Temples of Abydos

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devoted to the worship of the death god Khontamenti, "first of the inhabitants of the Western Kingdom", who had the form of a dog. Even under the Old Kingdom, however, the cult of Osiris, which originated in the Delta, had gained a foothold at Abydos; and thereafter Osiris took possession of the ancient temple and was recognized as Khontamenti's equal. The nearby hill of Umm el-Gaab was believed to be Osiris's Tomb, and from the sixth Dynasty onwards the dead from all over Egypt were buried at Abydos. Several kings of the Middle Kingdom as well as wealthy private citizens erected cenotaphs or stelae here, for to the pious Egyptian there was no greater bliss than to be buried beside the Tomb of Osiris, or failing this to have his mummy brought temporarily to Abydos to receive the desired consecration, or at the very least to recommend himself to the favor of Osiris, lord of the Underworld, by the erection of a cenotaph or a memorial stone. In the mystery plays performed annually at Abydos in honor of Osiris the eternal terrestrial cycle of death and rebirth was celebrated. Osiris's sister and wife Isis, their son Horus and, under the New Kingdom, Ptah, Re-Harakhty and Amun were also worshiped at Abydos.

Strabo gives an interesting account of Abydos: "Above Ptolemais lies Abydos, the site of the Memnonium, a wonderful palace built of stone in the manner of the Labyrinth but with fewer passages and corridors. Under the Memnonium is a spring, reached by passages with low vaults consisting of a single stone and notable for their extent and mode of construction. This spring is connected with the Nile by a canal, which flows through a grove of thorn-acacias sacred to Apollo. Abydos seems once to have been large city, second only to Thebes, but now it is only a small place." Ammianus Marcellinus (Fourth C. A.D. speaks of the oracle of the god Bes which flourished here.