Coffin of Horkawy

The wooden rectangular coffin of Horkawy, probably dating to the 2nd century BC, is a unique piece. It was conceived as a chapel of Osiris in a temple of the Late Period, and the coffin bears texts and depictions which relate to the mysteries of the god of the dead in the Egyptian month of 'Khoiak'. The exterior of the lid is divided into three registers: in the first Osiris is seen on his funerary bed beneath the regenerating rays of the sun. The second register is taken up with a vignette showing the djed-pillar, which symbolises the backbone of Osiris, while the third, the most complex, contains a series of funerary texts of various origin. The interior of the lid is decorated with a figure of the goddess Nut, symbolizing the sky above the deceased. On the base of the coffin are dozens of divinities who each had their own role in the funerary ritual of Osiris and of the deceased.