Page 386 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

Hall, it was easy to imagine that the spirit-form of Osiris could still be
present. Indeed, this was more than just imagination because Osiris was
physically present in the astonishing symphony of reliefs that adorned
the walls—reliefs that depicted the once and future civilizer-king in his
role as god of the dead, enthroned and attended by Isis, his beautiful and
mysterious sister.
In these scenes Osiris wore a variety of different and elaborate crowns
which I studied closely as I walked from relief to relief. Crowns similar to
these in many respects had been important parts of the wardrobe of all
the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, at least on the evidence of reliefs
depicting them. Strangely, however, in all the years of intensive
excavations, archaeologists had not found a single example of a royal
crown, or a small part of one, let alone a specimen of the convoluted
ceremonial headdresses associated with the gods of the First Time.
6
Of particular interest was the Atef crown. Incorporating the uraeus, the
royal serpent symbol (which in Mexico was a rattlesnake but in Egypt was
a hooded cobra poised to strike), the central core of this strange
contraption was recognizable as an example of the hedjet, the white
skittle-shaped war helmet of upper Egypt (again known only from reliefs).
Rearing up on either side of this core were what seemed to be two thin
leaves of metal, and at the front was an attached device, consisting of
two wavy blades, which scholars normally describe as a pair of rams’
horns.
7
In several reliefs of the Seti I Temple Osiris was depicted wearing the
Atef crown, which seemed to stand about two feet high. According to the
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, it had been given to him by Ra: ‘But
on the very first day that he wore it Osiris had much suffering in his head,
and when Ra returned in the evening he found Osiris with his head angry
and swollen from the heat of the Atef crown. Then Ra proceeded to let
out the pus and the blood.’
8
All this was stated in a matter-of-fact way, but—when you stopped to
think about it—what kind of crown was it that radiated heat and caused
the skin to haemorrhage and break out in pustulant sores?

6 Traveller’s Key to Ancient Egypt, p. 386.
The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt, p. 59.
7
8 Chapter 175 of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, cited in Myth and Symbol in
Ancient Egypt, p. 137.

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