Kornosiris (PM 4550)

In the extensive Egyptian collection of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim there is a fired clay tile with the representation of the god of the dead Osiris , a so-called Kornosiris , also "sprouting Osiris", from the late period , 6th / 5th century BC. Chr. (Inventory number: PM 4550 ).

Location

The origin of the object is unknown. The Egyptologist Hans Kayser , who was director of the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum from 1945 to 1974, acquired the Kornosiris for the museum around 1960.

size

The Kornosiris is 6 cm high, 21.5 cm long and 10.5 cm wide, a little smaller than today's bricks.

Description and state of preservation

On the top of the fired clay brick, the outline image of the god of the dead Osiris is shown in a side view. Osiris looks to the right and wears his typical atef crown with two ostrich feathers. In his hands he holds the insignia of his rule in the realm of the dead , a crook and a flagellum . As usual, except for the head and arms, his body is closely wrapped like a mummy . On the occasion of the funeral rites, the Kornosiris played an important role. For the funeral rites, the cavity was filled with a mixture of soil and cereal grains, which was then moistened so that the seeds could germinate. This approach embodies the character of Osiris as the god of vegetation and fertility and, in an analogous manner, guaranteed the deceased the hoped-for regeneration, his rebirth. Although bricks designed in this way did not appear until the late period, the basic custom can be traced back to the New Kingdom . In some royal and private graves of the 18th dynasty , osiris-shaped, life-size wooden boxes were found, which - comparable to the corn mummies - were wrapped in cloth bandages like a mummy. In the treasure chamber of Tutankhamun's tomb , there was also a cornosiris in a large box that was completely wrapped around it. Presumably the Kornosiris bricks were also used in the context of the cult festivals for Osiris.

Literary evidence that expresses the analogy hidden in the "Kornosiris" between sowing and flourishing of the grain and the burial and resurrection of man in a formulaic abbreviated form can be found in the coffin texts IV.169. "I live, I die, I am the barley, I will not perish!" That means that grain that is sunk into the earth lives in the dark in the underworld and grows and rises as new grain.

literature

• Hans Kayser: The Egyptian antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim. Hildesheim 1973, p. 104.
• Arne Eggebrecht (eds.), Bettina Schmitz , Rainer Hannig , Regine Schulz , Matthias Seidel: Search for immortality (= catalog manual, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim. Catalog number T28). von Zabern, 1990, ISBN 3-8053-1292-X .
• Wilfried Seipel (Ed.): Egypt: Gods, Graves and Art; 4000 years of belief in the hereafter. (= Catalog number 119). Linz 1989, ISBN 3-900746-14-1 , p. 154.
• Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto, Rosemarie Drenkhahn (eds.): Small Lexicon of Egyptology. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , p. 214.

Web links

• Entry of the Kornosiris from the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim On: globalegyptianmuseum.org (The Global Egyptian Museum); last accessed on May 5, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Griffith Institute: Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation. The Howard Carter Archives: Black oblong box containing germinating figure of Osiris. On: griffith.ox.ac.uk ; accessed on April 27, 2016 (English).