Wooden Polychrome and Gilt Sculpture of Ptah-Soker-Osiris

The multiplicity of gods in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon frequently resulted in the merger of the identities of the different gods into one composite deity. Ptah-Sokar-Osiris is one such syncretic deity, combining the attributes of the three gods after whom he is named. Ptah, the creator god, is regarded as one of the greatest deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Ancient inscriptions describe him as “creator of the earth, father of the gods and all the being of this earth, father of beginnings.” He was regarded as the patron of metalworkers and artisans (possibly due to the fact that he was believed to fashion the bodies of humans for the afterlife) and as a mighty healer and is usually represented as a mummy. The main center of his worship was in Memphis. Sokar, the “Adorned One,” was depicted in the form of an hawk-headed mummified man. Lord of darkness and death (in the sense of inertia), he presided over the Memphis necropolis and was sometimes viewed as an alternate form of Ptah before their identities were combined. By the end of the New Kingdom, the composite Ptah-Sokar had merged with yet another deity, Osiris, god of fertility, king of the dead, and ruler of eternity. The legend of Osiris states that his brother Seth, overcome by jealousy, murdered him and tore his body into fourteen parts, scattering them across Egypt. Isis, the faithful wife of Osiris, traversed the land and gathered all the parts of his body. She then cast a spell that resurrected her deceased husband for one night, during which their child, Horus, was conceived. Thus, Osiris was the central figure of Egyptian religion, the god who had triumphed over death and therefore offered the hope of rebirth and resurrection to all men. Here, in this magnificent wooden polychrome sculpture, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris is depicted in the form of a mummified man standing upon a rectangular base that has been decorated with three columns of hieroglyphic inscription. He wears a broad beaded and floral collar with Horus-head terminals, a false braided beard, a tripartite wig, and a double plume headdress with a sun-disk in the centre, the plumes rising from a pair of ram horns. These attributes are traditional symbols both of divinity and royalty, linking the ruling pharaohs to the mighty gods. There is another three-columned hieroglyphic text painted onto the front of his body. This inscription on the front begins with a funerary text invoking Osiris and asking him to give offerings to the deceased (``Hail Osiris, Lord of the West, the Great God, Lord of Abydos, may he give....'), followed by the name of the deceased, Nakht-hor, and those of his mother and father. Unfortunately, the upper left corner of the inscription is too damaged to decipher Nakht- hor's title. How remarkable that we can repeat the name of the deceased individual in whose honour this sculpture was commissioned. This sculpture was interred beside the deceased in order to gain the blessing of the gods and to ensure Nakht-hor a peaceful afterlife. Created during the early years of the Ptolemaic Period, when Greek kings ruled over Egypt, the presence of this sculpture reveals that many ancient Egyptian traditions continued to thrive despite the influx of Hellenistic ideas. - (X.0111)