Articles

The Tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel and its “World of Doubles”: An Interpretation of the Monument in the Light of the Egyptian Elite’s Mood of the Early Hellenistic Time

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №5

 
The article shows that the traditional scenes of defunct’s confronting deities in the chapel of the tomb of the priest Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel near Hermopolis (late 4th century B.C.) are connected exclusively with the posthumous destiny of Petosiris’ relatives that died before him; the decoration of the pronaos that was dedicated to himself was marked with considerable Hellenization and reproduced the archaic model of the “World of Doubles” typical for private tombs of the Third Millennium B.C. Probably Petosiris urged to achieve the posthumous existence according to this model, independently of gods, as he thought it impossible to contact gods effectively in the early Macedonian time, when, in his ideas, there was no ritual sacral ruler in Egypt.

Keywords: Egypt, Hellenism, tomb, Petosiris, Hermopolis, Tuna el-Gebel, netherworld, gods, Double, artistic decoration

Pages: С. 48–64