Roberson the Awakening of Osiris ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS
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Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2013 The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques: Royal Apotheosis in a Most Concise Book of the Underworld and Sky Roberson, Joshua Aaron Abstract: Among the many scenes and texts that occur for the first time in the Nineteenth Dynasty cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos is a representation of the awakening of Osiris by Horus, which appears directly beneath a vignette depicting the transit of the solar barques. The annotations to this bi-partite tableau appear in a mixture of standard, hieroglyphic Egyptian and cryptographic scripts. Similar groups of scenes and texts occur in the Twentieth Dynasty royal tombs of Ramesses VI (KV9) and Ramesses IX (KV6), the Twenty-Second Dynasty tomb of Sheshonq III at Tanis (NRT5), and the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty private tomb of Mutirdis at Thebes (TT410). In addition, significant, albeit partial parallels occur on the re-carved, Twenty-Second Dynasty sarcophagus of Psusennes and a Ptolemaic sarcophagus inscribed for a certain Khaf. This study offers a summary of the scenes’ iconography together with the first synoptic edition of the relevant annotations, taking into account all currently published exemplars. Many of the cryptographic texts are translated here for the first time, while others receive updated translations and expanded analyses. The author also considers the meaning and context of the paired scenes in royal and private monuments, in order to demonstrate the status of the bi-partite tableau as a unified composition. This composition is identified as a concise representative of the cosmological genre referred to usually as the Books of the Underworld and Sky. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-135412 Monograph Published Version Originally published at: Roberson, Joshua Aaron (2013). The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques: Royal Apotheosis in a Most Concise Book of the Underworld and Sky. Fribourg / Göttingen: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht. Roberson The Awakening of Osiris ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS Founded by Othmar Keel Published on behalf of the BIBLE+ORIENT Foundation in cooperation with the Departement of Biblical Studies, University of Fribourg Switzerland, the Institute of Egyptology, University of Basel, the Institute of Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology section, University of Berne, the Institut romand des sciences bibliques, University of Lausanne, the Institute of Religious Studies, University of Zurich and the Swiss Society for Ancient Near Eastern Studies by Susanne Bickel, Thomas C. Römer, Daniel Schwemer and Christoph Uehlinger Author Joshua Aaron Roberson received his Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylva- nia in 2007. He has served as a consulting scholar for the Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology since 2011 and is employed also as Assistant Professor of History at Camden County College in Blackwood, New Jersey. He has conducted field surveys of royal and private tombs in the Valley of the Kings and el-Asasif necropolis, as well as research on private sarcophagi in the Cairo Museum. In ad- dition, he has worked as a sigillographer for the French-Egyptian expedition to the Opet precinct of Karnak temple, and as a sigillographer and epigrapher for the University of Pennsylvania expeditions to Saqqara and Abydos. His previous monographs include The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Earth (Wilbour Studies in Egypt and Ancient Western Asia vol. 1, Providence and Atlanta, 2012); and Le parvis du temple d’Opet à Karnak. Exploration archéologique (2006-2007) (Cairo, 2012), co-authored with Guillaume Charloux, et al. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 262 Joshua Aaron Roberson The Awakening of Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques Royal Apotheosis in a Most Concise Book of the Underworld and Sky Academic Press Fribourg Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen Publication subsidized by the Michela Schiff Giorgini Foundation and the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences Internet general catalogue: Academic Press Fribourg: www.paulusedition.ch Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen: www.v-r.de Camera-ready text prepared by the author. © 2013 by Academic Press Fribourg, Fribourg Switzerland Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen ISBN: 978-3-7278-1746-5 (Academic Press Fribourg) ISBN: 978-3-525-54387-0 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) ISSN: 1015-1850 (Orb. biblicus orient.) CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................................ IX Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... XI Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 A brief note on the cryptographic script ............................................................. 3 CHAPTER 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENES ........................................................... 9 CHAPTER 2. ANNOTATIONS TO THE LOWER REGISTER: THE AWAKENING OF OSIRIS ................................................................................................................. 18 §2.1 West side, small deities ............................................................................. 19 Text A1/1–5: First row west, first to fifth figures ...................................... 20 Text A2/1–5: Second row west, first to fifth figures ................................. 25 Text A3/1–5: Third row west, first to fifth figures .................................... 30 Text A4/1–5: Fourth row west, first to fifth figures .................................. 34 §2.2 East side, small deities ............................................................................... 39 Text A5/1–4: First row east, first to fourth figures .................................... 39 Text A6/1–4: Second row east, first to fourth figures ............................... 44 Text A7/1–4: Third row east, first to fourth figures .................................. 48 Text A8/1–4: Fourth row east, first to fourth figures ................................. 51 §2.3 The standing figure of Horus ..................................................................... 56 Text A9: Above Horus .............................................................................. 56 Text A10: Between Horus and the Shrine of Osiris (Sety I only) ............. 61 §2.4 Guardian uraei atop the shrine of Osiris .................................................... 62 Text A11: Above the western uraei ........................................................... 62 Text A12: Above the eastern uraei ............................................................ 62 Text A13: Above the central group of uraei .............................................. 63 §2.5 The awakened Osiris ................................................................................. 64 Text A14: Behind the shrine of Osiris (Ramesses VI only) ...................... 64 Text A15: Speech of Osiris, above the god’s shrine .................................. 64 CHAPTER 3. ANNOTATIONS TO THE UPPER REGISTER: THE TRANSIT OF THE SOLAR BARQUES ................................................................................................. 76 §3.1 The winged sun disc .................................................................................. 76 Text T1: Beneath the west wing ................................................................ 77 Text T2: Beneath the east wing ................................................................. 77 §3.2 Western horizon and gods of the southern sky .......................................... 78 Text T3: In front of the “west” emblem, above the first (uppermost) row of small deities...................................................................................... 78 Text T4: Southern sky, uppermost row ..................................................... 79 VI CONTENTS Text T5: Southern sky, second row (from top) .......................................... 80 Text T6: Southern sky, third row (from top) ............................................. 81 Text T7: Southern sky, lowermost row ..................................................... 82 §3.3 Eastern horizon and gods of the northern sky ............................................ 83 Text T8: In front of the “east” emblem, above the first (uppermost) row of small deities.................................................................................... 83 Text T9: Northern sky, uppermost row ..................................................... 84 Text T10: Northern sky, second row (from top) ........................................ 84 Text T11: Northern sky, third row (from top) ........................................... 85 Text T12: Northern sky, lowermost row ................................................... 86 §3.4 West side, figures in the evening barque ................................................... 88 Text T13: Evening barque, stern. Atum .................................................... 89 Text T14: Speech of Atum (Sety I only) ................................................... 92 Text T15: Evening barque, center. The deceased ...................................... 93 Text T16: Speech of the deceased to Atum ............................................... 97 §3.5 East side, figures in the morning barque ...................................................