September/October 2023 Alchemical Voice

THE OSIRION,
ABYDOS
Julie de Vere Hunt
Alchemical Voice - L2M - Issue 22
The Osirion is shrouded in mystery.
No one knows when or why it was built. Was it built
as the tomb of Osiris, a cenotaph of Seti I (1294-
1271 BC), or for spiritual initiation?
With the exception of the Valley Temple in Giza,
there is no architectural equivalent to the Osirion
with its massive blocks, seamless regular joints and
lack of round pillars.
As one exits the western entrance of the Seti
Temple into the bright sunlight one is blinded by the
incongruous sight of a mass of stone pillars and
walls that jutt up from a great waterlogged
depression in the sand.
The Osirion was discovered by Professor Margaret
Murray in 1903.
The foundations of the Osirion are much lower than
the temple of Seti I, and believed to be much older.
This would account for the uncharacteristic L shape
of the temple of Seti I; if the temple builders had
discovered the foundations of the Osirion when
they were mid build, they would have had to avoid
building over the foundations of the Osirion.
L-shaped Temple of Seti I with
the Osirion to the rear
The perimeter of the Osirion is lined with retaining
walls of dark red quartzite sandstone, faced on the
inside with a number of small, square cells. In the
centre is a raised platform, an island made of larger
blocks of red granite; on top of the island stand ten
monolithic (i.e.cut from a single piece of stone)
pillars, weighing some 50-70 tons. The invisible
joinery of some of the limestone walls and massive
masterfully and worked granite stones that wrapped
sculpturally around corners are mind boggling. We
do not have the technology to build this now!
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