David O'Connor's Abydos: Egypt's First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo (2009) Abydos is situated on the western bank of the Nile about seven kilometres west of the town of Balyana in Middle Egypt. It made its debut on the stage of Egypt's ancient history even before the dynastic period, and it retained its aura of sanctity longer than any other site in Egypt. It houses the tombs and mortuary cult enclosures of the rulers of the First Dynasty. It was the cult centre of Osiris, Egypt's most beloved hero and the central figure of the country's most popular myth. And it is an archaeological site that casts light on the origins of the Egyptian civilisation before the dynastic period, a subject on which scholars argue to this day. It is a debate which reminds O'Connor, an internationally recognised Egyptologist with 40 years' experience of excavation and research at Abydos, "of Pieter Bruegel's wonderful etching depicting scrambling men gutting an enormous fish. It towers above them while, from the vast and gaping cut, a gigantic stream of smaller fish pours across the beach. Grand theories," he goes on, "as impressive as Bruegel's fish are proposed about early culture and kingship in Egypt, but are based on heterogeneous and random archaeological data, akin to Bruegel's variegated little fish. So far, these data are an inadequate foundation for the complex speculations built upon them, for the evidence... has substantial ambiguities and gaps. Yet the challenge of tracing the origins of one of the world's most brilliant civilisations continues to fascinate us, and Abydos is increasingly important to this endeavour." In the field of archaeology, a great number of extraordinary finds make headlines either because of their actual significance or because of the sensational circumstances surrounding them. Some discoveries, however, come to us piecemeal; they are never breaking news because their significance comes only gradually, the result of years of sustained work, dedication and painstaking research. O'Connor's work at Abydos is one of the latter. A professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, he has explored the area's complex history and sacred landscape season after season for decades, and it is only now, when he has absorbed the comprehensive history of the site, including the work of successive generations of Egyptologists that came before him, that he has written a substantial book about the area. Abydos: Egypt's First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris gives us new insights into the origins of kingship in Egypt and the organisation of early state. It reveals that writing has been found here that rivals in antiquity that of Mesopotamia. And it explores the significance of a fleet of boats, the earliest surviving in the world, unearthed at Abydos. "Each discovery raises new questions and issues, and indicates that further mysteries remain to be explored and resolved," writes O'Connor, and adds: "Abydos will continue to intrigue archaeologists, Egyptologists and lay enthusiasts for many generations to come." Let me, however, hasten to add that this is not a book for the general reader who expects a publication described as: "The definitive account of one of Egypt's most important ancient sites, written by a world authority", to be a guidebook to the site. Abydos is most definitely a book by a scholar, for scholars, and for those enthusiasts who have some background in archaeology. Indeed, O'Conner reveals how challenging the archaeology of Abydos can be. Here is a site that has delighted scholars over the ages and the author traces the work carried out by earlier generations through to the present day. There is, he writes, "such an overwhelming flow of data, at the same time stimulating and absorbing, [that] he and others have faced weeks, sometimes months of long, hot and windy days in the field". He takes a fresh look at the importance of the work carried out by different missions, because, he writes, "I introduce the reader to the many extraordinary and exciting discoveries about Abydos made over the past three decades or so, much of this new material not yet published in detail." Abydos is famous for its two fine temples, one built by Seti I who encouraged an artistic and architectural revival in his reign, and the other by Ramses II which, although by no means his largest or most well preserved, must once have been among the most beautiful in the Nile Valley. It is the site where, according to some of the mortuary texts, beyond a gap in the mountains to the west of Abydos lay the afterlife -- depicted as a long mountainous valley with a river running through it, the banks lined with wheat fields, fruit orchards and gardens of flowers. It is the site of the tombs of Egypt's earliest dynastic kings including that of Hor Aha, who has been identified with Narmer, the first Pharaoh of recorded history, and of his successor Djer, and came to be regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the burial place of Osiris. The site has been a challenge to generations of scholars because it raises so many questions. For example, surrounding the huge tomb of Djer, the sub-structure of which measures 21x20 metres, are no less than 338 subsidiary graves, many with crude stone stelae recording the names of people who died after the Pharaohs. Did they believe that to be buried near the tomb of their master would ensure a happy afterlife for themselves? In the Old Kingdom (2686- 2181 BC) the great Pharaohs who built monuments at Memphis and Giza promulgated decrees to safeguard the interests of the priests of sacred sites, and there is evidence that some of them travelled to Abydos. Was this a part of their official duties, or pilgrimages to what was regarded as a sacred site? There is a gigantic rectangular enclosure of crenellated brick, known as Shunet Al-Zebib, the purpose of which was not at first known but is now identified as the tomb of the Second Dynasty King Khasekhemwy. By the end of the Fifth Dynasty (2345 BC) the name of Osiris had crept into the mortuary literature as an explicit example of rebirth. Was the deceased referred to as "Osiris" because it meant to be reborn "like Osiris", or for some other reason? And as for Abydos becoming fully established as a city of prime importance and a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Kingdom (2133-1786), when the 12th- Dynasty Pharaoh Senusert I erected a large edifice on the site of the earlier shrine at Kom Al-Sultan --which became known as the Temple of Osiris -- what happened to the earliest shrine at Abydos, dedicated not to Osiris but to Wepwawat, the wolf-jackal of the necropolis? The cult of Osiris so thoroughly captured the popular imagination that provincial priests who wished to give importance to their areas each claimed that a part of the body, dismembered by Set, was buried in their province. In one variation of the myth the head was said to be buried at Abydos. Then came the New Kingdom (1567- 1080), when Abydos rose to its peak as a holy city. This was the empire period, when the state could afford to be generous. Tuthmosis I ordered a barge of cedar and electrum to be built for Osiris, and almost every Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty left evidence of his devotion to the god, making additions to the temple of Kom Al-Sultan. In the 19th Dynasty, the site and its chief deity were honoured by Seti I on an unprecedented scale, raising the three gods of the Osirian Triad (Osiris, his wife Isis, and son Horus), to an even higher level than the greatest gods of the land (Ptah of Memphis, Re-Harakhte of Heliopolis, and Amun-Re of Thebes), by constructing his marvellous temple mentioned above, with separate sanctuaries for each deity and with a seventh chamber, of equal size, to himself as a god. What was the reason for this? During Ptolemaic and Roman times, Abydos came to be regarded as a place of healing, so did sufferers from all over the Graeco-Roman world who gathered in the corridors and halls of the temple of Seti I making humble pleas for health and fertility? The graffiti they left are in hieratic (a late development of hieroglyphics), Greek, Phoenician and Aramaic. And then there remains the question of the Osirion, a separate structure that lies behind the temple of Seti, to the south-west, the real purpose of which remains unclear, its architectural features unique. It was variously called a cenotaph, although it bears no resemblance to such a funerary structure, and a mortuary temple, though there was no other like it. In fact, no other structure was surrounded by water. Many of these long-standing questions have now been laid to rest by O'Connor in his Abydos. He not only elucidates "the complexity and multi-layered significance of the area" but also, through dedicated exploration of the sacred landscape, he evokes the power it has held for contemporary Egyptologists. Rather than tell the story of Abydos in historical sequence and provide a narrative history from the earliest ancient activity to the latest, which he felt might be misleading because "a sequential narrative would convey the impression that we understand more about the cultural and social dynamics shaping its history than we actually do", O'Connor has chosen instead to divide the publication into several different but interrelated topic. Apart from moving backwards in time, starting with what the visitor to Abydos sees today and exploring the cult of Osiris, the text is organised around the interrelated themes of discovery and rediscovery. Don't expect it to make easy reading. As O'Connor makes clear, "the dynamics underlying the development of Abydos remains mysterious". Among the plethora of books on Pharaonic Egypt on the market David O'Connor's Abydos is one to be reckoned with, not only because he describes in extraordinary detail the many exciting new discoveries made there over the past three decades (some of which has not been published in detail), and the important conclusions that have been made, but also because he admits that definitive understanding of the site "is still far away". While it is now certain that Abydos was, as early Egyptologists claimed, the centre of the cult of Osiris; and that the Early dynastic kings were buried there, among the questions that remain are: Why were the First Dynasty kings buried at Abydos, since Egypt's political centre, and probably royal residence, at that time was Memphis? And what of Dynasty "O", the predecessors of the kings of the first dynasty -- much remains to be learned there? Then there is the question of the royal enclosures; while O'Connor probes possible meanings of these, as visible signifiers of individual kings and as ritual structures conveyed to the afterlife for the benefit of those kings, he admits that it is still unclear what ritual activities were actually performed there. Finally there remain conflicting ideas of the Osiris myth; was it generated by the evolution of the rituals and mummification techniques applied to the bodies of early historical kings, or developed to provide hope for those facing death and consolation to their surviving kin? In the final paragraph of the last chapter of his book, O'Connor writes that Abydos will continue to intrigue and excite those interested for years to come, "and the ongoing recovery of new evidence will keep changing our ideas about the site. What will endure unchanged, however, is the powerful ambiance of Abydos, conveyed by the strongly-defined landscape that fills our vision as it did that of the ancients. A vivid green floodplain; the tawny expanse of low desert; the steep, dark cliffs rising abruptly over the site; and an overwhelming sense, supported by both visible and invisible archaeology, of the intense interest this mysterious place had for the ancient Egyptians throughout the entire span of their history". PRACTICAL INFORMATION: Until recently, tourists visiting Abydos, whether individually or with package tours, were required to travel in escorted convoys. These restrictions no longer apply, and visitors may travel by private car. An access road leads to the Seti I temple, where there is a parking lot. The "Osiris Park" now has recreational space and tourist facilities. Tickets may be purchased there to visit the Ramses II temple (not always open), and unpaved roads lead to Umm Al-Qaab, the enclosure of the Second-Dynasty king Khasekhemwy, and the Ahmose pyramid. You will, however, need to seek directions. A visitor centre and site museum are in the planning stage. By Jill Kamil
