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Abydos

Abydos, the cult city of Osiris, lies on the West Bank of the Nile, about 145 km north of Luxor. Ever since the beginning of the Dynastic Period, kings had built tombs or cenotaphs there. Its original deity was the jackal-god Kenti-Amentiu, who was absorbed into the cult of Osiris in the Fifth Dynasty. It was here that Osiris regained his power: at Abydos Isis found the last part of his dismembered body, his head, and restored him to life. The earliest royal tomb was found there, as well as the earliest known hieroglyphs. The temple at Abydos dates to about 3150 BCE. It was restored or expanded by various pharaohs, including Ahmose I and Tuthmose III.

Abydos was an important place of pilgrimage for the Egyptians. They wanted to be buried as close to Osiris as possible, and when they could not be buried at Abydos, they sometimes raised a stela there bearing their name and titles.

Amenhotep III, with his taste for antiquities, ordered the royal necropolis of Abydos to be cleared, and his subjects were told to find the tomb of Osiris himself. This they claimed to have found, although in fact it was the tomb of King Djer (ca. 2800 BCE), the third king of the First Dynasty. The cult of Osiris was abandoned during the reign of Akhenaten, and the familiar votive figure of a squatting man wrapped in a pilgrim's cloak and the Osiris-shaped bed planted with seeds disappeared temporarily from the inventory of funerary goods.