The Shaft, The Subway
& The Causeway
Part 5
"Opening The Lost Tombs" - The Tomb
Of Osiris
On the 2nd of March 1999, the FOX
Television Network broadcast a programme entitled 'Opening The Lost
Tombs: Live From Egypt.' The closing section of the programme dealt
with the 'Tomb of Osiris', the location described in these pages.
Here was an opportunity for the man in charge of the excavations to
end the speculation about what lies beneath Khafre's causeway.
Contents
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page 6│
page 7│
page 8│ page 9
The Main Points...
The following is a summary of
the main points raised by this section of the programme.
Attributions are given to indicate if a point arises from statements
made by the FOX presenters (FOX) or from Doctor Hawass himself (ZH).
Statements in italics are explanatory notes added by Towers On-Line.
-
Doctor Hawass has discovered a
subterranean chamber that lies at the bottom of a long shaft not
far from the Sphinx. (FOX)
-
Doctor Hawass discovered the chamber
about a year ago and refers to it as his greatest adventure
ever. (FOX)
-
The chamber is the one talked about
by Herodotus. (ZH) ("...underground sepulchral chambers on the
hill where the pyramids stand; a cut was made from the Nile, so
that the water from it turned the site of these into an island."
- The Histories Book 2, s 124)
-
Doctor Hawass has established that
the chamber is the 'Tomb of Osiris'. (ZH)
-
The second level chamber was
obscured with dirt and sand. Doctor Hawass and his men cleared
it to find a burial chamber with six rooms cut in the rock.
(FOX)
-
Doctor Hawass found two red granite
sarcophagi, pottery and bones. (ZH)
-
Doctor Hawass dates the pottery to
500 B.C., 2,500 years ago. (ZH)
-
Doctor Hawass found the shaft
leading to the third level. (My interpretation, based on Suzy
Kolber (FOX): "And what made you think that there was anything
beyond this?" ZH: "You have to look for the other level. This is
the adventure.")
-
When Doctor Hawass found the third
level, it was submerged. (FOX)
-
To lower the sarcophagus into the
chamber, the shaft was filled with sand and the sarcophagus was
placed on top. The sand was removed via side-shafts cut for the
purpose. As the level of the sand dropped, the sarcophagus was
lowered down the shaft. (ZH)
-
Archaeologists agree that a network
of tunnels lies below the Giza plateau. (FOX)
-
Doctor Hawass believes that Edgar
Cayce's references to a lost civilisation are a legend, a myth.
(ZH)
-
Doctor Hawass stood in the entrance
to what he said was an unexcavated tunnel. (ZH) (The entrance is
located in the northwest corner of the chamber.)
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Matters Arising...
This section highlights some discrepancies between the discovery of
this location as reported in the television programme and other
historical reports. It also suggests why Herodotus was told that
this location - if indeed it is the same one - was Khufu's burial
chamber, and for comparative purposes gives examples of other
locations also called the 'Tomb of Osiris'.
From points 1 and 2 above, Doctor Hawass
discovered the subterranean chamber in 1998, however it is clear
from the
Excavations At Giza excerpt
reproduced on page 1 and the
London Daily Telegraph article of
the 4th March 1935 reproduced on page 3 that the location was known
about many years ago.
From points 5, 6 and 8 above, on clearing the second level chamber
Doctor Hawass found six sidechambers cut into the rock and the shaft
descending to the third level chamber. Two of the sidechambers
contained red granite sarcophagi, Again, it is clear from the
reports cited above that Doctor Selim Hassan was fully aware of the
layout of the second chamber with its sidechambers and also of the
shaft to the third level, although he believed the two monolithic
sarcophagi to be of basalt rather than granite.
From points 3 and 4, we are told that this is the chamber talked
about by Herodotus as being the burial place of Khufu, and
furthermore that it is the 'Tomb of Osiris'. Herodotus is thought to
have visited Egypt in the middle of the fifth century B.C. (i.e.
around 450 B.C.), this being approximately seventy five years after
the end of the 26th (Saite) dynasty which started with Necho, King
of Sais around 666 B.C. and ended with the demise of Psamtik III
around 525 B.C. It was during this time that there was a resurgence
of interest in the Old Kingdom. A 26th dynasty stela found in the
Temple of Isis (which was constructed in the eastern cemetry at
Gizeh in the 21st Dynasty) tells how Khufu made repairs to the
temple and repaired the headdress of the Sphinx (see Lehner, The
Complete Pyramids, p39) so it is clear that at least some of the
stories being told at the time were being somewhat economical with
the truth. From point 7, Doctor Hawass dates the pottery found in
the second level chamber to around 500 B.C., i.e. close to the end
of the Saite period. On the assumption that the chambers were
constructed in this period, they could only have been about two
hundred years old at most at the time of Herodotus's visit. This
might explain why Herodotus was told that the 'underground
sepulchral chambers' were associated with Khufu, the story being a
remnant of the resurgence of interest in the Old Kingdom.
It was not made clear in the programme whether Doctor Hawass was
dating the entire complex to around 500 B.C. or referring
specifically to the second level although it soon became apparent in
his lectures on the subject that he dates the second level to the
Saite period and the third level - the symbolic "Tomb of Osiris" -
to the New Kingdom. This raises the situation whereby according to
Dr Hawass, the third (deepest) level was constructed hundreds of
years before the second (intermediate) level. This is even more
curious when you consider that one has to cross the second level
chamber to reach the shaft to the third level, the shaft being cut
into the floor of what might have been another sidechamber.
Although Doctor Hawass stated that he believed the location to be a
symbolic "Tomb of Osiris", he did not explain why, possibly because
of the limited time available. In his lectures, he explains how at
the time of the New Kingdom, the Giza plateau was known as the
"House of Osiris, Lord of the Underground Tunnels". His attribution
is based on finding the hieroglyphic sign "pr" meaning "house" cut
in the ground to the east of the sarcophagus and finding a number of
wood, pottery and bone artifacts from which he dated the location to
the time of the New Kingdom. In his opinion, the empty sarcophagus
represents the symbolic burial of the god Osiris. Dr Hawass has also
mentioned that the "Tomb of Osiris" has similarities in layout with
the 'Tomb of Osiris' at Abydos. For those unfamiliar with this
location, a fine account of its discovery and excavation can be
found in an Illustrated
London News article
entitled "Strabo's Well" and Tomb of Osiris taken from the
30th May, 1914 edition.
Another 'Tomb of Osiris' is mentioned by Labib Habichi in his essay
"Sais And Its Monuments", (see Annales Du Service Des Antiquites De
L'Egypte vol. 42, p371):
Herodotus, who visited it (Sais) in
the middle of the fifth century B.C., not long after the fall of
this (26th) dynasty, gives us a detailed description of its
buildings...Concerning the tombs of its kings, he says that the
sepulchre of Apries lies within the temenos wall of Neith. "This
wall encloses the tomb of Amasis as well as that of Apries and
his family." (Histories, Book 2, s 169) "It encloses also the
tomb of Osiris which stands behind the temple, large stone
obelisks and a lake built with stones on which the Egyptians
represent the sufferings of Osiris."
(Histories Book 2, s 170-171)
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