ABSTRACT
Ancient mythology in the twenty-first century is a source of tremendous fascination. The character of Egyptian mythology is highly complex, and should always be examined in relation to its cultural and historical contexts. A brief case study will help to clarify our understanding of mythology in ancient Egypt and set the scene for considering the relationship between Egyptian myths and graffiti in antiquity. The Olbia graffiti testify, in fact, to the opposite namely, casting the Orphic belief in a magico-mythical afterlife as the truth. An analysis of another scene from the Book of the Dead, painted on the walls of many New Kingdom tombs, helps to explain the mythological facets of this ceremony. In the myth, the conspirators who aided Osiris brother set in dismembering Osiris corpse, attempted to elude Horus by transforming into a miscellany of creatures, but Horus intercepted their escape and beheaded them. Osiris also sat on the tribunal of judges.
