CHAPTER TWO THE ORIGINAL CULT Its Antiquity The earliest evidence for the cult of Osiris is still confined to the closing phases of the Fifth Dynasty. His name occurs in the Pyramid Texts of Wenis in Saqqara, and Wenis is the last king of the Fifth Dynasty. His name also occurs in private mastabas of this dynasty, especially in the offering formulae. 1 While there is very likelihood that the Osirian material in the Pyramid Texts derives in part from a much earlier date, so far it has not proved possible to track down the god or his symbols tangibly to the First or Second Dynasty. An interesting find was made by Zaki Y. Saad 2 in a tomb of the First Dynasty at Helwan- two ivory pieces which, in his opinion, form the most ancient example of the djed-pillar, which in turn he describes as 'the symbol of the god Osiris'. The djed-pillar, however, is not consistently an Osirian symbol, at least not in its early forms. Only in the New Kingdom does it become unambiguously Osirian. 3 Even so, do these pieces represent cijed-pillars? They seem to imitate papyrus-columns, with four papyrus flowers superimposed one over the other. 4 It may equally be doubted whether the ivory toilet spoon is at this time a 'symbol of the goddess Isis', or again the knot represented on the adjacent box lid. 5 1 Cf. Scharff, Ausbreitung, 21; Heick, 'Osiris', 480f.; Kees in Mercer, Pyr. 123f. Not all the mastabas, naturally, can be precisely dated, but Kees shows that the datable allusions do not precede the 5th Dyn. See further below, p. 113f. 2 Royal Excavations at Saqqara and He/wan (1941-1945) (ASAE, Cahier No. 3, Cairo, 1947), 27 and Pl. 14b. 3 Bonnet, Reallexikon, 150; Heick, 'Osiris', 503. 4 Cf. S. Clarke and R. Engelbach, Ancient Egyptian Masonry (Oxford, 1930), 10 and Fig. 7. Admittedly in the architectural type there seems never to be a super­ imposition of papyrus plants. The 'papyrus cluster' column is a different idea, for which see Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt (Ed. 2, London, 1961), 183f. For the view that the djed is in origin a bundle of reed-stalks tied together see Bonnet, Reallexikon, 150, citing Schafer in Griffith Studies, 424. 5 It is fair to add that some scholars have accepted Saad's claims: see Drioton and Vandier, L'Egypte (Ed. 3, Paris, 1952), 135; Westendorf, M/0 2 (1954), 179; Emery, Archaic Egypt (1961), 122f.; Rundle Clark, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (London, 1959), 98. Against this see Heick, 'Osiris,' 481. The Isis-knot, of course, is not originally distinctively Isiac: see H. Schafer, z;ls 62 (1927), 108-110. 42 THE ORIGINAL CULT In his valuable study, Die Inschriften der iigyptischen Fruhzeit, 6 339 ff. Kaplony, who deals with inscriptions of the first three dynasties, refers to a divine name which may be cited in relation to the cult of the gods in the sedan-chair. He reads this name as is(?), but in a note on two occurrences (p. 1019, n. 1651) he wonders whether Jjs, 'eine Vor­ form von 1st ,Isis" und Wsjr (/st-irt) ,Osiris"' is not involved. The intriguing sign used is compared by him with that used in a later writing of the gods' names; it is doubtless not the hieroglyph for flesh, as Gardiner also recognizes in his Sign-list (F 51). Obviously it would be rash to conclude that the early occurrences refer to Isis or Osiris, and Kaplony shows commendable caution in making this suggestion. Elsewhere 7 Kaplony shows less hesitancy in finding a mention of Isis in an inscription of the Second Dynasty King Peribsen. It occurs in Petrie, Royal Tombs, II, Pl. 21, 176. Kaplony (op. cit.) translates 'Vermogensverwaltung (pr-i!Jt) der Gottin Isis'. But the !flatter is far from being beyond query. F. Ll. Griffith in Petrie, op. cit., 53 suggests that a priestly title is implied which should be connected with the goddess figured to the right; 'possibly Isis .. .', he concludes, 'though her headdress seems to be that of a Nile-goddess'. He assumes that the throne-sign is repeated below this figure. Only the lower part appears in the drawing, 8 and the form is more rounded than in the other occurrence; there must be some doubt as to whether it is a replica of the first title. Even so, the figure of the goddess does not suggest Isis. 9 It seems preferable to translate the phrase as 'property office of the royal household'. 10 Another relevant problem in the sealings of Peribsen is the identity of the god figured in Petrie, Royal Tombs, II, Pl. 22, 178. He appears twice, wearing the Upper Egyptian crown and carrying a wJs-sceptre and an 'nb-sign. That he must be a god, and not the divine King, is apparent from sealings 176 and 179 of the same King, where Horus ( ?) 11 and Ash are respectively figured. F. Ll. Griffith 12 suggests doubtfully that the god in No. 178 may be 6 Agyptologische Abhandlungen, ed. Heick und Otto, Bd. 8, Wiesbaden, 1963. 7 ZAS 88 (1962), 74. 8 It is sad that we here have to rely on Petrie's inked-in pencil drawings. 9 Dr. S. Allam suggests to me that Seshat may be portrayed. The three feathers (?) do not exactly correspond to her symbols; cf. Wainwright, JEA 26 (1940), 30f. Dr. K. Bosse-Griffiths points out to me that, if the drawing is to be trusted, the goddess is lion-headed. See also M. Munster, Isis, 159. 1° For this use of st cf. Urk. I, 210, 4 and Wb. IV, 2, 12-15. 11 According to H. Stock, Die Welt des Orients, I, 3 (1948), 142 this is Ash. The drawing suggests a falcon head, but Stock may nevertheless be right. 12 In Petrie, RT, II, 53. .