THE FESTIVAL OF THE TOMB OF OSIRIS

THE 3rd of October is the feast of the Netjer Arriving at Abydos (site of the Tomb of Osiris) in Egypt which we commemorate because Antinous has always been equated with Osiris as deity of transcendence over death.

This Egyptian festival is part of the re-enactment of the legend of Isis and Osiris.

Today the body of Osiris would be brought by boat up the Nile accompanied by Isis, Nephthys and other mourners, priests and priestesses to the ancient burial site of Abydos. It was here that the Mystery of the death of the god, and his burial, took place.

This represented the triumph of Osiris over death. An effigy of Osiris was removed from his temple and processed along the Nile to the jubilation of crowds lining the river banks.

Not many people realized that there is a symbolic Tomb of Osiris which was a pilgrimage site for millions of Egyptians over the centuries.

Many Egyptians even designed their own tombs to be a REPLICA TOMB OF OSIRIS.

Just as people make pilgrimages to the Ganges, Mecca, Lourdes and other sites today, the Ancient Egyptians made pilgrimages to Abydos to make offerings.

Many pharaohs also built symbolic tombs at Abydos in addition to their actual tombs in Thebes, Memphis and elsewhere.

Antinous died before reaching Abydos. Did Hadrian weep at the mysterious Osireion Tomb Of Osiris behind this temple? Did he bury Antinous in this most holy of Egyptian cities? Is the Lost Tomb of Antinous hidden in the "wadi" (arroyo) on the edge of the western desert where so many Egyptians buried their loved ones to be close to Osiris? 

The Tomb of Osiris is a subterranean chamber fed by an underground channel from the nearby Nile, which created a moat inside the chamber. The chamber was accessed by priests via a long, dark passageway.

A mound of earth covered the tomb, symbolizing the original mound which rises out of the cosmic depths in the Egyptian creation myths. 

The mound, which is a feature of illustrations in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, is thought to be the inspiration for the first pyramids.

But that raises the controversial issue of the true age of the Tomb of Osiris, an issue hotly disputed by experts.

At nearby Antinoopolis, archaeologists have detected a "deliberately buried" structure with ground-penetrating radar in February and suggested it could be an OSIREION ... symbolic Tomb of Osiris ... raising hopes that this could be the Lost Tomb of Antinous.