Abyddos

Our trip to Dendara also included a trip to Abyddos. This was the cult centre of Osiris. Osiris is the god of death & resurrection. It is told...that his brother killed him, chopped him into pieces & buried him here, at Abyddos. Isis wasn't at all happy about this, so gathered his bits together & brougt him back to life. She then had a child from him, named Horus...and here's where the connection to Dendara kicks in....& Horus was the consort to Hathor! Because of the whole resurrection thing, this has also become a centre considered powerful with magic. The temple was built by the Seti 1, & later added to by...you guessed it...good ol' Rameses2! It was an interesting site, not only because of the 6 deities with shrines here, but because it has another more modern story connected to it. Imagine your 3 yr old daughter falling down stairs & pronounced dead...then all of a sudden, up she pops, & then, for the rest of her life, she has an obsession for all things Egyptian especially their 'magic' practices. She has dreams of temples she has never seen, she challenges the christian principles & teaching she is brought up in, in England...& when she gets married insists on calling her son Seti. I think a lifetime of psychiatric appointments would be prescribed, but this is the story of a fascinating woman, named Dorothy Eady. (Why isn't there a movie about her?????) She believed that she was the reincarnation of a young pharaohonic woman who fell in love with Seti1. She came pregnant to him, but to avoid causing him shame, she killed herself, leaving Seti bereft for the rest of his life & swearing he would seek her in the afterlife. If Dorothy is to be believed, he succeeded! Regardless of our response to her story, this woman was highly respected by Egyptologists & you can certainly read about her on the web. She became known here as Om Seti, & was the guardian of Abyddos temple for many years. Why...because this was where Seti was! Another interesting, mysterious feature of Abyddos, is the Flower of life Symbol engraved on plinths nearest the tomb of Osiris. Sadly, they are so faded, my camera was not able to capture them...google if interested. I was also impressed with the Nilometer...well, lake, fed by the Nile, with the steps into it USED as a Nilometer. This measured the level of the Nile & from this information taxes were adjusted. If the Nile was high, the land would be flooded/irrigated, it would then become fertile, produce more crops & make people rich...therefore, tax them more. If the Nile was low...reduce taxes because they would be suffering!!!!! Such an interesting place!!!

Me measuring the Nile...not looking good!! Below is the tomb of Osiris.