The God Osiris
The God Osiris is a gilded bronze statuette produced in c. 700 B.C.E. Osiris was recognised as the god of fertility, agriculture, resurrection int this period. With the hope of new life after death, Osiris began to be associated with nature cycles, including the flooding of the Nile and the start of a new harvest.
Osiris is often depicted as a covered mummy to emphasize his transformed state. In his hands he is holding a flail and a short shepherd’s crook to indicate Egyptian kingship. The statue has a long, braided beard, and is wearing an Atef crown with an uraeus on the front, which is a sacred cobra ready to attack enemies. The horns are associated with the sun god, who becomes a ram-headed man at dusk and throughout the night. Statues and statuettes of Osiris were popular by the first millennium B.C.E.
The Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, A. Esmat Abdel Meguid, said that Osiris was supposed to have been a prophet who “pacified and civilized the world … saving it from barbarism, by persuasion and music as opposed to violent and forceful means” and creating “a civilized world where justice prevails.”
When receiving the gift, Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim said the statuette “is a striking example of the glories of Egyptian culture and civilization. Its serenity and its strength, and the craftmanship and faith that created it, provide us with a significant message, speaking to us down the centuries.”