Abydos

The Ptah-Sokar Hall & Hall of Kings

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The three inner shrines of Osiris, Isis and Horus are located at the northern end of the Osiris Hall.

This hall ends in a small room with four pillars, it is sometimes called the Second Osiris Hall. In this one there are once again three niches, all of them undecorated so the purpose isnīt clear. Perhaps they once held statues of the Triad Osiris, Isis and Horus, for some ritual purpose. If you double back through the big Osiris Hall, walk through the vaulted Chapel of Osiris, and turn right in the Second Hypostyle Hall, you will come to the Ptah-Sokar-Nefertem Hall. This is another room with beautiful and unusual depictions. Here is only a few:


Turning right - the approach to the Ptah-Sokar-Nefertem Hall.

Seti wears the war helmet and carries a censer. Sokar is coming out to greet him. According to Omm Sety: "Abydos, Holy City of Ancient Egypt", the text on above doorway says of Seti:

Entering to the temple of Sokar to adore the God.

The hall has two niches or small rooms at the back, the vaulted chapels of Sokar-Osiris and of Nefertem. It is the former which is seen on the picture below.




The Ptah-Sokar-Nefertem Hall
with the characteristic sturdy columns.



Seti I offering wine to Ptah in the vaulted chapel.
Sekhmet, spouse of Ptah, sits behind him or is that beside him?.


In the chapel of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris there is also a depiction which epitomizes what Abydos is all about. It shows the deceased Osiris on a bier in the form of a lion, being resurrected in order to beget Horus. Isis stands guard behind his head and at his feet we see Horus, who is not yet conceived but who is represented as attentively waiting.Osiris is depicted as just about being woken up, his one hand is raised to his head, the other grips his erected fallos.

I would like to put in a word here about the ancient Egyptian view on sexuality. Certainly it was of a freer and more natural kind than the modern day. It seems they approached it both as a natural gift and cause of joy for humans as well as a very important and divine force and cause of life. Without it, there would be no new humans, simply. At the same time, sexuality and the ability to produce offspring had a great symbolical connotation. When Amun in his aspect of Min, the fertility god, was depicted with erect fallos, it was to demonstrate the creative power behind. That creative power was Divine and a gift to pharaoh and to humans. There was nothing perverse or sexually fixed about it. It was all about the power of creativity.



These rooms present some other rather unusual depictions, f. ex is Nut represented in the form of a pregnant hippopotamus, also in the chapel of Sokar-Osiris, and in the same chapel Isis is shown in the form of a falcon, side by side with Horus in falcon form. Nekhbet in human form can also be seen here, this is probably the only depcition of her as such. Below is a depiction of Hathor in bird form, another very unusual way of depictiong her:


Hathor as a falcon with a human head.
From the chapel of Nefertem by the Ptah-Sokar Hall.


Leaving the Ptah-Sokar Hall and its two chapels, turning right again just outside, will bring us to the famous Hall of Kings, where the King list is located. It begins in the southern end in the upper register with the name of Mena in the 1st Dynasty and ends in the lower register in the northern end with Seti himsel. All in all there are seventysix names, an important help in understanding the chronology of ancient Egypt, although the list is not complete. Seti excluded kings he disliked and itīs worth mentioning that the list was not intended as a hostric record but as an offering list to his forefathers.


The Abydos King List.


Immediately to the south of the King List another corridor opens up. This is called the Western Corridor or the Corridor of the Bull and it is here the guides love to take the visitors and present them with "historyīs first cowboy". Naturally it is the depiction of the youthful Ramesses II who is lassoing a bulld, supervised by his father Seti. Itīs a very realistic rendering and anyone who claims that ancient Egyptian arit is static should just take a look at this:


Ramesses and Seti snaring a long-horned bull
while the sunīs rays play over the scene.


But time flies and our only hour at this magical place is coming to an end. We have just about time to take a quick look inside the Hall of Barks which is located immediately around the corner to the Western corridor. This is a rectangluar room with three pairs of columns and all around three walls there is a stone shelf running. Above this, there are depictions of barks and a closer inspection reveals them to correspond to the deities which are celebrated in the chapels at this temple. In front of each of them, the King is seen laying down offerings.


The Bark Hall with its shelf for the barks to be placed on.


One of the barks, probably that of Amun-Re.


Realizing we miss a whole lot, not to mention there is no way to make a visit to the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses II, which is situated ca 1 km (0.6 miles)away, we throw a glance out to where the stones of the Osireion are just visible among the sand. there is no help for it, we have to come back. Next stop will be Dendera and only after weīve been there, we find out that itīs possible to make a single trip to only Abydos and spend more time there. That had been so much more valuable for us and I cannot reccommend it enough if you are going there.

There is also some talk about dispensing with the convoys altoghether and instead increase the presence of the police along the roads. Well, we shall certainly see what will come out of that.


The Osireion.