The Mystery of Abydos and the Osirion Temple

Abydos is one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt. In ancient times it was called Abdu, “the hill of the symbol or reliquary,” in which the sacred head of Osiris was preserved. The Greeks called it Abydos.

Ancient Egyptians believed that the tomb of Osiris, the “God of the Dead, and the underworld” was located in Abydos, and it is where his head was buried. The sacred city of Abydos was the site of many ancient temples.

The temple of Seti I – This surviving building is best known as the Great Temple of Abydos. The raised reliefs in this magnificent temple are some of the finest quality in all of Egypt. This temple is  quite unique in design,  and has the  shape of the letter “L” upside down. It also contains the most complete lists of Kings and Gods.

The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, is found: “An offering the king gives and Anubis”. By the end of the 5th dynasty the formula in all tombs becomes “An offering the king gives and Osiris.

The Temple contains 7 shrines dedicated to 7 Gods: Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amon Ra, Ra HorAkhty and Ptah, and Seti I as a deified King. in this temple one will  find the best-preserved painted reliefs and texts from the 18th Dynasty.

There also were seven chapels built for the worship of the pharaoh and principal deities. At the back of the temple is an enigmatic structure known as The Osirion thought to be connected with the worship of Osiris (Caulfield, Temple of the Kings); and probably from those chambers led out the great Hypogeum for the celebration of the Osiris mysteries, built by Merenptah (Murray, The Osireion at Abydos).

In 1848, an archaeological expedition working in Egypt discovered mysterious hieroglyphs in Temple of Seti I. which are said to represent modern vehicles as a helicopter, a submarine, a zeppelin and a glider. Most striking is the helicopter which is an exact replica of the modern ‘sky crane’, a freight helicopter which can lift large objects such as containers or heavy military equipment. The other drawings look like a tank or submarine vessel.

The Osirion – At the rear of the Seti temple is another very strange structure that holds some mysteries. A relief of the ‘Flower of Life’ pattern found in the 6,000 year old Osirian Temple in Abydos, Egypt. The temple was a subterreanean complex dedicated to Osiris, the god of the Afterlife, symbolizing death and regeneration. The northern wall of the Seti Temple was decorated with scenes from the ‘Book of Gates’. the afterlife and resurrection. The once-underground chambers are the most ancient of all the ancient Egyptian ruins. The Flower of Life symbol is carved with laser-like accuracy on huge granite blocks in the temple walls and we are not able to replicate this today.

The enormous size of the red granite blocks and pillars used in its construction, draws parallels with similar Old Kingdom megalithic structures, like the Valley Temple, and the Sphinx Temple. Some of the larger stone blocks weigh up to 100 tons. The central hall is built of sandstone but has 10 huge red granite pillars each 2.6m in diameter which supported the massive roofing blocks. The Osirion pre-dates the temple, dated to around 1300 bc, by at least a thousand years. This temple was built as a symbol of Seti’s closeness to Osiris and contains a sarcophagus, though Seti was not buried here.

The Osirion Temple was discovered as recently as 1903, and is thought to have been constructed by Seti I and decorated later by his grandson Merenptah.

But what is the meaning of all this? What was it? The Abydos Temple Complex was much bigger than it is today. It is clear proof that a civilization existed that had the same or more technical capabilities than we have. Each temple could have had its own function: one was for energy production (light), another was a medical center, including DNA manipulation. A temple like Osirion was built for the management of space travel and gate access. There is a clear difference between the quality of the buildings ascribed to the ancient gods and those of the pharaos. What really took place at the Abydos Complex remains a great mystery.