Osiris Research Paper

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Pages: 6

Since Osiris is the ruler of the Underworld, it is both common and logical that the ancient Egyptians would associate him with funerals, tombs, and mortuary practices. Therefore, it is likely that Ptahirdis had this statue of Osiris because of Osiris’s association with the Underworld. Additionally, “Osiris had become a major protective deity of private burials by Dynasty V” (Hart, 2005). This means that by the 5th Dynasty, depictions of Osiris in tombs became quite common. Chronologically, it makes sense for this statue of Osiris to be in Ptahirdis’s tomb, as the statue was dated to the 26th Dynasty, and depictions of Osiris in tombs in various forms had already been commonplace for many centuries. And because of Osiris’s association to the Underworld, funeral rituals, and texts, it is also logical that the statute would contain inscriptions of mortuary texts on it.
Funerary rituals in the Late Period were similar to
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The lack of knowledge of these texts is likely a result of the large piece of the statue that is missing, which disrupts the hieroglyphics on the back (Fig. 2). In ancient Egypt, pieces of art containing funerary texts were significant because Egyptians believed that they helped in their transition to the afterlife. If these texts weren’t present, it was believed that people would not reach the afterlife nor be comfortable once they arrived, and as a result, pieces of art with funerary texts were quite common in ancient Egyptian tombs. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that these texts, like the ones found in the Book of the Dead, consist of spells and incantations that will aid Ptahirdis on his journey to the afterlife, since without them, Ptahirdis would not have a smooth or successful transition to the