Abydos. Sanctuary of Osiris

- Abydos -
Sanctuary of Osiris

" Of the home of this being who rose from the dead, and of the position which he occupied in this World nothing can be learned from the texts, but late Greek writers assert that he was a King,
and they are probably correct. Only kings and chiefs, or men of high rank, are buried in Africa with the pomp and ceremony which must have accompanied the committal to the grave of the man who afterwards rose from the dead. The exact region in Egypt where his kingdom was situated is unknown, but about his burial-place there is no doubt, for all tradition, both Egyptian and Greek,
states that his grave was at Abydos. "

Wallis Budge. "Osiris and the Egyptian resurrection". Vol.1

The Temple of Osiris is located in a kilometer to the north-west of the Temple of Seti I and Osireion. This ancient archeological area was first discovered and described by Auguste Mariette in his work "Abydos: description des fouilles". Below is the geographical map of Abydos, as well as the scheme of the Temple complex of Osiris.

Source: "Abydos: description des fouilles"

The place where our group arrived in April 2013 represented the ruins of structures of various historical epochs, built on the foundation of some rather ancient basement, going back in to the dust of Millenniums. The name and purpose of this first structure, which later became a place of worship to Osiris God, is unknown. But the only fact, that is known - this site was refined during the VI Dynasty, then restored and rebuilt during the XI-XII and XIX Dynasties.

Now the Temple complex of Osiris is surrounded by a modern Egyptian village (on the left in the photo):

On the spot it looks like as follows:

Lets note the view of the terrain surface of the stadied area, accentuated with a great number of pits and grooves. It definitely falls out from the general terrain of the desert from the Temple of Seti I to the Temple of Osiris. What caused this uneven terrain - is still not clear enough. Perhaps this could be explained by the numerous archeological excavations (but where is the information about them?). Or, perhaps, the desert sands are still hiding some ancient structures, waiting for their archaeologists and researchers. Maybe it coluld be explained by existing of the system of collupsed underground structures? By now, the question remains opened.

The entire territory of the Temple complex is surrounded by the Enclosure Wall, built of mudbrick during the late Dynastic Period. The width of the wall (in its best preserved places) reaches ~ 5 meters.

If to look carefully at the horizontal level of the Enclosure Wall, one can easily note many "wavy" vertical shifts in many of it's places. What could be the reason of it? Not else, then the existance of the underground voids, which, probably, could caused all these "wavy" recessions in the wall structure. Thus, the version of the strongly expressed local terrain on the territory of the Temple complex of Osiris, associated with collupsing into the underground voids and cavities, acquires rather stronger arguments.

To the right of the Main Gates, leading to the territory of the Temple, one can see a fragment of the granite stele, sticking out of the sand. It bears a bas-relief with the cartouche of Men-Maat-Ra, Royal name of Seti I - the King of the XIX Dynasty.

The erosion of the surface of the granite stele is too deep to reveal the rest of the remaining inscriptions (if they ever existed on it). Lets note, that here we see rather unusual feature for the ancient Egyptian canons - the inscription on the upper horizontal side of a rectangular stela.

Another one moment, which has attracted our attention before we entered the territory of Osiris Temple - is the design of the "windows" in the Enclosure Wall. Lets note, that the similar technological solution can be found in the Temple of Dendera, in the Temple of Edfu, as well as in the Fortress-Nilomer on the island of Elephantine in Aswan. In all the monuments, mentioned above, the shapes of the windows and their inclination can be explained by the technology of directing the sunlight into the interior of the building. But how it could be explained in the case of the Osiris Temple Enclosure Wall, where the direction of the window slope is done exactly opposite? Moreover, the windows in the wall without roof definitely can't be explained by the illumination purposes at all. So, their purpose remaines unclear. Thus, we have all the basis to study the reason of this technological solution, chosen by the Ancient Egyptian architects and to put forward the hypotheses on the appropriateness and necessity of these "windows" in the Enclosure Wall, not excluding their defensive purposes.

Behind the perimeter of the wall there are ruins of a small Portal-Temple of Ramesses II with bas-reliefs, bearing his royal name.

At the first glance at the fragments of limestone structures, scattered around all the entire territory of the Temple, it seems that a certain architectural structure was destroyed deliberately.

There is a Coptic Monastery of St. Demiana, located near the Temple complex of Osiris. According to the story told by its High Priest, the building of the Monastery was erected in this place not occasionly.

According to his story, the Monastery was constructed on the basis of an ancient temple and has ancient stones in the masonry of its base. The area, called Sanctuary, where the Osiris Temples once rose above the sands of the desert, is famous for its "devilry", which, according to the words of the Priest, comes from the small Temple, located in front of the Central Gate of the Temple Complex of Osiris. According to the local ancient legends, the religious rituals were done there in order to exorcise the evil spirits out of those, who were "possessed". Despite the fact, that all these events took place very long ago in a far antiquity, now the ruins of this temple are still continue to be periodically "purified" by the sacred rites of the monks. Rituals are held once a month, on a certain day, for 40 years. Then after a 20 year break they start again. This rite is strictly observed since the date of the foundation of the Monastery.

Another one interesting thing: Muslims and Copts both consider this place as the "damned" and the Priests of both religion are carrying out the rituals of purification on the special days, calculated in their own way, according to each religion. When the dates of such days coincide the Christian Hieromonk and Muslim Mullah are carrying out a joint liturgy with a Sacred Procession around the ruins of an ancient temple. Thus, they are expelling the obsession spirits, ensuring the safety of their communities from the "cursed" places. Interesting fact: the Coptic and Muslim communities are living apart in this place and rarely communicate, however they are easily joining together to fight a "common ancient enemy". What is it? The strength of the ancient tradition? Or something extraordinary is really going on in those places?

Long before the High Priest told us these legends, connected with the Temple of Osiris and its surroundings, the members of our expedition noted that birds are not singing over the territory of the complex, and all of us experienced strong headache and unexplainable pressure on psyche. This fact, of course, was completely unexpected for us, so it was decided to make a second expedition, being equipped with professional detectors for radiation and infrasonic activity.

Some facts, in favor of the theory of "infrasonic interference" in this place, causing some discomfort and hallucinations, are testified by the "Pyramid Texts", on which refers Wallis Budge in his work "Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection":

So what the Osiris Temple really is? Why is this little-known place, covered with legends and secrets handed down from generation to generation by local residents, still considered as "damned"? Why is it surrounded by a fortified wall of 5 meters width? What kind of water channel, mentioned in the Pyramid Text, lies beneath the sands of Abydos? Why did the sound of some "great roarings" do not allow anyone to approach a certain "water cistern"? What caused the powerful destruction of the limestone buildings on the territory of the Temple Complex of Osiris? What is hidden under the sands of Abydos and the adjacent from the west territory of Umm el Kaab?

All thess need to be studied seriously. The start is done. And this is already a small step in the correct direction.

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