The Osireion is also known as the Tomb of Osiris, just as Seti's temple is known as the Temple of Osiris . Abydos was the chief seat of worship of Osiris, Lord of the Underworld. Osiris, his sister Isis, and their son Horus were fundamental figures in the religion of ancient Egypt - they were neterw, a race of devine beings that ruled Egypt from way before the 1st Dynasty, from a period known as Zep Tepi, the "First Time".
In the mid-1920s, archaeologists digging in the scorching climate of Abydos discovered the walls of a temple that for thousands of years had been completely buried by silt and sand. Well, at least they thought it was a temple. When the structure was completely uncovered, swept out, and polished, these Egyptologists realized that what they had stumbled upon might not have been a temple after all, but something completely unique to their craft. Analogous granite walls and columns had not been previously discovered anywhere else in Egypt. It appeared certain that this discovery could turn Egyptology upside down and severely challenge the accepted academic position regarding Egypt’s past.
One of the first theories introduced about the Osireion was that it was the tomb of the famous antediluvian King Osiris, whose existence had been previously dismissed as mere fantasy. This seemed to make logical sense since the Osireion had been discovered in Abydos, which for thousands of years had been worshipped as the location of the tomb of Osiris, even though no definitive tomb of the legendary pharaoh had ever been found there. Thus, the first plausible explanation was that the archaeologists had stumbled upon the tomb of the legendary Osiris, the greatest pharaoh in history.
This romanticized theory suggested by the first excavators of the Osireion was, however, quickly dismissed by the staid academic community of conservative Egyptologists. They countered with their own theory, that Seti I had been its builder, and proceeded to support their claim by discovering a cartouche of the pharaoh in a passageway connecting the Osireion to the mortuary temple. Ever since that time, Seti I has been touted as the builder of the Osireion, and if the temple has any association with Osiris, it is regarded as merely symbolic.
The view of orthodox Egyptologists as to the age and builder of the Osirion, is the subject of much debate - the reasons for the controversy are as follows;
Egyptologists attribute this structure to Seti I (New Kingdom) because
- It is physically attached to the Temple of Seti I
- There is a small inscribed tenon in the Osirion, bearing the name of Seti (but this is the only place in which inscriptions appear).
- The site in general is associated with Seti, and the worship of Osiris.
However these reason would appear tenuous , especially when one considers the evidence for much greater antiquity;
- The foundations of the Osirion are much lower than those of the Temple of Seti - this suggests that it was either designed and built to be below ground level, which would have been unprecedented in Egyptian architecture, or that it was designed and built to be above ground at a time that ground level was considerably lower than the present day, and indeed lower than ground level at the time of Seti. The earth excavated around the Osirion has been shown to be compacted Nile silt, which has been laid down year after year by the annual innundation of the Nile since time immemorial.
- Perhaps the greatest reason for dismissing the conventional attribution of this structure is the architectural context - New Kingdom architecture is incredibly distinctive in its style and form, and although every New Kingdom temple is unique, there are multitudes of stylistic coherances between their designs. But the Osirion displays none of these traits - there is a distinct absence of prolific inscriptions on this site, the construction with megaliths is unique in New Kingdom architecture, and it seems almost absurd that Seti should choose to construct his temple at one level, and the Osirion 20-30 feet deeper in the bedrock.
It is amazing that despite the voluminous evidence to the contrary, Egyptology fails to recognise the fact that the Osirion is much older than its conventional attribution, and that the so-called experts still feel that they should cling desperately to this premise. Architectural style should dictate that they should at least rate this structure as contemporary with its stylistic counterparts, like the Sphinx and Valley Temples, which conventially are dated to the Old Kingdom.
But some "irreverent" archaeologists have held their ground and continue to fight for the Osireion’s extreme antiquity. Why, they contend, would Seti I have needed to design his mortuary temple in an anomalous "L" shape unless he was forced to because the Osireion was already in its present location and his temple would have run right smack into it? Furthermore, why are the temple’s design and its gigantic blocks different from any structure previously discovered in Egypt?
Some recent investigations have revealed that the "irreverent" group might indeed be right after all. The closest analogue to the Osireion is the Valley Temple of Chephren in Giza, which was built directly in front of the Sphinx. Since it may have been built in conjunction with the Sphinx, an anomalous structure dated to 8000 B.C (refer Robert M. Schoch) in because of its water-caused erosion, the Valley Temple of Chephren seems to suggest a similar era for its construction.
Another anomaly of the Osireion that may support the temple’s antiquity, as well as its intimate connection to Osiris, is the Flower of Life, a symbol engraved upon one of its massive pillars and not found anywhere else in Egypt. This motif appears to be the only symbol adorning the megalithic temple, thus apparently identifying its usage. Since the Flower of Life is made of innumerable vesica pisces, which give the appearance of many eyes, the symbol seems to indicate that the Osireion was dedicated to Osiris, whose name means "many-eyed." Therefore, the Flower of Life symbol suggests that the Osireion was indeed Osiris’ tomb or a temple used for rituals associated with his cult of resurrection.
