Le culte d'osiris au [l.sup.er] millenaire av. j.-c.: decouverts et travaux rercents.

• Author: Troy, Lana
• Position: Book review

Le culte d'Osiris au [l.dup.er] millenaire ay. J.-C.: Decouverts et travaux recents. Edited by LAURENT COU-LON. Bibliotheque d'Etude, vol. 153. Cairo: INSTITUT FRAKAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 2010. Pp. x + 322. illus. (paper).

This volume consists of an introductory essay followed by twelve papers presented at a workshop in Lyon in 2005. The introduction by the editor, Laurent Coulon (pp. 1-17), reminds the reader that the Osiris of this period is primarily the product of a reading of the Khoiak Festival texts and Plutarch's reconstruction of the myth. His review of both written and archaeological sources clarifies this volume's contribution to a view of Osiris in the first millennium B.C. as a multifaceted divinity.

In the first article Quack covers the evidence of the "Book of the Temple- (pp. 23-30). Best preserved in Late Period copies, this temple manual describes the cult of Osiris in terms of specific places in the temple, its staff, and their duties. A sacred mound and lake are the burial place of Osiris and the site of his "divine substance" (112t ntr). References to temple staff include chief ritualists (lpy-sk3) and purifiers of the god (rbw ntr), as well as the more enigmatic rl.c. w "qui entrent librement." The ritual of the divine substance, part of the Festival of Heaven and Earth, and execration rituals to vanquish the enemies of Osiris are components of the cult. This detailed handbook provides an outline of the cult's ritual service.

Yoyotte (pp. 33-38) connects evidence from Alexandria, Canopus, and Heracleion in describing the Hellenistic Osiris of the Delta. The author brings together the remains of the temple of Amun of Gereb at Heracleion, the water jug form of Osiris found in Kanopos, and the yearly bark procession from Heracleion to Kanopos that marked the Kikellia Festival, a Ptolemaic celebration of Isis, commemorating the death of Osiris. To these interconnections is added evidence for rituals involving the burning of incense, libation, and to a lesser degree, food offerings. In addition, finds of small ladles (simpula) link the Kikellia procession with a Dionysian celebration, reflecting the Greco-Egyptian association of the two gods and the ability of the two communities to come together in their differing interpretations of the festivities.

Turning to the topic of regional forms of Osiris, D. Meeks and C. Favard-Meeks (pp. 39-48) describe Lower Egyptian myths regarding the body of Osiris, citing the...