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When King Osiris returned from a trip, his brother Seth attempted an assassination attempt on him.

In the end, the victim was even dismembered.

But his sister and wife Isis found the body parts and revived them.

In this way Osiris became lord of the underworld - and thus one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt, which every inhabitant of the Nile country carefully prepared to face.

This included complicated rituals such as mummification and burial in a sarcophagus.

A special way of coming into contact with the god Osiris had evidently developed in the trade and cult center Taposiris Magna, about 50 kilometers west of Alexandria on the edge of the desert.

Archaeologists have now discovered two mummies with tongue-like amulets made of gold in their mouths.

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that they should enable the dead to speak to the Lord of the Dead in the afterlife. 

The great temple of Osiris in Taposiris Magna

Source: picture-alliance / dpa

Taposiris Magna was founded by Ptolemy II (r. 285–246) from the Ptolemaic dynasty, which after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

BC won the rule over Egypt.

As the name “Great Tomb of Osiris” suggests, the port city was a center of the Osiris cult, which had lost none of its popularity even under Greek-Macedonian rule.

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The mummies were discovered in the remains of the great Osiris temple, where a team led by Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martinez has been digging for several years.

The dead bodies were partially covered with gilded cardboard masks, it is said. 

Gilded cardboard masks covered the mummies

Source: AFP

The find once again confirms the importance of the place for the religious life of ancient Egypt.

Kathleen Martinez has not come any closer to her stated goal.

Since 2005 she has been looking for the grave of Queen Cleopatra and her husband, the Roman general Marcus Antonius, in Taposiris Magna. 

Since the last ruler from the Ptolemaic dynasty, who after the conquest of Alexandria in 31 BC

BC by Octavian committed suicide, understood as the incarnation of Isis, she is said to have ordered her burial with her divine consort.

Most scientists assume, however, that the royal tomb was located in the extensive palace area of ​​the metropolis, which has now been inundated by the Mediterranean after earthquakes and floods.

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During the excavations, remains of modern grenades came to light.

These are traces of the fighting between the German-Italian Panzer Army Africa and the British 8th Army, which took place in El Alamein in October and November 1942.

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