frankincense and myrrh.

To further protect the deceased, magical amulets were placed on specific parts of the body between the layers of wrappings. These included:

Ankh

Scarab

Djed-Djed pillar

Pectoral

Mummy and mummy cases

Finally, the mummy would be interred in varying ways that were dictated by the social status of the deceased. Relatively low-status individuals would simply be mummified and laid in a simple tomb or on a ledge in a larger tomb. Higher-status individuals would be interred in an elaborately decorated case, though perhaps not a stone sarcophagus.

The highest-status individuals, such as pharaohs, would be interred in a set of nesting mummy cases and sarcophagi, which were often extremely elaborate. Perhaps the most important burial ritual was the opening of the mouth ceremony.

This consisted of a priest touching the mouth of the mummy or mummy case with a hooked stick, symbolically opening the mouth of the mummy so that it could breathe and speak in the next life.

In Egyptian mythology, the human soul is made up of seven parts: the Ren, Sekhem, the Akh, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Sekhu. During life, the soul, including those

of animals, and of gods, was thought to inhabit a body (named the Ha (??), meaning flesh).

Egyptians thought of the Akh, Ba and Ka as immortal aspects of the soul. Yet, though it may sound paradoxial, these concepts could only survive if the body of the individual was preserved properly.

The Ba for example could not return to the body if it was rotten and unrecognizable and therefore was to roam around forever, hence the mummification of deceased bodies.

The Egyptians did not want to leave at random the question of life after death; for this reason, in addition to mummifying the body, they realized a series of magic rituals the revitalización of the body insured herself.

One was opening ceremony of the mouth and the eyes, which it was doing to itself with the instruments in the door of the grave, and by means of which one was proceeding to wake up the senses of the deceased .

Mummies formed as a result of naturally occurring environmental conditions, such as extreme cold (Ötzi the Iceman), acid (Tollund Man) or desiccating dryness have been found all over the world.

Some of the best-preserved mummies formed under natural conditions date from the Inca period in Peru.

Natural mummification is fairly rare, requiring specific conditions to occur, but it has produced some of the oldest known mummies.

The most famous ancient mummy is Ötzi the Iceman, frozen in a glacier in the Ötztal Alps around 3300 BC and found in 1991. An even older but less well preserved mummy was found in Spirit Cave, Nevada in 1940 and carbon-dated to around 7400 BC.

The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark have all produced a number of bog bodies, mummies of people deposited in sphagnum bogs apparently as a result of murder or ritual sacrifices. In such cases, the acidity of the water, the cold temperature and the lack of oxygen combine to tan the body's skin and soft tissues.

The skeleton typically disintegrates over time. Such mummies are remarkably well preserved, with skin and internal organs surviving ; it is even possible to determine what their last meal was by examining their stomach contents.

In 1972, eight remarkably preserved mummies were discovered at an abandoned Inuit settlement called Qilakitsoq, in Greenland.

The "Greenland Mummies" consisted of a six-month old baby, a four year old boy, and six women of various ages, who died around 500 years ago. Their bodies were naturally mummified by the sub-zero temperatures and dry winds in the cave in which they were found.

Some of the best-preserved mummies date from the Inca period in Peru some 500 years ago, where children were ritually sacrificed and placed on the summits of mountains in the Andes. The cold, dry climate had the effect of desiccating the corpses and preserving them intact.

In the state of Guanajuato, Mexico mummies were discovered in a cemetery of a city named Guanajuato northwest of Mexico City (near Léon).

They are accidental modern mummies and were literally "dug up" between the years 1896 and 1958 when a local law required relatives to pay a kind of grave tax. The Guanajuato mummies are on display in the Museo de las momias high on a hill overlooking the city.

Imset (depicted as a human) was responsible for the liver;

Hapi (a baboon) for the lungs;

Duamutef (a jackal) for the stomach;

Kebechsenef (a falcon) for the viscera of the lower body.

Alternatively, the jars themselves, or the jar lids, were made in the shape of the representative god.

The Egyptians considered the heart to be the seat of the soul, so it was the only organ not removed from the body. The brain was not preserved (it was held to be only responsible for producing mucus), but instead was liquefied and completely drained from the corpse through the nostrils.

Sometimes the covers of the jars were modelled after (or painted to resemble) the head of Anubis, the god of embalming. These vases have an elongated form, and surviving examples of them can be seen in museums. The canopic jars were buried in tombs together with the sarcophagus of the deceased, in order to preserve the integrity of the entire body after death (the viscera were extracted to prevent the putrefaction of the corpse). It was also done because the dead person would need their organs for the afterlife.

By extension, due to the similarity of their form, some Etruscan cinerary urns were also called canopic jars, made of clay or bronze, often put on the replica of a throne into the tombs, and with a male or female head modelled on them, representing the deceased's face with the handles having the form of arms.

The name "canopic jar"

Canopus was an ancient Egyptian coastal town in the Nile Delta. Its site is in the eastern outskirts of modern-day Alexandria, around 25 kilometres from the centre of that city.

The god Osiris was worshipped at Canopus under the form of a vase with a human head. Through an old misunderstanding, the name "canopic jar" was applied by early Egyptologists to any vase with a human or animal head.

Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Wesir, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god of life, death and fertility. At the height of the ancient Nile civilization, Osiris was regarded as the primary deity of a henotheism.

Osiris was not only the merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. Beginning at about 2000 B.C. all men, not just dead pharaohs, were believed to be associated with Osiris at death.

The origin of Osiris's name is a mystery, which forms an obstacle to knowing the pronunciation of its hieroglyphic form.

The majority of current thinking is that the Egyptian name is pronounced aser where the a is the letter ayin (i.e. a short 'a' pronounced from the back of the throat as if swallowing).

Origin of name

The name was first recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs only as ws-ir because the Egyptian writing system omitted vowels. It is reconstructed to have been pronounced *?Us-Iri and survives into the Coptic language as Ousire.

Osiris is first mentioned in the 4th Dynasty, though it is regarded as highly plausible that he may have evolved from the god Andjety. In the first mentions of Osiris, he was

regarded the god of the underworld and the dead in the Ennead version of Egyptian mythology, in which he was one of the four children of the earth (Geb) and the sky (Nut), and was the brother and husband of Isis (Aset), who represented life.

Every Khu, an aspect of the soul, seeking admission to Aaru, the Egyptian paradise, was referred to as an Osiris. As god of the dead, Babi, the god who devoured unworthy souls, was described as his first-born son.

In art, since he was representative of death, Osiris was usually depicted as a mummified man, with a beard, and, as ruler of the underworld, was also given the symbols of kingship - the crown, flail, and crozier.

Usually, he also was depicted as having green skin, a reference to rotting flesh, and thus to death. Alternatively, the green color could also recall the color of new vegetation in Osiris' capacity of renewing life, similar to his nightly resurrection by Re.

In the Book of the Dead there are a series of funerary formulas addressed almost exclusively to Osiris, to be learned by a man when living or inscribed on his coffin so he might enter the "blessed abodes" after death. Only those initiated into the Osirian cult would know its doctrines and ceremonials, for these were, according to the Book of the Dead, “an exceedingly great mystery…in the handwriting of the god himself…. And these things shall be done secretly” (in the rubric accompanying Ch. CXXXVIIa).

The Greeks, who also copied these sacred writings, declared it a sacrilege to reveal the rites or doctrines of the mysteries. Herodotus, Plutarch and Pausanias all noted that they were not allowed to repeat what they had learned from Egyptian religious rituals. The Osirian Myth is, however, fully retold by Plutarch (Isis and Osiris, 12-20) and elaborated and reinforced by Diodorus Siculus (Library of History I, 11-27).

The main visible source of decomposition, of rotting flesh, is its consumption by insects, beetles, and other small animals. Since these animals are the prey of centipedes, centipedes became seen by the Egyptians as protecting the dead, and consequently, in Heliopolis, became thought of as an aspect of Osiris, the lord of the dead.

In this form, he was known as Sepa (also spelt Sep), meaning centipede, being depicted either as a normal centipede or as a mummified figure with two horns, reflecting both Osiris' role as lord of the dead, and the prominent horn-like Antennae exhibited by centipedes. Since centipedes are venomous, Sepa was seen as having authority over snake bites and scorpion stings, and so was invoked for protection against these things.

The presence of earthworms improves the fertility of soil, and such simple observations were known in ancient times, although it was often associated with other creatures usually present in healthy soil as well.

Since centipedes prey on such animals, they would usually be found in the same locations, and thus also became associated with soil fertility. Because centipedes usually roam around soil, Sepa was also associated with the Earth, and his actions seen to improve its fertility. In consequence, Sepa was sometimes depicted with the head of a donkey, a major symbol of soil fertility due to the beneficial effects, to soil, of manure from donkeys in particular (horse manure would be more notable, but horses were not present in Egypt then)

Father of Anubis

Later, when the Ennead and Ogdoad cosmogenies became merged, with the identification of Ra as Atum (Atum-Ra), gradually Anubis, the god of the underworld in the Ogdoad system, was replaced by Osiris, whose cult had become more significant. In order to explain this, Anubis was said to have given way to Osiris out of respect, and, as an underworld deity, was subsequently identified as being Osiris' son. Abydos, which had been a strong centre of the cult of Anubis, became a centre of the cult of Osiris.

However, as Isis, Osiris' wife, represented life, in the Ennead, it was considered somewhat inappropriate for her to be the mother of a god associated with death, and so instead, it was usually said that Nephthys, the other of the two female children of Geb and Nut, was his mother. To explain the apparent infidelity of Osiris, it was said that a sexually frustrated Nephthys had disguised herself as Isis to get more attention from her husband, Set, but did not succeed, although Osiris then mistook her for Isis, and they procreated, resulting in Anubis' birth.

Father of Horus

Later, when Hathor's identity (from the Ogdoad) was assimilated into that of Isis, Horus, who had been Isis' husband (in the Ogdoad), became considered her son, and thus, since Osiris was Isis' husband (in the Ennead), Osiris also became considered Horus' father.

Attempts to explain how Osiris, a god of the dead, could give rise to someone so definitely alive as Horus, lead to the development of the Legend of Osiris and Isis, which became the greatest myth in Egyptian mythology.

The myth described Osiris as having been killed by his brother Set who wanted Osiris' throne. Osiris was subsequently resurrected by Anubis. Osiris and Isis gave birth to Horus. As such, since Horus was born after Osiris' resurrection, Horus became thought of as representing new beginnings. This combination, Osiris-Horus, was therefore a life-death-rebirth deity, and thus associated with the new harvest each year.

Ptah-Seker (who resulted from the identification of Ptah as Seker), who was god of re-incarnation, thus gradually became identified with Osiris, the two becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris (rarely known as Ptah-Seker-Atum, although this was just the name, and involved Osiris rather than Atum). As the sun was thought to spend the night in the underworld, and subsequently be re-incarnated, as both king of the underworld, and god of reincarnation, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was identified as the sun during the night.

Since Osiris was considered dead, as God of the Dead, Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially so in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjed (also spelt Banebded or Banebdjedet, which is technically feminine) which literally means The ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar of stability.

The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris, since the Egyptians had associated death, and the dead, as symbolic of stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra, since Ra, when he had become identified with Atum, was considered Osiris' ancestor, from whom his regal authority was inherited.

Ba does not, however, quite mean soul in the western sense, and also has a lot to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed.

A living, sacred ram, was even kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis.

In Mendes, they had considered Hatmehit, a local fish-goddess, as the most important god/goddess, and so when the cult of Osiris became more significant, Banebdjed was identified in Mendes as deriving his authority from being married to Hatmehit.

Later, when Horus became identified as the child of Osiris (in this form Horus is known as Harpocrates in greek and Har-pa-khered in Egyptian), Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus' father, as Banebdjed is an aspect of Osiris.

In occult writings, Banebdjed is often called the goat of Mendes, and identified with Baphomet; the fact that Banebdjed was a ram (sheep), not a goat, is apparently overlooked.

Mystery religion

The Cult of Osiris

The cult of Osiris had a particularly strong interest towards the concept of immortality. According to the myth surrounding the cult, Set (Osiris's evil brother) fooled Osiris into getting into a coffin, which he then shut and threw into the Nile. Osiris's wife searched for his remains until she finally found them and brought them back to Egypt.

Once Osiris's evil brother found out, he cut the body into pieces, and again threw them into the Nile. The faithful wife of Osiris, Isis, gathered up all the parts of the body and bandaged them together for a proper burial. The Gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and thus restored Osiris to life in the form of a different kind of existence as the god of the underworld. Because of his death and resurrection, Osiris is associated with the flooding and retreating of the Nile and thus with the crops along the Nile valley.

The passion and resurrection

Plutarch and others have noted that the sacrifices to Osiris were “gloomy, solemn, and mournful…” (Isis and Osiris, 69) and that the great mystery festival, celebrated in two phases, began at Abydos on the 17th of Athyr (Nov. 13th) commemorating the death of the god, which is also the same day that grain was planted in the ground. “The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives.

The resurrection of the god symbolized the rebirth of the grain.” (Larson 17) The first phase of the festival was a public drama depicting the murder and dismemberment of Osiris, the search for his body by Isis, his triumphal return as the resurrected god, and the battle in which Horus defeated Set.

This was all presented by skilled actors as a literary history, and was the main method of recruiting cult membership. According to Julius Firmicus Maternus of the fourth century, this play was re-enacted each year by worshippers who “beat their breasts and gashed their shoulders…. When they pretend that the mutilated remains of the god have been found and rejoined…they turn from mourning to rejoicing.” (De Errore Profanorum).

The Passion of Osiris was re-enacted at all of his temples during his annual festivals. On a stele at Abydos erected in the 12th Dynasty by I-Kher-Nefert, a priest of Osiris during the reign of Usertsen III (Pharaoh Sesostris, about 1875 BC) we find the principle scenes of the mystery-drama depicted (I-Kher-Nefert played Horus). In the first scene, Osiris is slain, no one knowing what happened to his body, and the onlookers weep and mourn, rend their hair and beat their breasts.

Isis and Nepthys then recover the remnants and return to the temple. In the second scene, Thoth, Horus and Isis revive Osiris in the sanctuary, not witnessed by the populace. Then Osiris emerges, to much rejoicing.

Horus then places Osiris in a solar boat, to proceed directly to the eternal regions, known as the “coming forth by day” mentioned so often in the Book of the Dead. The climax of the play is the great battle between Horus and Set, described in detail by Herodotus (History II, 63).

Wheat and clay rituals

Differing from the public portion above, an esoteric phase consisted of ceremonials performed inside the temples by priests witnessed only by initiates. Plutarch mentions that two days after the beginning of the festival “the priests bring forth sacred chest containing a small golden coffer, into which they pour some potable water…and a great shout arises from the company for joy that Osiris is found (or resurrected).

Then they knead some fertile soil with the water…and fashion therefrom a crescent-shaped figure, which they cloth and adorn, this indicating that they regard these gods as the substance of Earth and Water.” (Isis and Osiris, 39). Yet even he was obscure, for he also wrote, “I pass over the cutting of the wood” opting to not describe it since he considered it most sacred (Ibid. 21).

In the Osirian temple at Denderah, an inscription (translated by Budge, Chapter XV, Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection) describes in detail the making of wheat paste models of each dismembered piece of Osiris to be sent out to the town where each piece was discovered by Isis.

At the temple of Mendes, figures of Osiris are made from wheat and paste placed in a trough on the day of the murder, then water added for several days, when finally the mixture was kneaded into a mold of Osiris and taken to the temple and buried (the sacred grain for these cakes only grown in the temple fields). Molds are made from wood of a red tree in the forms of the sixteen dismembered parts of Osiris, cakes of divine bread made from each mold, placed in a silver chest and set near the head of the god, the inward parts of Osiris as described in the Book of the Dead (XVII).

On the first day of the Festival of Ploughing, where the goddess Isis appears in her shrine where she is stripped naked, Paste made from the grain is placed in her bed and moistened with water, representing the fecund earth. All of these sacred rituals were climaxed by the eating of sacramental god, the eucharist by which the celebrants were transformed, in their persuasion, into replicas of their god-man (Larson 20).

The Osirian Sacrament

Although there were ethical and ceremonial considerations none of these could compare to the power of the divine eucharist, since it was literally believed to be the body (bread) and blood (ale) of the god. Since the ancient Nilotics believed that humans were whatever they eat, this sacrament was, by extension, able to make them celestial and immortal.

The doctrine of the eucharist ultimately has its roots in prehistoric cannibalism, whose practitioners understood that virtues and powers of the eaten can be thus absorbed by the eater. This phenomenon has been described throughout the world.

One of the oldest of the Pyramid Texts is the Unas from the 6th Dynasty (circa 2500 BC). It shows that the original ideology of Egypt commingled with Osirian concepts. Although ultimately given a high place in heaven by order of Osiris, Unas is at first an enemy of the gods and his ancestors, who he hunts, lassoes, kills, cooks, and eats so that their powers may become his own.

This was written at a time when the eating of parents and gods was a laudable ceremony, and this emphasizes how hard it must have been to stamp out the older order of cannibalism. “He eats men, he feeds on the gods…he cooks them in his fiery cauldrons. He eats their words of power, he swallows their spirits…. He eats the wisdom of every god, his period of life is eternity…. Their soul is in his body, their spirits are within him.”

A parallel passage is found in the Pyramid Text of Pepi II, who is said to have “seizeth those who are a follower of Set…he breaketh their heads, he cutteth off their haunches, he teareth out their intestines, he diggeth out their hearts, he drinketh copiously of their blood!” (line 531, ff).

Although crude, this was a core concept, the conviction that one could receive immortality by eating the flesh and blood of a god who had died became a dominating obsession in the ancient world. Although the cult of Osiris forbade cannibalism, it did not outlaw dismemberment and eating of enemies, and practiced the ritual rending and eating of the sacred bull, symbolizing Osiris.

Although this sacramental concept only originated once in history, it spread throughout the Mediterranean area and became the dynamic force in every mystery cult. It was only by this sacerdotal means that the corruptible deceased could be clothed in incorruption and this idea appears again and again in infinite variety.

The scribe Nebseni implores: “And there in the celestial mansions of heaven which my divine father Tem hath established, let my hands lay hold upon the wheat and the barley which shall be given unto me therein in abundant measure” (Ibid. LXXII). Nu corroborates that this is the eucharist by saying: “I am established, and the divine Sekhet-hetep is before me, I have eaten therein, I have become a spirit therein, I have abundance therein.” (Ibid. LXXVII) Again Nu states: “I am the divine soul of Ra…which is god…I am the divine food which is not corrupted” (Ibid. LXXXV).

The ancientness of the concept is again reaffirmed in the Pyramid Text of Teta (2600 BC) where the Osiris Teta “receivest thy bread which decayeth not, and thy beer which perisheth not” In the Text of Pepi I we read: “All the gods give thee their flesh and their blood…. Thou shalt not die.” In the Text of Pepi II the aspirant prays for “thy bread of eternity, and thy beer of everlastingness” (Line 390).

Osiris-Dionysus

By the Hellenic era, Greek awareness of Osiris had grown, and attempts had been made to merge Greek philosophy, such as Platonism, and the cult of Osiris (especially the myth of his resurrection), resulting in a new mystery religion. Gradually, this became more popular, and was exported to other parts of the Greek sphere of influence.

However, these mystery religions valued the change in wisdom, personality, and knowledge of fundamental truth, rather than the exact details of the acknowledged myths on which their teachings were superimposed. Thus in each region that it was exported to, the myth was changed to be about a similar local god, resulting in a series of gods, who had originally been quite distinct, but who were now syncretisms with Osiris. These gods became known as Osiris-Dionysus.

Serapis

Eventually, in Egypt, the Hellenic pharaohs decided to produce a deity that would be acceptable to both the local Egyptian population, and the influx of Hellenic visitors, to bring the two groups together, rather than allow a source of rebellion to grow. Thus Osiris was identified explicitly with Apis, really an aspect of Ptah, who had already been identified as Osiris by this point, and a syncretism of the two was created, known as Serapis, and depicted as a standard Greek god.

Destruction

Osiris-worship continued up until the 6th century AD on the island of Philae in Upper Nile. The Theodosian decree (in about 380 AD) to destroy all pagan temples and force worshippers to accept Christianity was ignored there.

However, Justinian dispatched a General Narses to Philae, who destroyed the Osirian temples and sanctuaries, threw the priests into prison, and carted the sacred images off to Constantinople. However, by that time, the soteriology of Osiris had assumed various forms which had long spread far and wide in the ancient world.

In Further away, the deceased was guided by the god Anubis before the court of Osiris. Anubis was extracting magically the heart and was placing it on the saucer of a scales. This one was counterweighed by the pen of Maat,

symbol of the Truth.

Meanwhile, a jury composed by gods was formulating his questions to next to his past conduct. Depending on his responses the heart was diminishing or increasing his weight. Thot, acting as scribe, was noting down the results and they were delivered to Osiris.

At the end of the judgment, Osiris was pronouncing sentence:

If this affirmative age his Ka and his Ba they could go to meet the mummy, shape the Aj and live eternally.

But if the verdict was negative, his heart was thrown to Ammit, the devouring one of the dead persons (a pathetic being with head of crocodile, long hair of lion, torso and human arms and legs of hippopotamus), that it was finishing with him. This was named the second death and supposed for the deceased the end of his condition of immortal.

As soon as the Pharaoh was died, the body is loaded in the funeral boat, which was crossing the Nile, and it was reaching the western shore, place where the kingdom of the dead persons was located.

The boat was penetrating for an artificial channel, which he was leading to the place of docking, placed in front of the Temple of the Valley.

It serves as physical support for other elements, for what debit of being mummified to assure his uncorruptibility, and that way, to guarantee that the person will keep on existing still after deceased .

The heart, according to egyptian beliefs, was the "head office" of the human toughts, such the positive as the negative, and that is why it was the element confrontated against Maat in the Judgement of Osiris.

Akh:

In Egyptian mythology, the human soul is made up of

seven parts: the Ren, Sekhem, the Akh, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Sekhu. During life, the soul, including those of animals, and of gods, was thought to inhabit a body (named the Ha (??), meaning flesh).

Egyptians thought of the Akh, Ba and Ka as immortal aspects of the soul. Yet, though it may sound paradoxial, these concepts could only survive if the body of the individual was preserved properly.

The Ba for example could not return to the body if it was rotten and unrecognizable and therefore was to roam around forever, hence the mummification of deceased bodies.

Ren (name)

A person's name (ren in Egyptian) was given to them at birth and would live for as long as that name was spoken, which explains why efforts were made to protect it, placing it in large amounts of writings.

For example, part of the Book of Breathings, a descendant of the Book of the Dead, was for ensuring the survival of the name. A cartouche (magical rope) was often used to surround the name and protect it for eternity. Conversely, the names of deceased enemies of the state, such as Akhenaten, were studiously hacked out of monuments.

Sekhem

The Sekhem is the Energy, Power, and Light of the person who has died.

Akh

The Akh (meaning shiner), was a concept that varied over the long history of Egyptian belief. It was, at first, the unchanging unification of Ka and Ba, which united after the death of the physical body. In this sense, it was a sort of ghost.

The Akh was then a part of the Akh-Akh, the panoply of Akhs from other people, gods and animals. In this system, it was the aspect of a person that would join the gods in the underworld being immortal and unchangeable.

In later belief, the Ka was considered to change into the Akh and Ba after death, rather than uniting with the Ba to become the Akh. At this stage, it was believed that the Akh spent some time dwelling in the underworld before returning and being reincarnated as a Ka, gaining a new Ba.

The separation of Akh / unification of Ka and Ba was created after death, by having the proper offerings made and knowing the proper efficacious spell, but there was an attendant risk of dying again. Egyptian funerary literature (such as the Coffin Texts and the Book of the Dead) were intended to aid the deceased in "not dying a second time" and becoming an akh.

Alternative: Khu.

Ba (soul/personality)

The 'Ba' ('b3') is in some regards the closest to the Western notion of the soul, but it also was everything that makes an individual unique, similar to the notion of 'personality'. (In this sense, inanimate objects could also have a 'Ba', a unique character, and indeed Old Kingdom pyramids were often called the 'Ba' of their owner).

Like a soul, the 'Ba' is a part of a person that lives after the body dies, and it is sometimes depicted as a human-headed bird flying out of the tomb to join with the 'Ka' in the afterlife.

As with humans, deities could also have 'Bau' (plural of Ba), but in the case of divine beings, it was even more associated with their 'impressiveness', 'power', and 'reputation'.

When a god intervened in human affairs, it was said that the 'Bau' (plural of 'Ba') of the god were at work [Borghouts 1982]. In this regard, the king was regarded as a 'Ba' of a god, or one god was believed to be the 'Ba' of another.

Ka (corporal presence/life force)

The Ka (k3) was the concept of life force, the difference between a living and a dead person, death occurring when the ka left the body. The Ka was thought to be created by Chnum on a potter's wheel, or passed on to children via their father's semen.

The Egyptians also believed that the ka was sustained through food and drink. For this reason food and drink offerings were presented to the dead, though it was the kau (k3w) within the offerings (also known as kau) that was consumed, not the physical aspect. The ka was often represented in Egyptian iconography as a second image of the individual, leading earlier works to attempt to translate ka as double.

Julian Jaynes in his theoretical work The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind suggests that the "ka" originally was a hallucinated god-voice similar to that experienced in schizophrenia.

According to his theory, most people were not fully conscious in the early ancient period, and hence his theory is regarded as fringe by the mainstream.

Sheut (shadow)

A person's shadow (šwt in Egyptian) was always present. A person could not exist without a shadow, nor the shadow without the person. The shadow was represented as a small human figure painted completely black.

Alternative: Khaibit

Sekhu

The remains of a person, the physical body.

Several species of the dung beetles, most notably Scarabaeus sacer (often referred to as "scarab"), enjoyed a sacred status among the ancient Egyptians, as the creatures were likened to the god Khepri. Some scholars suggest that the people's practice of making mummies was inspired by the brooding process of the beetle.

Many thousands of amulets and stamp seals have been excavated that depict the scarab. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky.

During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified

deceased. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart, "Do not stand as a witness against me."

The scarab was an amulet of life and power, with the shape of a dung bettle(scarabaeus sacer), that represented the rising sun, and was symbol of resurrection in egyptian mythology.

In life it proportioned protection against evil, visible or invisible, giving daily strenght and power. In death, the one who carried it adquiered the posibility of resuscitating and reaching eternal life.

The scarabs were carved in many materials: basalt, granite, and precious stones as the lapis lazuli, amethyst, coral, and even in gold.

It wasvery used during the Second Middle Period (Hicsos) and the XVIII dinasty, giving Thutmose III the use of royal stamp.

The ankh (pronounced 'ahnk', symbol ?) was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that stood for the word ?n?, which means life. Egyptian gods may carry it by the loop, or bear one in each hand crossed over their breast. Latinists

interpreted the symbol as a crux ansata, "cross with a handle".

What it was intended to represent remains a mystery to Egyptologists, and no single hypothesis has yet been widely accepted.

Some have speculated that it was a stylized womb[citation needed]. Sir Alan Gardiner speculated that it represented a sandal strap, with the loop going around the ankle. The word for sandal strap was also spelled ?n?, although it may have been pronounced differently. Howard Carter speculated it could be a primitive representation of human genitalia.

In their 2004 book "The Quick and the Dead", Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the Ankh, Djed and Was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture (and linked to the Egyptian belief that semen was created in the spine), thus:

the Ankh - symbol of life - thoracic vertebrae of a bull (seen in cross section)

the Djed - symbol of stability - base on sacrum of a bull's spine

the Was - symbol of power and dominion - a staff made from a dried bull's penis

The original meaning of this Egyptian symbol is also not known. One suggests that it combines the male and female symbols of Osiris (the cross) and Isis (the oval) and therefore signifies the union of heaven and earth[citation needed]. As a hieroglyph, it likely encompassed a range of meanings depending on its associated hieroglyphs but all of these expressions centered around the concept of life or life force.

Over time, the ankh certainly came to symbolize life and immortality, the universe, power and life giving air and water. "Its keylike shape also encouraged the belief it could unlock the gates of death." The Coptic Christians used it as a symbol of life after death[citation needed]. The ankh has been used in ritual magic.

It also appears to be a 'cross' between a crucifix and the 'christian' (flat) fish symbol which is also represented as determining a point of origin and a vanishing point by drawing two curves around the three main pyramids[citation needed].

Two ankhs could therefore represent two crossed fishes being a combination of the symbol for Pisces and a crucifix[citation needed].

In Egyptian art

The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art; it often appears at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person's mummy.

The ankh symbol was often carried by Egyptians as an amulet, either alone, or in connection with two other hieroglyphs that mean "strength" and "health." Mirrors were often made in the shape of an ankh. Sometimes, in art, the Ankh was shown being touched by a god onto a person, which usually symbolized conception.

The Ankh is defined as: The symbolic representation of both Physical and Eternal life. It is known as the original cross, which is a powerful symbol that was first created by Africans in Ancient Egypt.

The Ankh is commonly known to mean life in the language of Ancient Kemet (land of the Blacks) renamed Egypt by the Greeks. It is also a symbol for the power to give and sustain life, the Ankh is typically associated with material things such as water(which was believed by Egyptians to regenerate life), air, sun, as well as with the Gods, who are frequently pictured carrying an Ankh.

The Egyptian king is often associated with the Ankh also, either in possession of an Ankh (providing life to his people) or being given an Ankh (or stream of Ankhs) by the Gods. There are numerous examples that have been found that were made from metal, clay and wood. It is usually worn as an amulet to extent the life of living and placed on the mummy to energize the resurrected spirit.

The Gods and the Kings are often shown carrying the Ankh to distinguish them from mere mortals. The Ankh symbolized eternal life and bestowed immortality on anyone who possessed it. It is believed that life energy emanating from the Ankh can be absorbed by anyone within a certain proximity.

An Ankh serves as an antenna or conduit for the divine power of life that permeates the universe. The amulet is a powerful talisman that provides the wearer with protection from the evil forces of decay and degeneration.

The loop of the Ankh is held by the Gods. It is associated with Isis and Osiris in the Early Dynastic Period. The Loop of the Anhk also represent the feminine discipline or the (Womb), while the elongated section represent the masculine discipline or the (Penis). These two sacred units then come together and form life.

Because of its powerful appeal, the Ankh was used in various religious and cultural rituals involving royalty. In the Treasures of Tutankhumun, the Ankh was a major artifact found in the tomb. The circle symbolizes eternal life and the cross below it represents the material plane.

The Ankh is called the "Crux Ansata," it is of Egyptian origin and can be traced to the Early Dynastic Period, appearing frequently in artwork of various material and in relief, depicting the Gods.

It is usually held to the nose of the deceased king by the Gods to represent the breath of life given in the after-world. The Ankh also resembles a key and is considered the key to eternal life after death.

Its influence was felt in every dynastic period and survives as an icon possessing mystical power throughout the Coptic Christian era. The Ankh possessed by each God had power associated with that God. The Ankh of the God Anubis is related to the protection of the dead, that of Sekmet, War, Hapi related to the living waters of the Nile and Amen, the spirit God, the breath of life.

For more information and research check out the book The Ankh- The African Origin of Electromagnetism By Nur Ankh Amen

In alchemy

A similar symbol (?) was used to represent the Roman goddess Venus. This symbol, known benignly as Venus' hand-mirror, is much more associated with a representation of the female womb. The same symbol is used in astrology to represent the planet Venus, in alchemy to represent the element copper, and in biology to identify the female sex.

The long-standing importance of the Ankh, and its deep symbolism to the dynastic Egyptians, led to it being gradually adopted by the fourth century Christian church in Egypt (which eventually became the Coptic Church).

This is highly significant, as it is almost certainly the genesis of the cross as the central thematic symbol of the Christian religion. A kind of cross, the ankh had long been a central religious symbol. It was non-anthropormorphic; not even animal-like. (Many Egyptian gods had been animal-faced human figures.) Anknaton's benevolent sun was the only other symbol that was so esoteric.

This cross implied all of the "god ideas" that are infinite in nature. As monotheism is at the core of Christian belief, the ankh seemed a logical choice to symbolize the belief in one all-powerful God. Over time, the idea that His son had died on some type of cross made it seem all the more appropriate.[citation needed]

To Christians outside of the ankh's influence, the image of the Roman cross of execution was "shameful" in the same manner as a hanging noose or a headsman's ax would be. Especially to professed Christains in fourth century Egypt, the association of the ankh with the cross seemed comfortable and familiar. [citation needed]

Elsewhere, the main Christian symbol at the time had been a stylised alpha, resembling a fish, and therefore known as Ichthys, the Greek word for 'fish'. However, the new "more positive" symbol of a cross eventually spread throughout the Christianized Empire. The distinct circular or "gothic arch-like" upper part of the Ankh was kept well into mediaeval times. The Ankh symbol often being used as a Christian talisman.

The photograph shown of a Christian 3rd Century bust with a transitional "ankh becoming a cross" was found in the 1960s in the Fayuom, Egypt archeological region. It is analogous to the "archaeopteryx fossil", the famous "Dinosaur into Bird" relic, which lends tangible support to the transitional concept. (If you have red-cyan glasses you'll see it in museum grade 3D)

In Unicode, the ankh sign is U+2625 (?).

Djed Pillar

The Djed pillar represents stability and has been interpreted as the backbone of the Egyptian god Osiris, especially in the form Banebdjed (the ba of the lord of the djed). Djed is the Egyptian name for Busiris, a centre of the cult of Osiris.

In their 2004 book "The Quick and the Dead", Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the Ankh, Djed and Was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture, thus:

the Ankh - symbol of life - thoracic vertebrae of a bull (seen in cross section)

the Djed - symbol of stability - base or sacrum of a bull's spine

the Was - symbol of power and dominion - a staff made from a dried bull's penis

Gordon and Schwabe's speculation is based on the Egyptian belief that semen was formed from spinal fluid. Applying the above correspondences, according to Gordon and Schwabe, the essence of life starts here in the Ankh - it flows down through the vertebral canal, past the strong base of the spine (the Djed), and out through the penis, the Was - symbol of power.

Knot of Isis (tyet)

The Knot of Isis is a symbol of Egyptian mythology. In Egyptian mythology, it represents life. It is variously called the Knot of Isis and the Blood of Isis. It may have originated from the Ankh symbol, and may have become associated with Isis because it is so often paired with the djed pillar, a symbol of Osiris. This implies the parity of life and death, Isis and Osiris.

The Knot of Isis is a simple knot with three loops--one small one on top, with two long, thin loops on either side. The ends of the rope hang down from the nexus where the three loops meet. It vaguely resembles the Christian cross and the Egyptian Ankh.

Ib or Heart

As in life, the heart still being the vital center of the body.

Ures or headrest

This amulet used to protect and guide the head of the dead.

Uady or Papyrus

The column in the shape of a papyrus symbolized the blossom in the otherworld.

Jepesh or Ox Paw

It was a part of the funeral ritual of opening of the mouth and was denoting so much the divine strenght as that of the human arm.

Ajet or horizon

The sun between the mountains represented the rising and west sun: the resurrection.

Egida

In an beginning this amulet was the counterweight of the Menat necklace, used in the cult of Hathor.

The deceased must be recognized in the otherworld. For this motive, on the blindfolds of the mummified body a mask was placed with an idealized portrait.

The masks of the Pharaohs were done of gold and lapis lazuli. According to the myth, the flesh of the gods was of gold, his hair was of lapis lazuli and his silver bones, very scarce material in Egypt.

The Pharaohs were represented by the appearance of the god Osiris, sovereign of the dead persons.

In the head they were taking the nemes, which was a haido to streaks with the ureo, the protective snake of the Pharaohs, in the frontal part. The arms were turning out to

be crossed on the breast and with a hand they were holding the real scepter, whereas with other one they were supporting a scourge.

The mask of Tutankhamen

It is a golden piece with imcrustations of lapis lazuli that was placed directly on the mummy, covering head and part of the shoulders. The haido with the goddesses Nejbet and Uadyet, represented the first one as vulture and the second one as he charges, were protecting to the Pharaoh and the haido of nemes, handkerchief and the false braided beard.

Funeral mask of the Pharao Psusennes I

Exhumed of the Grave of Tanis III (delta of the Nile). The used material is a gold (different pieces ensabladas with nails), except for the eyebrows and the outline of eyes, which are of lapis lazuli, and the eyes that are of glass pasta.

His attributes are the nemes, the ureo or he charges in the front, the ritual beard that, on having been braided, symbolizes the death of the sovereign one, as well as the pectoral one or usej. It survives in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo. The XXIst dynasty (cc. 1039 adC-990 adC)

A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. The word comes from Greek "sarx" meaning flesh, and "Phagos" meaning to eat, so sarkophagos, which means "eater of flesh". The 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that early sarcophagi (the plural) were

carved from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside. In particular, coffins made of a limestone from Assus in the Troad known as lapis Assius had the property of consuming the bodies placed within them, and therefore was also called sarkophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone). All coffins made of limestone have this property to a greater or lesser degree, and the name eventually came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

Sarcophagi were usually carved, decorated or built ornately. Some were built to be freestanding above ground, as a part of an elaborate tomb or tombs. Others were made for burial, or were placed in crypts.

In Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus was usually the external layer of protection for a royal Egyptian mummy, with several layers of coffins nested within. The word sarcophagus is also commonly used to describe the large concrete structure erected around the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to isolate it from the environment, following the Chernobyl disaster.

The fly family Sarcophagidae (the "flesh-flies") derives its name similarly, and the roots of the word carnivore similarly translate to "eater of flesh", though the meaning is different.

Sarcophagus of Inyotef V, of dinasty XVII

The sarcophagus is made of golden wood, as golden was the skin of the gods, making easier the identification of the dead with Osiris.

Sarcophagus of Tutmose III, dinasty XVIII

The sarcophagus is made of red quartizet; has the shape of a cartridge: the cartridge was a royal ring, protector of the king.

In 1922 Howard Carter found the coffins of Tuthankhamón. The "house" that he was keeping the coffins of the Pharaoh was known of four chapels, fitted one inside other one.

All the chapels were made of golden wood, but, but, in contrast to others, first it did not have the sealed door.

In the door of the second chapel, the stamp of the Pharaoh was showing the imperturbabilidad of the "house" since it had been closed.

The walls of the third chapel of Tuthankhamón were full of hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Inside the fourth chapel it was looking like the coffin of quartzite, which was containing three sarcofagi of the Pharaoh.

The valley is located at 25°44'N 32°36'E. It stands on the west bank of the Nile, across from Thebes (modern Luxor), under the peak of the pyramid-shaped mountain Al-Qurn. It is separated into the East and West Valleys, with most of

the important tombs in the East Valley. The West Valley has only one tomb open to the public: the tomb of Ay, Tutankhamun's successor. There are a number of other important burials there, including that of Amenhotep III, but these are still being excavated and are not publicly accessible.

The official name for the site was The Great and Majestic Necropolis of the

Millions of Years of the Pharaoh, Life, Strength, Health in The West of Thebes, or more usually, Ta-sekhet-ma'at (the Great Field).

The Valley was used for primary burials from approximately 1539 BC to 1075 BC, and contains some 64 tombs, starting with Thutmose I and ending with Ramesses X or XI.

The Valley of the Kings also had tombs for the favourite nobles and the wives and children of both the nobles and pharaohs. Around the time of Ramesses I (ca. 1300 BC) the Valley of the Queens was begun, although some wives were still buried with their husbands.

Important tombs

See also: List of burials in the Valley of the Kings for full list of burials

The tombs are numbered in the order of 'discovery' from Ramesses VII (KV1) to the recently discovered KV63, although some of the tombs have been open since antiquity, and KV5 has only recently been rediscovered. The abbreviation "KV" stands for "Kings' Valley". A number of the tombs are unoccupied, the owners of others remain unknown, and some are merely pits used for storage. Only the principal tombs are noted here (these are the publicly accessible or best known tombs).

East Valley

Most of the open tombs in the Valley of the Kings are located in the East Valley, and this is where most tourists can be found.

KV2 – Tomb of Ramesses IV

Main article: KV2

KV4 – Tomb of Ramesses XI

Main article: KV4

KV5 – Tomb of Sons of Ramesses II

Main article: KV5

The recently rediscovered tomb of some of the sons of Ramesses II. With 120 known rooms and excavation work still underway, it is probably the largest tomb in the valley. It is not currently open to the public.

KV6 – Tomb of Ramesses IX

Main article: KV6

KV7 – bored of the Kings Ramesses II

Main article: KV7

The ruined tomb of Ramesses the Great is not open to the public, and due to its condition (largely uncleared and still in danger of collapse) it may never be.

KV8 – Tomb of Merenptah

Main article: KV8

The tomb of Merenptah is one of the tombs that can be viewed by the public, although in 2005 it was not open.

KV9 – Tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI

Main article: KV9

Also known as the Tomb of Memnon or La Tombe de la Métempsychose, this is the tomb of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI.

KV11 – Tomb of Ramesses III

Main article: KV11

The tomb of Ramesses III (or Bruce's Tomb, The Harper's Tomb) is one of the largest tombs in the valley, and is open to the public, it is located close to the central 'rest–area', and is usually one of the tombs visited by tourists.

KV14 – Tomb of Twosret, later reused by Setnakhte

Main article: KV14

KV15 – Tomb of Seti II

Main article: KV15

KV16 – Tomb of Ramesses I

Main article: KV16

KV17 – Tomb of Seti I

Main article: KV17

The tomb of Seti I and is also known as Belzoni's tomb, the tomb of Apis, or the tomb of Psammis, son of Necho.

KV34 – Tomb of Thutmose III

Main article: KV34

KV35 – Tomb of Amenhotep II

Main article: KV35

This tomb was originally the tomb of Amenhotep II. Over a dozen mummies, many of them royal, were later relocated here (see list).

KV39 – Tomb of Amenhotep I

Main article: KV39

KV43 – Tomb of Thutmose IV

Main article: KV43

KV46 – Tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu

Main article: KV46

The tomb of the nobles Yuya and Tjuyu, who were possibly the parents of Queen Tiy. Until the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the best preserved tomb to be found in the Valley.

KV47 – Tomb of Siptah

Main article: KV47

KV55 – Possible Amarna Period Mummy cache

Main article: KV55

The tomb maybe another mummy cache, and has the possible burials of several Amarna Period royals – Tiy and Smenkhkare/Akhenaten.

KV57 – Tomb of Horemheb

Main article: KV57

KV62 – Tomb of Tutankhamun

Main article: KV62

Perhaps the most famous discovery of modern Western archaeology was made here by Howard Carter on November 4, 1922, with clearance and conservation work continuing until 1932. King Tutankhamun's tomb was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was still largely intact (although tomb robbers had entered it), and was, until the excavation of KV63 in 2006, considered the last major discovery in the valley. The opulence of his grave goods notwithstanding, Tutankhamun was a rather minor king and other burials probably had more numerous treasures. Some members of the archaeological teams led by Carter and later archaeologists contracted local lethal viruses through food or animals (particularly insects), resulting in the infamous "Curse of the Pharaohs" modern legend.

KV63 – Unknown tomb discovered on 10 March 2005[2].

Main article: KV63

KV64 – Radar anomaly believed to be a tomb or chamber announced on 28 July 2006

Main article: KV64

West Valley

The numbering the West Valley follows in sequence to that of the East Valley, and there are only four known tombs and several pits in this branch of the valley.

WV22 – Tomb of Amenhotep III

Main article: WV22

This is the tomb of one the greatest rulers of the Egyptian New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. It has recently been re–investigated, but is not open to the public.

WV23 – Tomb of Ay

Main article: WV23

The reconstructed tomb of Ay is the only tomb that is open to the public in the West Valley.

WV25 – Possible Theban tomb of Akhenaten

Main article: WV25

This tomb may have been started as the Theban burial of Akhenaten, but it was never finished.

Deir el-Bahri

Royal mummy cache

Main article: DB320

While this tomb is not strictly in the Valley of the Kings, it contained an astounding mummy cache. It is located in the cliffs overlooking Hatshepsut's famous temple at Deir el-Bahri, was found to contain many of Egypt's most famous pharaohs. They were found in a great state of disorder, many placed in other people's coffins, and several are still unidentified.

Decline of the Royal Necropolis

By the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt had entered a long period of political and economic decline. The priests at Thebes grew in power and effectively administered Upper Egypt, while kings ruling from Tanis controlled Lower Egypt. The Valley began to be heavily plundered, so during the 21st Dynasty the priests of Amen opened most of the tombs and moved the mummies into three tombs in order to better protect them, even removing most of their treasure in order to further protect the bodies from robbers. Later most of these were moved to a single cache near Deir el-Bari (see below). During the later Third Intermediate Period and later periods, intrusive burials were introduced into many of the open tombs.

Grave robbers

Almost all of the tombs have been ransacked, including Tutankhamun's, though in his case, it seems that the robbers were interrupted, so very little was removed.

The valley was surrounded by steep cliffs and heavily guarded. In 1090 BC, or the year of the Hyena, there was a collapse in Egypt's economy leading to the emergence of tomb robbers. Because of this, it was also the last year that the valley was used for burial.

The valley also seems to have suffered an official plundering during the virtual civil war which started in the reign of Ramesses XI. The tombs were opened, all the valuables removed, and the mummies collected into two large caches. One, the so-called Deir el-Bahri cache, contained no less than forty royal mummies and their coffins; the other, in the tomb of Amenhotep II, contained a further sixteen.

Exploration of the Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings has been a major area of modern Egyptological exploration for the last two centuries. Before this the area was a site for tourism in antiquity (especially during Roman times). This areas illustrates the changes in the study of ancient Egypt, starting as antiquity hunting, and ending as scientific excavation of the whole Theban Necropolis. Despite the exploration and investigation noted below, only eleven of the tombs have actually been completely recorded.

Antiquity

The Greek writers Strabo and Diodorus Siculus were able to report that the total number of Theban royal tombs was 47, of which at the time only 17 were believed to be undestroyed. Pausanias and others wrote of the pipe-like corridors of the Valley – i.e. the tombs.

Clearly others also visited the valley in these times, as many of the tombs have graffiti written by these ancient tourists. Jules Baillet located over 2000 Greek and Latin graffiti, along with a smaller number in Phoenician, Cypriot, Lycian, Coptic, and other languages.

Eighteenth Century

Before the nineteenth century, travel from Europe to Thebes (and indeed anywhere in Egypt) was difficult, time-consuming and expensive, and only the hardiest of European travelers visited – before the travels of Father Claude Sicard in 1726, it was unclear just where Thebes really was. It was known to be on the Nile, but it was often confused with Memphis and several other sites. One of the first travelers to record what he saw at Thebes was Frederic Louis Norden, a Danish adventurer and artist. He was followed by Richard Pococke, who published the first modern map of the valley itself, in 1743.

French Expedition

In 1799, Napoleon's expedition drew maps and plans of the known tombs, and for the first time noted the Western Valley (where Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage located the tomb of Amenhotep III, WV22). The Description de l'Égypte contains two volumes (out a total of 19) on the area around Thebes.

Nineteenth Century

European exploration continued in the area around Thebes during the Nineteenth Century, boosted by Champollion's translation of hieroglyphs early in the century. Early in the century, the area was visited by Belzoni, working for Henry Salt, who discovered several tombs, including that of those of Ay in the West Valley (WV23) in 1816 and Seti I (KV17) the next year. At the end of his visits, Belzoni declared that all of the tombs had been found and nothing of note remained to be found.

In 1827 John Gardiner Wilkinson was assigned to paint the entry of every tomb, giving them each a designation that is still in use today – they were numbered from KV1 to KV21 (although the maps show 28 entrances, some of which were unexplored). These paintings and maps were later published in The Topography of Thebes and General Survey of Egypt, in 1830. At the same time James Burton explored the valley. His works included making KV17 safer from flooding, but he is more well known for entering KV5.

In 1829, Champollion himself visited the valley, along with Ippolito Rosellini. The expedition spent two months studying the open tombs, visiting about 16 of them. They copied the inscriptions and identfied the original tomb owners. In tomb KV17, they removed some wall decorations, which are now on display in the Louvre in Paris.

In 1845 – 1846 the valley was explored by Karl Richard Lepsius's expedition, they explored and documented 25 in the main valley and four in the west.

The later half of the century saw a more concerted effort to preserve rather than simply gathering antiquities. Auguste Mariette's Egyptian Antiqities Service started to explore the valley, first with Eugéne Lefébre in 1883, then Jules Baillet and Georges Bénédite in early 1888 and finally Victor Loret in 1898 to 1899. During this time Georges Daressy explored KV9 and KV6.

Loret added a further 16 tombs to the list of tombs, and explored several tombs that had already been discovered.

When Gaston Maspero was reappointed to head the Egyptian Antiquities Service, the nature of the exploration of the valley changed again, Maspero appointed Howard Carter as the Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt, and the young man discovered several new tombs and explored several others, clearing KV42 and KV20.

Twentieth century

Around the turn of the Twentieth Century, the American Theodore M. Davis had the excavation permit in the valley, and his team (led mostly by Edward R. Ayrton) discovered several royal and non-royal tombs (KV43, KV46 & KV57 being the most important). In 1907 they discovered the possible Amarna Period cache in KV55. After finding what they thought was the burial of Tutankhamun (KV61), it was announced that the valley was completely explored and no further burials were to be found.

Howard Carter then acquired the right to explore the valley and after a systematic search discovered the actual tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62) in November 1922.

At the end of the century, the Theban Mapping Project re-discovered and explored tomb KV5, which has since been discovered to be probably the largest in the valley, and was either a cenotaph or real burial for the sons of Ramesses II. Elsewhere in the eastern and western branches of the valley several other expeditions cleared and studied other tombs. Recently (up until 2002) the Amarna Royal Tombs Project has been exploring the area around KV55 and KV62, the Amarna Period tombs in the main valley.

Twenty-first century

Various expeditions have continued to explore the valley, adding greatly to the knowledge of the area. In 2001 the Theban Mapping Project designed new signs for the tombs, providing information and plans of the open tombs. A new visitors' centre is currently being planned.

On February 8, 2006, an American team led by the University of Memphis uncovered a pharaonic-era tomb (KV63), the first uncovered there since King Tutankhamun's in 1922. The 18th Dynasty tomb included five mummies in intact sarcophagi with coloured funerary masks along with more than 20 large storage jars, sealed with pharaonic seals.

On 31st July 2006, Nicholas Reeves announced that analysis of ground penetrating radar for the autumn of 2000 showed a sub-surface anomaly in the area of KV62 and KV63 [3][4].

Miscellaneous

Pets were also buried here. There is a group of three animal tombs.

The largest tomb, known as KV5, was built for the sons of Ramesses II. It contains at least 67 burial chambers.

Graffiti on the walls of some of the tombs indicate that this was an attraction during time of the ancient Greeks and in Roman times.

From the brazalets are hanging many pendents that posses gold and lapis lazuli and finish off with decorations like flowers.

Anubis is the Greek name for the ancient jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology whose hieroglyphic is more accurately spelt Anpu (also Anup, Anupu, Wip, Ienpw, Inepu, Yinepu, or Inpw).

He is also known as Sekhem Em Pet. Prayers to Anubis have been found carved on the most ancient tombs in Egypt; indeed, the Unas text (line 70) associates him with the Eye of Horus. Anubis is the ruler of the underworld.

Egyptologists reconstruct Anubis' original name as *Yanapaw in Ancient Egyptian based on its written vowelless occurance as inpw. It was adopted into Greek as ????ß?? Anoubis, in turn borrowed by the Etruscans as Anupu, later shortened to Anpu.

The name also survives into the descendant Coptic language as Anoup.Originally, in the Ogdoad system, he was god of the underworld, and his name is frequently thought to have reflected this, meaning something like putrefaction.

He was said to have a wife, Anput (who was really just his female aspect, her name being his with an additional feminine suffix: the t), who was depicted exactly the same, though feminine. He is also both listed to have taken to wife the feminine form of Neheb Kau, Nehebka, and Kebauet.

Kebauet, the Goddess of cold water, is also listed as his daughter in some places. His father was originally said to be Ra, as he was the creator god, and thus his mother was said to be Hesat, Ra's wife, who later was identified as Hathor (to whom her identity was remarkably similar).

Following the merging of the Ennead and Ogdoad belief systems, as a result of the identification of Atum with Ra, and their compatibility, Anubis became considered a lesser god in the underworld, giving way to the more popular Osiris.

Indeed, when the Legend of Osiris and Isis emerged, it was said that when Osiris had died, Anubis stood down from his position out of respect for Osiris.

Since he had been more associated with beliefs about the weighing of the heart than had Osiris, Anubis retained this aspect, and became considered more the gatekeeper of the underworld, the Guardian of the veil (of death). As such, he was said to protect souls as they journeyed there, and thus be the patron of lost souls (and consequently orphans).

Rather than god of death, he had become god of dying, and consequently funeral arrangements. It was as the god of dying that his identity merged with that of Wepwawet, a similar jackal-headed god, associated with funerary practice, who had been worshipped in Upper Egypt, whereas Anubis' cult had centred in Lower Egypt.

As one of the most important funerary rites in Egypt involved the process of embalming, so it was that Anubis became the god of embalming, in the process gaining titles such as He who belongs to the mummy wrappings, and He who is before the divine [embalming] booth. High priests often wore the Anubis mask to perform the ceremonial deeds of embalming.

It also became said, frequently in the Book of the dead, that it had been Anubis who embalmed the dead body of Osiris, with the assistance of the other main funerary deities involved - Nepthys, and Isis. Having become god of embalming, Anubis became strongly associated with the (currently) mysterious and ancient imiut fetish, present during funerary rites, and Bast, who by this time was goddess of ointment, initially became thought of as his mother.

However, as lesser of the two gods of the underworld, he gradually became considered the son of Osiris, but Osiris' wife, Isis, was not considered his mother, since she too inappropriately was associated with life. Instead, his mother became considered to be Nepthys, who had become strongly associated with funerary practice, indeed had in some ways become the personification of mourning, and was said to supply bandages to the deceased.

Subsequently, this apparent infidelity of Osiris was explained in myth, in which it was said that a sexually frustrated Nepthys had disguised herself as Isis in order to appeal to her husband, Set, but he did not notice her as he was homosexual and infertile, whereas Isis' husband Osiris did, mistaking her for his wife, which resulted in Anubis' birth. Some more homophobic versions of the myth depict Set as the father.

In later times, during the Ptolemaic period, as their functions were similar, Anubis was identified as the Greek god Hermes, becoming Hermanubis. The centre of this cult was in uten-ha/Sa-ka/ Cynopolis, a place whose Greek name simply means city of dogs.

In Book xi of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, we find evidence that the worship of this god was maintained in Rome at least up to the 2nd century. Indeed, Hermanubis also appears in the alchemical and hermetical literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Her name literally means (female) of throne, i.e. Queen of the throne, which was portrayed by the emblem worn on her head, that of a throne. However, the hieroglyph for her name used originally meant (female) of flesh, i.e. mortal, and she may simply have represented deified, historical queens.

Her origins are uncertain but are believed to have come from the Nile Delta; however, unlike other Egyptian deities, she did not have a centralised cult at any point throughout her worship. First mentions of Isis date back to the Fifth dynasty of Egypt which is when the first literary inscriptions

are found, but her cult became prominent late in Egyptian history, when it began to absorb the cults of many other goddesses. It eventually spread outside Egypt throughout the Middle East and Europe, with temples dedicated to her built as far away as the British Isles. Pockets of her worship remained in Christian Europe as late as the 6th century.

The English pronunciation used for this deity, , is an anglicized pronunciation of the Greek name, ?s??, which itself changed the original Egyptian name by the addition of a final -s.

The Egyptian name was recorded as is.t or 3s.t and meant "(She of the) throne". However the true Egyptian pronunciation remains uncertain because their writing system omitted vowels.

Based on recent studies which present us with approximations based on contemporary languages and Coptic evidence, the reconstructed pronunciation of her name is *?Usat. Later, the name survived into Coptic dialects as Ese or Esi, as well as in compound words surviving in

names of later people like Har-si-Ese, literally "Horus, son of Isis".

For convenience and arbitrarily, Egyptologists choose to pronounce the word as ee-set. Sometimes they may also say ee-sa because the final 't' in her name was a feminine suffix which is known to have been dropped in speech during the last stages of the Egyptian language.

Temples

Most Egyptian deities started off as strictly local, and throughout their history retained local centers of worship, with most major cities and towns widely known as the hometowns to their deities. However, no traces of local Isis cults are found; throughout her early history there are also no known temples dedicated to her.

Individual worship of Isis does not begin until as late as the 30th dynasty; until that time Isis was depicted and apparently worshipped in temples of other deities.

However, even then Isis is not worshipped individually, but rather together with Horus and Osiris- the latter of whom being both her brother and husband, as they fell deeply in love within their mother's womb. Temples dedicated specifically to Isis become wide-spread only in the Roman times.

By this period, temples to Isis begin to spread outside of Egypt. In many locations, particularly Byblos, her cult takes over that of worship to the Semitic goddess Astarte, apparently due to the similarity of names and associations.

During the Hellenic era, due to her attributes as a protector, and mother, and the lusty aspect originally from Hathor, she was also made the patron goddess of sailors.

Throughout the Graeco-Roman world, Isis becomes one of the most significant of the mystery religions, and many classical writers refer to her temples, cults and rites. Temples to Isis were built in Iraq, Greece, Rome, even as far north as England where the remains of a temple were discovered at Hadrian's Wall.

At Philae her worship persisted until the 6th century, long after the wide acceptance of Christianity- this was the last of the ancient Egyptian temples to be closed, and its fall is generally accepted to mark the end of ancient Egypt.

Little information on Egyptian priests of Isis survives; however it is clear there were both male and female priests of her cult throughout her early history. By the Graeco-Roman era, all priestesses of Isis are female.

Many of them were healers and midwives, and were said to have many special powers, including dream interpretation and the ability to control the weather by braiding or combing their hair, the latter of which was because the ancient Egyptians considered knots to have magical power.

Because of the association between knots and magical power, a symbol of Isis was the tiet/tyet (meaning welfare/life), also called the Knot of Isis, Buckle of Isis, or the Blood of Isis. The tiet in many respects resembles an ankh, except that its arms curve down, and in all these cases seems to represent the idea of eternal life/resurrection.

The meaning of Blood of Isis is more obscured, but the tyet was often used as a funerary amulet made of red wood, stone, or glass, so this may have simply been a description of its appearance.

The star Spica (sometimes called Lute Bearer), and the constellation which roughly corresponded to the modern Virgo, appeared at a time of year associated with the harvest of wheat and grain, and thus with fertility gods and goddesses.

Consequently they were associated with Hathor, and hence with Isis through her later conflation with Hathor. Isis also assimilated Sopdet, the personification of Sirius, since Sopdet, rising just before the flooding of the Nile, was seen as a bringer of fertility, and so had been identified with Hathor.

Sopdet still retained an element of distinct identity, however, as Sirius was quite visibly a star and not living in the underworld (Isis being the wife of Osiris, king of the underworld).

In the Book of the Dead Isis was described as She who gives birth to heaven and earth, knows the orphan, knows the widow, seeks justice for the poor, and shelter for the weak.

Some of Isis' many other titles were Queen of Heaven, Mother of the Gods, The One Who is All, Lady of Green Crops, The Brilliant One in the Sky, Star of the Sea, Great Lady of Magic, goddess of magic, fertility, nature, motherhood, and underworld Mistress of the House of Life, She Who Knows How To Make Right Use of the Heart, Light-Giver of Heaven, Lady of the Words of Power, and Moon Shining Over the Sea.

In art, originally Isis was pictured as a woman wearing a long sheath dress and crowned with the hieroglyphic sign for a throne, sometimes holding a lotus, as a sycamore tree.

After her assimilation of Hathor, Isis's headdress is replaced with that of Hathor: the horns of a cow on her head, and the solar disc between them. She was also sometimes symbolised by a cow, or a cow's head. Usually, she was depicted with her son, the great god Horus, with a crown and a vulture, and sometimes as a kite bird flying above Osiris's body.

Isis is most often seen holding only the generic ankh sign and a simple staff, but is sometimes seen with Hathor's attributes, the sacred sistrum rattle and the fertility bearing menat necklace.

Throne queen

As the deification of the wife of the pharaoh, the first prominent role of Isis was as the assistant to the deceased king. Thus she gained a funerary association, her name appearing over 80 times in the Pyramid Texts, and was said to be the mother of the four gods who protected the canopic jars - more specifically, Isis was viewed as protector of the liver-jar-god Imsety.

This association with the Pharaoh's wife also brought the idea that Isis was considered the spouse of Horus, who was protector, and later the deification, of the Pharaoh himself. Consequently, on occasion, her mother was said to be Hathor, the mother of Horus. By the Middle Kingdom, as the funeral texts spread to be used by non-royals, her role also grows to protect the nobles and even the commoners.

By the New Kingdom, Isis gains prominence as the mother / protector of the Pharaoh. She is said to breastfeed the pharaoh with her milk, and is often depicted visually as such. The role of her name and her throne-crown is uncertain.

Some egyptologists believe that being the throne-mother was Isis' original function, however a more modern view states that aspects of the role came later by association. In many African tribes, the king's throne is known as the mother of the king, and that fits well with either theories, giving us more insight into the thinking of ancient Egyptians.

Sister-wife to Osiris

In another area of Egypt, when the pantheon was formalised, Isis became one of the Ennead of Heliopolis, as a daughter of Nut and Geb, and sister to Osiris, Nephthys, and Set. As a funerary deity, she was associated with Osiris, god of the underworld (Aaru), and thus was considered his wife. The two females - Isis and Nephthys were often depicted on coffins, with wings outstretched, as protectors against evil.

A later legend, ultimately a result of the replacement of another god of the underworld when the cult of Osiris gained more authority, tells of the birth of Anubis. The tale describes how Nephthys became sexually frustrated with Set and disguised herself as the much more attractive Isis to try to seduce him.

The ploy failed, but Osiris now found Nepthys very attractive, as he thought she was Isis. They coupled, resulting in the birth of Anubis. In fear of Set's anger, Nephthys persuaded Isis to adopt Anubis, so that Set would not find out. The tale describes both why Anubis is seen as an underworld deity (he is a son of Osiris), and why he couldn't inherit Osiris' position (he was not a legitimate heir), neatly preserving Osiris' position as lord of the underworld.

Assimilation of Hathor

Beliefs about Ra himself had been hovering around the identification of Ra, a sun god, with Horus, another sun god (as the compound Ra-Herakhty), and so for some time, Isis had intermittently been considered the wife of Ra, since she was the mother of Horus.

Consequently, since there was not anything logically troubling by identifying Isis as Ra's wife, Hathor unlike identifying Ra as his own son, she and Hathor became considered the same deity, Isis-Hathor.

Sometimes the alternative consideration arose, that Isis, in the Ennead, was a child of Atum-Ra, and so should have been a child of Ra's wife, Hathor, although this was less favoured as Isis had enough in common with Hathor to be considered one and the same.

It was this merger with Hathor that proved to be the most significant event in the history of Egyptian mythology. By merging with Hathor, Isis became the mother of Horus, rather than his Wife, and thus, when beliefs of Ra absorbed Atum into Atum-Ra, it also had to be taken into account that Isis was one of the Ennead, as the wife of Osiris.

However, it had to be explained how Osiris, who as god of the dead, was dead, could be considered a father to Horus who was very much not considered dead. This led to the evolution of the idea that Osiris needed to be resurrected, and so to the Legend of Osiris and Isis, of which Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride contains the most extensive account known today, a myth so significant that everything else paled in comparison.

Yet another set of myths detail the adventures of Isis after the birth of Osiris' posthumous son, Horus. Many dangers faced Horus after birth, and Isis fled with the newborn to escape the wrath of Seth, the murderer of her husband.

In one instance, Isis heals Horus from a lethal scorpion sting; she also performs other miracles in relation to the so-called cippi, or the plaques of Horus. Isis protected and raised Horus until he was old enough to face Seth, and subsequentally became the king of Egypt.

Magic

In order to resurrect Osiris for the purpose of having the child Horus, it was necessary for Isis to learn magic, and so it was that Isis tricked Ra (i.e. Amun-Ra/Atum-Ra) into telling her his "secret name", by getting a snake to bite and poison him, so that he would use his "secret name" to survive.

This aspect becomes central in magic spells, and Isis is often implored to use the true name of Ra while performing rituals. By the late Egyptian history, Isis becomes the most important, and most powerful magical deity of the Egyptian pantheon. Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis; arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity.

In consequence of her deeply magical nature, Isis also became a goddess of magic. The prior goddess to hold the quadruple roles of healer, protector of the canopic jars, protector of marriage, and goddess of magic, Serket, became considered an aspect of her.

Thus it is not surprising that Isis had a central role in Egyptian magic spells and ritual, especially those of protection and healing. In many spells, she is also completely merged even with Horus, where invocations of Isis are supposed to automatically involve Horus' powers as well.

Assimilation of Mut

After the authority of Thebes had risen, and made Amun into a much more significant god, it later waned, and Amun was assimilated into Ra. In consequence, Amun's consort, Mut, the doting, infertile, and implicitly virginal mother, who by this point had absorbed other goddesses herself, was assimilated into Ra's wife, Isis-Hathor as Mut-Isis-Nekhbet.

On occasion, Mut's infertility and implicit virginity was taken into consideration, and so Horus, who was too significant to ignore, had to be explained by saying that Isis became pregnant with magic, when she transformed herself into a kite and flew over Osiris' dead body.

Mut's husband was Amun, who had by this time become identified with Min as Amun-Min (also known by his epithet - Kamutef). Since Mut had become part of Isis, it was natural to try to make Amun, part of Osiris, the husband of Isis, but this was not easily reconcilable, because Amun-Min was a fertility god and Osiris was the god of the dead.

Consequently they remained regarded separately, and Isis was sometimes said to be the lover of Min. Subsequently, as at this stage Amun-Min was considered an aspect of Ra (Amun-Ra), he was also considered an aspect of Horus, since Horus was identified as Ra, and thus Isis' son was on rare occasions said to be Min instead, which neatly avoided having confusion over Horus's status as was held at being the husband and son of Isis.

Isis outside Egypt

The cult of Isis rose to prominence in the Hellenistic world, beginning in the last centuries BC, until it was eventually banned by the Christians in the 6th century. Despite the Isis mystery cult's growing popularity, there is evidence to suggest that the Isis mysteries were not altogether welcomed by the ruling classes in Rome. Her rites were considered by the princeps Augustus to be "pornographic" and capable of destroying the Roman moral fibre.

Tacitus writes that after Julius Caesar's assassination, a temple in honour of Isis had been decreed; Augustus suspended this, and tried to turn Romans back to the Roman gods who were closely associated with the state.

Eventually the Roman emperor Caligula abandoned the Augustan wariness towards oriental cults, and it was in his reign that the Isiac festival was established in Rome. According to Josephus, Caligula himself donned female garb and took part in the mysteries he instituted, and Isis acquired in the Hellenistic age a "new rank as a leading goddess of the Mediterranean world."

Roman perspectives on cult were syncretic, seeing in a new deity merely local aspects of a familiar one. For many Romans, Egyptian Isis was an aspect of Phrygian Cybele, whose orgiastic rites were long naturalized at Rome, indeed she was known as Isis of Ten Thousand Names.

Among these names of Roman Isis, Queen of Heaven is outstanding for its long and continuous history. Herodotus identified Isis with the Greek and Roman goddesses of agriculture, Demeter and Ceres.

In Yorùbá mythology, Isis became Yemaya. In later years, Isis also had temples throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, and as far away as the British Isles, where there was a temple to Isis on the River Thames by Southwark.

Some scholars argue that aspects of Isis worship have influenced the practices of some Christians in regard to the Virgin Mary, and especially her relationship with her son, Jesus. There is a strong resemblance to the depiction of the seated Isis holding or suckling the child Horus (Harpocrates) and the seated Mary and the baby Jesus.

It has been suggested by these scholars that the reason Isis worship abruptly ends, despite the vast number of its adherents, is due to her having been identified as Mary, and her temples having been merely renamed in consequence. If this is true then it could be said that, in a way, Isis is still worshipped today, and has been for at least 5000 years.

Many Egyptologists however disagree with the claims, stating that by the time the cult of Virgin Mary arose, the worship of Isis has greatly evolved from the Egyptian myths, and her relationship with Horus was no longer a major factor.

These egyptologists consider that the goddess whose worship was replaced by Christianity was a merged Isis-Aphrodite hybrid, with sexuality and magical aspects much more important to the cult. By this time she was almost never depicted as a mother with baby; she was mostly depicted alone, often lifting her dress to expose her genitals.

Nethertheless, the resemblance between early Christian images of Mary and those of Isis are sometimes striking, providing an explanation for the somewhat awkward position of Mary's arm - breastfeeding that was later censured by the addition of clothing.

Horus is an ancient god of Egyptian mythology, whose cult survived so long that he evolved dramatically over time and gained many names.

The most well known name is the Greek Horus, representing the Egyptian Heru/Har, which is the basic element in most of the other names of Horus. Horus was so important that the Eye of Horus became an important Egyptian symbol of power.

He had a man's body and a hawk's head. He only had one eye because after Osiris was murdered by his brother Seth, Horus fought with Seth for the throne of Egypt. In this battle Horus lost one of his eyes and later this became a sign of protection in Egypt.Origin of name

Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ?r.w and is reconstructed to have been pronounced *?aru, meaning "Falcon". By Coptic times, the name became Hor.

It was adopted into Greek as ???? Horos. The original name also survives in later Egyptian names such as Har-Si-Ese literally "Horus, son of Isis".

Mythology

Sky God

Horus is the god of the sky, and the son of Osiris. His mother is Isis.

Since he was god of the sky, Horus became depicted as a falcon, or as a falcon-headed man, leading to Horus' name, (in Egyptian, Heru), which meant The distant one.

Horus was also sometimes known as Nekheny (meaning falcon), although it has been proposed that Nekheny may have been another falcon-god, worshipped at Nekhen (city of the hawk), that became identified as Horus very early on. In this form, he was sometimes given the title Kemwer, meaning (the) great black (one).

As Horus was the son of Osiris, and god of the sky, he became closely associated with the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt (where Horus was worshipped), and became their patron. The association with the Pharaoh brought with it the idea that he was the son of Isis, in her original form, who was regarded as a deification of the Queen.

It was said that after the world was created, Horus landed on a perch, known as the djeba, which literally translates as finger, in order to rest, which consequently became considered sacred.

On some occasions, Horus was referred to as lord of the djeba (i.e. lord of the perch or lord of the finger), a form in which he was especially worshipped at Buto, known as Djebauti, meaning (ones) of the djeba (the reason for the plural is not understood, and may just have been a result of Epenthesis, or Paragoge).

The form of Djebauti eventually became depicted as an heron, nevertheless continuing to rest on the sacred perch.

Since Horus was said to be the sky, it was natural that he was rapidly considered to also contain the sun and moon. It became said that the sun was one of his eyes and the moon the other, and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon, flew across it. Thus he became known as Harmerty - Horus of two eyes.

Later, the reason that the moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as the contestings of Horus and Set, originating as a metaphor for the conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt in about 3000BC. In

this tale, it was said that Set, the patron of Lower Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Upper Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually the gods sided with Horus.

As Horus was the ultimate victor he became known as Harsiesis (Heru-ur, and Har-Wer, in Egyptian), meaning Horus the Great, but more usually translated as Horus the Elder. In the struggle Set had lost a testicle, explaining why the desert, which Set represented, is infertile.

Horus' right eye had also been gouged out, which explained why the moon, which it represented, was so weak compared to the sun. It was also said that during a new-moon, Horus had become blinded and was titled Mekhenty-er-irty (he who has no eyes), while when the moon became visible again, he was re-titled Khenty-irty (he who has eyes). While blind, it was considered that Horus was quite dangerous, sometimes attacking his friends after mistaking them for enemies.

Ultimately, as another sun god, Horus became identified with Ra as Ra-Herakhty, literally Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons. However, this identification proved to be awkward, for it made Ra the son of Hathor, and therefore a created being rather than the creator.

And, even worse, it made Ra into Horus, who was the son of Ra, i.e. it made Ra his own son and father, in a standard sexually-reproductive manner, an idea that would not be considered comprehensible until the Hellenic era. Consequently Ra and Horus never completely merged into a single falcon-headed sun god.

Nevertheless the idea of making the identification persisted, and Ra continued to be depicted as falcon-headed. Likewise, as Ra-Herakhty, in an allusion to the Ogdoad creation myth, Horus was occasionally shown in art as a naked boy, with a finger in his mouth, sitting on a lotus with his mother. In the form of a youth, Horus was referred to as Neferhor (also spelt Nefer Hor, Nephoros, and Nopheros), which, in the Egyptian language, means beautiful Horus (i.e. youthful Horus).

In an attempt to resolve the conflict, Ra-Herakhty was occasionally said to be married to Iusaaset, which was technically his own shadow, having previously been Atum's shadow, before Atum was identified as Ra, in the form Atum-Ra, and thus of Ra-Herakhty when Ra was also identified as a form of Horus.

In the version of the Ogdoad creation myth used by the Thoth cult, Thoth created Ra-Herakhty, via an egg, and so was said to be the father of Neferhor.

Conqueror of Set

By the Nineteenth dynasty, the previous brief enmity between Set and Horus, in which Horus had ripped off one of Set's testicles, was revitalised as a separate tale. Set was considered to have been homosexual and is depicted as trying to prove his dominance by seducing Horus and then having intercourse with him.

However, Horus places his hand between his thighs and catches Set's semen, then subsequently threw it in the river, so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set. Horus then deliberately spreads his own semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favourite food (the Egyptians thought that lettuce was phallic).

After Set has eaten the lettuce, they go to the gods to try to settle the argument over the rule of Egypt. The gods first listen to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and call his semen forth, but it answers from the river, invalidating his claim. Then, the gods listen to Horus' claim of having dominated Set, and call his semen forth, and it answers from inside Set. In consequence, Horus is declared the ruler of Egypt.

Brother of Isis

When Ra assimilated Atum into Atum-Ra, Horus became considered part of what had been the Ennead. Since Atum had had no wife, having produced his children by masturbating de facto (the concept of masturbation being offensive in Egypt- Atum's hand being considered a female part), Hathor was easily inserted as the mother of the previously motherless subsequent generation of children.

However, Horus did not fit in so easily, since if he was identified as the son of Hathor and Atum-Ra, in the Ennead, he would then be the brother of the primordial air and moisture, and the uncle of the sky and earth, between which there was initially nothing, which was not very consistent with him being the sun.

Instead, he was made the brother of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys, as this was the only plausible level at which he could meaningfully rule over the sun, and over the Pharaoh's kingdom. It was in this form that he was worshipped at Behdet as Har-Behedti (also abbreviated Bebti).

Since Horus had become more and more identified with the sun, since his identification as Ra, his identification as also the moon suffered, so it was possible for the rise of other moon gods, without complicating the system of belief too much.

Consequently, Chons became the moon god. Thoth, who had also been the moon god, became much more associated with secondary mythological aspects of the moon, such as wisdom, healing, and peace making.

When the cult of Thoth arose in power, Thoth was retroactively inserted into the earlier myths, making Thoth the one whose magic caused Set and Horus' semen to respond, in the tale of the contestings of Set and Horus, for example.

Thoth's priests went on to explain how it was that there were 5 children of Geb and Nut. They said that Thoth had prophecied the birth of a great king of the gods, and so Ra, afraid of being usurped, had cursed Nut with not being able to give birth at any point in the year. In order to remove this curse, Thoth proceeded to gamble with Chons, winning 1/72nd of moonlight from him.

Prior to this time in Egyptian history, the calendar had had 360 days, and so 1/72 of moonlight each day corresponded to 5 extra days, and so the tale states that Nut was able to give birth on each of these extra days, having 5 children. The Egyptian calendar was reformed around this time, and gained the 5 extra days, which, by coincidence, meant that this could be used to explain the 5 children of Nut.

Mystery Religion

Since Horus, as the son of Osiris, was only in existance after Osiris's death, and because Horus , in his earlier guise, was the husband of Isis, the difference between Horus and Osiris blurred, and so, after a few centuries, it came to be said that Horus was the resurrected form of Osiris.

Likewise, as the form of Horus before his death and resurrection, Osiris, who had already become considered a form of creator when belief about Osiris assimilated that about Ptah-Seker, also became considered to be the only creator, since Horus had gained these aspects of Ra.

Eventually, in the Hellenic period, Horus was, in some locations, identified completely as Osiris, and became his own Father, since this concept was not so disturbing to Greek philosophy as it had been to that of ancient Egypt.

In this form, Horus was sometimes known as Heru-sema-twy, meaning 'Horus, Uniter of Two Lands', since Horus ruled over the land of the dead, and that of the living. Since the tale became one of Horus' own death and rebirth, which happened partly due to his own actions, he became a life-death-rebirth deity.

In the time of Christ the term "son of god" had come to mean the bearer of this title was the father god himself as well as his own son incarnated on earth. Horus was Osiris the father who incarnated as Horus the son.

By assimilating Hathor, who had herself assimilated Bata, who was associated with music, and in particular the sistrum, Isis was likewise thought of in some areas in the same manner.

This particularly happened amongst the groups who thought of Horus as his own father, and so Horus, in the form of the son, amongst these groups often became known as Ihy (alternately: Ihi, Ehi, Ahi, Ihu), meaning "sistrum player", which allowed the confusion between the father and son to be side-stepped.

The combination of this, now rather esoteric mythology, with the philosophy of Plato, which was becoming popular on the mediterranean shores, lead to the tale becoming the bases of a mystery religion. Many Greeks, and those of other nations, who encountered the faith, thought it so profound that they sought to create their own, modelled upon it, but using their own gods.

This led to the creation of what was effectively one religion, which was, in many places, adjusted to superficially reflect the local mythology although it substantially adjusted them. The religion is known to modern scholars as that of Osiris-Dionysus.