Osiris and Votive Practices in Egypt

“The ancient Egyptian practice of dedicating small objects

to deities as a means of establishing a lasting, personal

relationship between deity and donor is well known.” (Pinch

et al. 2009)

The Osiris Votive on display in the Natural History

Museum of the Smithsonian is a small bronze statue that

dates from 664 BCE. As evidenced by the quote above, it was

not unusual for an Egyptian to leave an offering such as

this in the place of worship for a particular god. It was

not a required religious action, but it is believed that

this was done as a means of obtaining favor from the god one

was honoring. (Pinch et al. 2009) This small statue was most

likely left at a worship site, in order to receive favor

from the god Osiris.

The piece is cast in bronze. This process of casting

the statue in bronze would have been much faster then

carving the statue from stone. This would have allowed for

more of these statues to be produced in a shorter amount of

time. The whole statue was cast as a single piece. The

figure of Osiris is shown standing on a small platform a

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little wider then the width of his feet. Osiris is shown

wearing the atef, the crown of Upper Egypt, with ostrich

feathers on either side. Part of the right ostrich feather

is missing, having been broken off at some point. He is

holding in his hands the crook and whip, the signs of the

pharaoh, and has the beard that was a symbol of the pharaoh.

(Fig. 1) This can also be seen on the death mask of

Tutankhamen, who is holding the whip and crook and is

wearing a beard. It can also been seen on many stone statues

at temple sights. The Temple of Ramses II, shows the pharaoh

seated and wearing the beard and crown of the kingdom.

The head and atef of the statue are very angular,

however the body is incredibly smooth and rounded. Osiris is

depicted with his feet together, without any distinction

between where one leg ends and the other begins. He is

depicted wearing a robe that his hands are sticking out of

and that comes all the way down to his ankles. There are

some delicate details on the beard, ostrich feathers, and

around the collar of the robe. Besides these small bits of

detailing and the details of his face, the rest of the

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statue is smooth. These details would have been carved into

the mold so that they would be clear on all of the statues

that were cast from this mold.

The statue, made of solid bronze has no openings. The

feet are together and the arms are closed over the chest

giving a very closed off and static look to the figure of

Osiris. The details all lie on the front of the object,

leading to the opinion that it was meant to be seen only

from the front; the back of the statue is completely smooth,

undecorated. No additional color was added to the piece, or

if it was, it is impossible to tell now. It would have been

common for either green or black paint to be added to the

face, as the description label says, “to connect his rebirth

with new plants sprouting after the annual Nile flood.”

Figure 2 represents how Osiris was portrayed in paintings.

We can imagine that this statue, if it were painted at one

point, would have looked similar to this painting. The face

is painted green to symbolize his connection with the

fertility of the harvest. His atef would have been painted

white, as would his robe, which symbolizes his mummification

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by his wife Isis. It is possible that either this piece was

placed at a shrine of Osiris to beseech Osiris to give a

good harvest or entrance into the afterlife, or in thanks

for a good harvest or entrance into the afterlife of a loved

one who has recently died.

This piece can be compared to a similar piece in the

Louvre, in France. (Figure 3) It is a cast iron statue of

Osiris from 332-330 BCE that was stuccoed with wood, wrapped

in fabric, then painted and gilded. Some remnants of the

paint remain. You can see on the chest of the statue that it

was painted white. The eyes are painted and you can see some

paint remaining on the crown, and the whip and crook that he

is holding. He is in the same pose as the small bronze

statue. There is no distinction between the legs, the crown

has the ostrich feathers on either side, and the whip and

the crook are held in the pharaonic pose of having them

crossed over the chest. This is the position that the body

of the pharaoh was placed in when he was being entombed.

This is yet another link to Osiris being the not only the

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first king, but also the first mummy. The symbolism of the

pharaoh is also the same, with the beard, crook, and whip.

Osiris, being the god of fertility and considered the

embodiment of the dead and resurrected king was a very

important figure in Egyptian religion. When the pharaoh

died, he was said to become Osiris, god of the underworld,

thus the idea of a divine ruler came about. In addition to

this, Osiris was the god who granted all life from the

underworld, from vegetation to the flooding of the Nile. It

was later believed that all men were associated with Osiris

upon their death, not just the pharaoh. This identification,

while it did not represent resurrection, did represent a

type of rebirth in the afterlife and a continuation of life

based on one’s descendants still on Earth. (“Osiris”)

Osiris is associated with the underworld because he was

the first god to die. According to legend, his brother Seth

devised a plan to get rid of him. He created a box that only

Osiris could fit in and presented it at a gathering, saying

that if anyone could fit into the box then they could have

it. When Osiris tried, they shut the lid, sealed it and

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threw the box into the Nile. Isis, Osiris’ wife, searched

Egypt and found the coffin. However, when Seth discovered

that she had found it, he cut up Osiris’ body and scattered

the pieces across Egypt. In grief, Isis searched the world,

gathered the pieces of Osiris’ body, and with the help of

Anubis, fashioned the first mummy. She used her magic to

conceive a son with the body and therefore, having been

assured an heir and having his body reconstructed, Osiris

was able to enter the afterlife. (Mojsov 2008)

He became the ruler of the underworld. As the ruler of

the underworld, he presided over the judgment of souls in

the ceremony of the weighing of the heart. This was a very

important ceremony, as it was the means for the deceased to

enter the afterlife. (Shorter 2009) The heart of the

deceased would be weighed against the feather of Ma’at, the

goddess of truth and balance. If your heart was found to be

balanced, then Osiris would allow you to enter the

afterlife. The Egyptians did not care so much if you were a

wholly good person, they cared more that you had balanced

the bad in your self out with good acts: devotion to the

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gods, fidelity to your family, good works towards others.

The idea that as long as you were able to balance the bad in

your self with good, you would be assured entrance into the

afterlife is embodied in the weighing of the heart ceremony

that Osiris’ presided over.

Being such an important god in Egyptian culture, it is

easy to see why votive statues would be made of Osiris and

left at his temples. Egyptians were very concerned with not

only a good harvest and the rise and fall of the Nile, but

also with entering the afterlife. Votive statues, such as

the one found in the National History Museum and the statue

in the Louvre, were a small way that Egyptians could ensure

that they would receive favor from the god who would

ultimately control their entrance into the afterlife.

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Figure 1: Osiris Votive in the Natural History Museum,

Smithsonian

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Figure 2: Image of how Osiris was represented in paintings

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Figure 3: Statue of Osiris, Louvre, France

Bibliography

Pinch, Geraldine, and Elizabeth Waraksa, ed. UCLA Encyclopedia

of Egyptology. Los

Angeles, California: UCLA, 2009. s.v. "Votive

Practices." http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kp4n7rk

Encyclopedia Britannica Online. s.v. "Osiris."

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/433922/Osiris

(accessed November 19, 2013).

Shorter, Alan. The Egyptian Gods: A Handbook. Wildside Press LLC,

2009.

http://books.google.com/books?

hl=en&lr=&id=kk0ZtDvtm44C&oi=fnd&pg=P

R7&dq=votive statues in egyptian

tombs&ots=T0f9gsKZOD&sig=huB- OgfIHBPNv8HE_ZAm16eDp4o

Mojsov, Bojana. Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God. John Wiley &

Sons, 2008.

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http://books.google.com/books?id=BUEiI-

VXwi4C&pg=PA4&dq=Osiris&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C3KPUofHHoq2kAfii

YGACw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAQ

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