This magnificent bronze votive sculpture
represents Osiris, god of fertility,
king of the
dead, and ruler of eternity. Many
centuries ago,
it might have been found inside a
temple, placed
as an offering to the mighty deity. He
is depicted
wrapped as a mummy, holding a crook and
flail.
These two attributes act as scepters
symbolic of
his divine authority over the forces of
nature. He
wears the atef crown, featuring a Uraeus
cobra
and a pair of undulating ribbed ram’s
horns, and
a false braided beard with a curved tip.
This type
of beard is a symbol of divinity while
the
headdress associates the god with the
ruling
pharaohs. The legend of Osiris states
that his
brother Seth, overcome by jealousy,
murdered
him and tore his body into fourteen
parts,
scattering them across Egypt. Isis, the
faithful
wife of Osiris, traversed the land and
gathered all
the parts of his body. She then cast a
spell that
resurrected her deceased husband for one
night,
during which their child, Horus, was
conceived.
Thus, Osiris was the central figure of
Egyptian
religion, the god who had triumphed over
death
and therefore offered the hope of
rebirth and
resurrection to all men. This striking
image of
the god in his royal mummiform speaks of
a
universal mystery, the unanswered
questions for
which no living man has a sure answer.
- (X.0135)
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