- Limestone Stela of Pakhaas, painted and gilded,
Ptolemaic possibly from Thebes.
The central vignette here features a unique combination of two types of
stela illustration. Normally the deceased is shown offering to Osiris,
lord of the underworld, or to another deity. Alternatively, the deceased
and his or her spouse receive offerings from their family. At first
glance, the stela seems to ft the second category. The dead person,
Pakhaas, accompanied by his wife, Nesihor, who stands behind him holding
a sistrum, or rattle, envoys the oblations of his son, Pakhy (a
nickname, in effect, Pakhaas, Jr.),
This scene, however, is hardly conventional. Pakhy's censer and
Nesihor's sistrum rarely appear in scenes of offerings to humans, and
Pakhaas is not depicted as a mortal. The small image of the god Osiris
that sits on his knees indicates that Pakhaas has become that god. Pakhy
thus becomes Horus, who offers to his dead father, Osiris, and Nesihor
is Isis.