Osiris’ ๐น๐จ๐ญ name ๐๐ in a cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท? Usually the name ๐๐ of a pharaoh ๐๐ป appears in a cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท! While this doesn’t happen often, there are instances where the name ๐๐ of a god ๐น will appear in the cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท!
This is a fragment of a beautifully ๐ค painted ๐จ๐๐ ฑ๐ญ๐ธ๐ฆ sarcophagus ๐๐น๐๐๐ญ. I would estimate its from around the later New Kingdom period or later because thatโs when painted ๐จ๐๐ ฑ๐ญ๐ธ๐ฆ sarcophagi ๐๐น๐๐๐ญ๐ช such as these became popular!ย

I love this piece because of the cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท, but also because there is so much other stuff going on even though itโs small ๐๐๐ด๐ ฉ! The hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช are: ๐น๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ณ๐ which translates to โOsiris, Lord of Eternity.โ Letโs break down the symbols!
๐น๐จ๐ญ – Osiris
๐ – Lord
๐๐ณ๐ – Eternity
I havenโt seen that many pieces like this, so I just found this one so cool! Usually the name ๐๐ of a pharaoh ๐๐ป is what appears in a cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท, but in this case itโs Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ and his title! The top of the cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท also has the Atef Crown ๐ on it, which is the crown that is associated with Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ.
The ancient Egyptians talked about โeternity ๐๐ณ๐โ a lot and were actually the civilization to derive the concept of โeternity ๐.โ There were two ๐ป very common ways they expressed the word for โeternityโ in hieroglyphic symbols:ย
๐๐ณ๐ – Eternity
๐ – Eternity/Everlasting
There are some other popular hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช that appear on this piece!! See if you can spot them!
๐๐ง๐๐ – Edfu
๐น๐ผ – Great God
Both of the phrases appear symmetrically on either side of the cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท which is something that is common on these types of pieces!
Letโs take a look at some of the deities ๐น๐น๐น that appear! If you look in the lower left, you can see part of the god ๐น Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ with a large table of offerings ๐ต๐๐ช๐๐๐ฆ in front of him. On the top left, below the winged ๐ง๐ณ๐๐ sun disk ๐ณ๐บ is a falcon ๐๐๐ก๐ which is representative of the god ๐น Horus ๐ ๐ญ. On the top right, there is an ibis ๐๐๐ ค which is representative of the god ๐น Thoth ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ญ.
On either side of the cartouche ๐ ๐๐๐ท, the god ๐น Hapi ๐๐๐ช๐ญ๐ (god ๐น of the Nile River ๐๐๐๐ ฑ๐๐๐๐บ/flooding of the Nile) is shown. There are two ๐ป of him because if you look closely, you can see both symbolically tying up papyrus ๐ ๐๐๐ฐ and lotus ๐ธ plants together. This was meant to represent the union of Upper ๐ and Lower ๐ค Egypt! You can easily recognize Hapi ๐๐๐ช๐ญ๐ because of the papyrus flowers ๐ ๐๐๐ฐ on his head!