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Reading Hieroglyphs

Sketch of Osiris

While this may seem like a simple sketch of Osiris π“Ήπ“Š¨π“€­ on limestone π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“ˆ™π“Œ‰, I actually find it very interesting! This is easily recognizable as the god π“ŠΉ Osiris π“Ήπ“Š¨π“€­ because the lord π“ŽŸ of the underworld 𓇼𓄿𓏏𓉐 is always depicted in the same way – as a mummy 𓇋𓁹𓅱𓀾, holding the crook π“‹Ύ and flail π“Œ… , and wearing the Atef crown π“‹š. The Atef crown is the White Crown of Upper Egypt π“Œ‰π“π“‹‘ with two 𓏻 feathers 𓆄𓏏𓏭𓋛 of Ma’at π“™π“Œ΄π“‚£π“π“¦ adorning the sides.

Sketch of Osiris at the Brooklyn Museum

The hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ are as follows:
π“Š¨π“Ήπ“‰Όπ“‰Όπ“ŠΉ

It simply says β€œOsiris, the great god.” In this caption, Osiris is written β€œbackwards” and without the determinative π“€­ hieroglyph π“ŠΉπ“Œƒ. This was probably due to the fact that the hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ would appear neater when written like this β€œπ“Š¨π“Ήβ€ instead of like this β€œπ“Ήπ“Š¨.”

Also, β€œgreat god” is written like this β€œπ“‰Όπ“‰Όπ“ŠΉβ€ instead of this β€œπ“‰Όπ“ŠΉ.” It was either done to take up the appropriate amount of space (aesthetics were everything, and was much more important than proper spelling/grammar πŸ˜‚) or to emphasize Osiris’ greatness. It could’ve even been for both reasons!