. Osiris and the Egyptian resurrection;. actorily explained,^ but three beardedmale figures are dancing, and below, actually on one sideof them, are figures of an ox, a goat, and a captive, withhis hands tied behind his back. These represent thespoil taken during some expedition, and the numbersgiven below each figure show that it was very oxen number 400,000, the goats 1,422,000, and themen 120,000. The figure seated on the four-legged frameunder a cage or basket may be the captive king of thelands which have been plundered, but on this point moreinformation is required. Now, althou
. Osiris and the Egyptian resurrection;. actorily explained,^ but three beardedmale figures are dancing, and below, actually on one sideof them, are figures of an ox, a goat, and a captive, withhis hands tied behind his back. These represent thespoil taken during some expedition, and the numbersgiven below each figure show that it was very oxen number 400,000, the goats 1,422,000, and themen 120,000. The figure seated on the four-legged frameunder a cage or basket may be the captive king of thelands which have been plundered, but on this point moreinformation is required. Now, although the figure under •the canopy is probably that of King Nar-mer and notthat of a god, the representation, taken together with thaton the wooden tablet of Semti, has a direct bearing onthe iconography of Osiris. They show that kings andgods were depicted in substantially the same forms, andthat the throne of each was placed on the top of a 1 See Quibell, Hierakonpolis, Part I, Plate XXVI b. I) 2 36 Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection. The Name and Iconography of Osiris 37 pedestal made with a flight of steps up the front. Alltradition makes Osiris a king, and it is certain that hemust have lived at an early period. This being so, weshould expect him to be represented in the form of anearly king, and to occupy the throne of a king, and to situnder a royal canopy. That Osiris should have theform of a mummy is not a matter to wonder at, for hewas the god-man-king risen from the dead, but it isdifficult to see why Nar-mer should have this form, unlesshe also is supposed to be dead or risen from the dead. It is impossible to believe that under the first elevenor twelve dynasties the Egyptians were unable to drawfigures of Osiris or to cut them in stone, and the generalabsence of all representations of the god before the XI Ithor XII Ith dynasty only proves that the custom of makingsimilitudes had not yet grown up. The original home ofOsiris as god of the North was in the Delta, a
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