‘God’s tomb’ discovered in Egypt

 

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient structure in Egypt modeled after the mythical Tomb of Osiris.  

 

A team led by Dr. María Milagros Álvarez Sosa found the underground structure in the area of Sheikh Abd el-Gourna. Aside from a brief overview written in 1888 by Philippe Virey and a few drawings attempting to describe the layout of the tomb, it has remained largely unexplored and undescribed.

 

A staircase leads down into a complex dedicated to Osiris. A statue of the god is inside a chapel with a vaulted ceiling. In front of it, another staircase goes down for about 9 meters, leading into a shaft that goes down for another 6 meters into the deepest part of the complex. A funerary chamber in the tomb contains reliefs portraying demons and gods holding knives. They were supposedly meant to guard the body of the dead.

 

According to the Luxor Times Magazine, Osiris symbolism is clearly evident in the tomb:

 

 

Comparing the tomb with other similar tombs in the surrounding area, researchers date it to around the 25th (760 - 656 BCE) or 26th (672 - 525 BCE) Egyptian Dynasty.

 

Osiris is usually portrayed as the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, the afterlife, and the underworld. He’s depicted as having green skin, a pharaoh’s beard, a crown with feathers, and legs wrapped like a mummy’s.

 

In one version of the myth, Osiris was killed by his brother Set, who was jealous of his role as king of Egypt. Set cut Osiris’s body into 14 pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis, Osiris’s wife and Osiris and Set’s sister, reassembled his body but couldn’t find his penis. Isis made a golden phallus as a replacement and then used it to bring Osiris back to life long enough for her to conceive their son, Horus.

 

In another version, Set locked Osiris in a chest which was then thrown into the Nile River, and Osiris was killed. — Bea Montenegro/TJD, GMA News