As you walk by ancient exhibits in a museum, there are many stories that greet you. Through myths and legends you learn about the ancient artifact. Each piece also has a backstory about how it was found, acquired and moved into the museum. It is amazing to learn how these neatly organized exhibits took years to come together.
At the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), the statue of Osiris stands shrouded except for his arms and the noticeable knee caps. At the base, hieroglyphics tell us about this ancient Egyptian god of life and death. The statue’s epic journey to get here is an interesting story.
In Egyptian mythology, Osiris’ body was in pieces and scattered across the Nile by his jealous brother. Osiris’s wife bandaged it all together. This statue much like the myth, was in pieces. The Harvard-MFA expedition in Giza found the upper part in 1928. The lower part was found in France only in in the year 2000. (It had been taken to France by one of Napoleon’s generals.) Almost like in the story, Osiris was put together right here in Boston.
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