As Muslims endeavour to visit Mecca once in their lifetime and
Hindus aspire to die at Varanasi, the Ancient Egyptians devoutly
wished to make a pilgrimage to ABYDOS (pronounced “Abi-dos”),
cult centre of the god Osiris. Those who failed to make it hoped
to do so posthumously; relatives brought bodies for burial, or
embellished distant tombs with scenes of the journey to Abydos
(represented by a boat under sail, travelling upriver).
Egyptians averred that the dead “went west”, for the entrance to
the underworld was believed to lie amid the desert hills beyond
Abydos. By bringing other deities into the Osirian fold, Abydos
acquired a near monopoly on death cults, which persisted into
Ptolemaic times. Its superbly carved Temple of Seti I has been a
tourist attraction since the 1830s, and many rate its artwork as
the finest in Egypt. Its survival owes to the temple being
covered by sand for centuries, as suggested by the name of the
village where it is located, Al-Araba el-Madfuna (Araba the
Buried). The Temple