The ancient Egyptian statuette of the god Osiris dates back to the first millennium B.C. It was brought to the museum in 1943, together with a paired statuette of the goddess Isis and her son Horus. Both figurines are cast in bronze.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Osiris was considered the god of rebirth. His wife, Isis, was the patroness of artisans, slaves and all the oppressed.
The image of Osiris and Isis, as on the figurines in the museum’s collection, is considered to be one of the most famous. Unlike other Egyptian gods, Osiris was not depicted as any sacred animal. As a rule, it was an anthropomorphic, a humanoid figure, most often in the form of a mummified pharaoh. This emphasized his royal status.
On the statuette from the museum collection, Osiris holds in his arms crossed on his chest the insignia of regal power: a rod and a lash. On his head, he has a crown, an atheph.
On reliefs, in most statues and bronze statuettes the goddess Isis was most often represented in the guise of a woman. The figurine from the Murom collection also looks like this. The goddess is breastfeeding her son Horus. Above her head is a hieroglyph that simultaneously signifies both her name and the word “throne”.
The cult of Isis was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important temples of her name were located on the west side of the Nile at Behbeit el-Hagar and on the island of Philae. For the Egyptians, the goddess Isis was the personification of the throne on which, by her grace, her child, the pharaoh, sat.
According to myths, the pantheon of Egyptian gods was headed by the sun god Amun-Ra. Myths also tell of a divine couple: the earth god Geb and the starry sky goddess Nut. They had four children: brothers Osiris and Seth and sisters Isis and Neftida. The Egyptians believed that Osiris and Isis were their first rulers. They gave people knowledge of the land, initiated them into the mysteries of arts and crafts, taught them to write and build temples. Thus, people were enabled to live by the laws of Heaven in unity with Nature.
But on the 17th day of the month of Atir, when the sun was crossing the constellation of Scorpio, a great disaster occurred on earth: to seize power over the world, the brother of Osiris — the god Seth — killed him and threw his body into the Nile. When Isis found her husband’s body, she hid it on the banks of the Nile in a stand of reeds. According to a later version of the myth, Seth found the body and chopped it up into 14 pieces, which he scattered throughout the Egyptian land.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Osiris was considered the god of rebirth. His wife, Isis, was the patroness of artisans, slaves and all the oppressed.
The image of Osiris and Isis, as on the figurines in the museum’s collection, is considered to be one of the most famous. Unlike other Egyptian gods, Osiris was not depicted as any sacred animal. As a rule, it was an anthropomorphic, a humanoid figure, most often in the form of a mummified pharaoh. This emphasized his royal status.
On the statuette from the museum collection, Osiris holds in his arms crossed on his chest the insignia of regal power: a rod and a lash. On his head, he has a crown, an atheph.
On reliefs, in most statues and bronze statuettes the goddess Isis was most often represented in the guise of a woman. The figurine from the Murom collection also looks like this. The goddess is breastfeeding her son Horus. Above her head is a hieroglyph that simultaneously signifies both her name and the word “throne”.
The cult of Isis was popular throughout Egypt, but the most important temples of her name were located on the west side of the Nile at Behbeit el-Hagar and on the island of Philae. For the Egyptians, the goddess Isis was the personification of the throne on which, by her grace, her child, the pharaoh, sat.
According to myths, the pantheon of Egyptian gods was headed by the sun god Amun-Ra. Myths also tell of a divine couple: the earth god Geb and the starry sky goddess Nut. They had four children: brothers Osiris and Seth and sisters Isis and Neftida. The Egyptians believed that Osiris and Isis were their first rulers. They gave people knowledge of the land, initiated them into the mysteries of arts and crafts, taught them to write and build temples. Thus, people were enabled to live by the laws of Heaven in unity with Nature.
But on the 17th day of the month of Atir, when the sun was crossing the constellation of Scorpio, a great disaster occurred on earth: to seize power over the world, the brother of Osiris — the god Seth — killed him and threw his body into the Nile. When Isis found her husband’s body, she hid it on the banks of the Nile in a stand of reeds. According to a later version of the myth, Seth found the body and chopped it up into 14 pieces, which he scattered throughout the Egyptian land.
