Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. Ancient Egypt, Lower Epoch, 664-323 B.C.

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. Ancient Egypt, Lower Epoch, 664-323 B.C.
Wood and pigments.
Provenance: private collection, Heidelberg, Germany, formed before 1970.
In good condition.
Measurements: 68.5 cm (height).

This mummiform figure represents the funerary deity Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. On his head there are two ostrich feathers, hieroglyphs for maat (the proper order of the Egyptian cosmos), a polychrome solar disk and two horns. In the center of the body there is possibly an inscription indicating that the figure was made for a priest of Osiris.
The fusion of three gods (actually, three manifestations of a single god) in one, in Egyptology is called syncretism. The three forms of appearing together, but without losing, each of them, their individuality. Ptah is the ancient god of the first capital of unified Egypt: Memphis. Patron of artisans, was also demiurge god (creator of the universe), according to Memphite doctrine. The importance of his influential clergy did not know the decline throughout the pharaonic period. For his part, Sokar is a funerary god (emanation of Osiris in the Memphite necropolis, specifically in the area of Sakkara. Finally, Osiris is the god of the dead par excellence, his main epithet is khentyamentyu, "he who presides over the westerners", i.e. the dead. These statues were placed in the burial chamber next to the sarcophagus, with a clear protective and regenerative intention.