On the twenty-fourth of Khoiak, after sunset, the effigy of
Osiris in a coffin of mulberry wood was laid in the grave, and at
the ninth hour of the night the effigy which had been made and
deposited the year before was removed and placed upon boughs of
sycamore. Lastly, on the thirtieth day of Khoiak they repaired to
the holy sepulchre, a subterranean chamber over which appears to
have grown a clump of Persea-trees. Entering the vault by the
western door, they laid the coffined effigy of the dead god
reverently on a bed of sand in the chamber. So they left him to his
rest, and departed from the sepulchre by the eastern door. Thus
ended the ceremonies in the month of Khoiak.
In the foregoing account of the festival, drawn from the great
inscription of Denderah, the burial of Osiris figures prominently,
while his resurrection is implied rather than expressed. This defect
of the document, however, is amply compensated by a remarkable
series of bas-reliefs which accompany and illustrate the
inscription. These exhibit in a series of scenes the dead god lying
swathed as a mummy on his bier, then gradually raising himself up
higher and higher, until at last he has entirely quitted the bier
and is seen erect between the guardian wings of the faithful Isis,
who stands behind him, while a male figure holds up before his eyes
the _crux ansata,_ the Egyptian symbol of life.
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