Gombert-Meurice Florence

It is first argued that the group of finds, mainly consisting of Osiris bronze figures, that was discovered in the temple of Osiris-Iw at 'Ayn Manawîr in 1994 attests to a lost liturgy. The statuettes were found in a chapel presumed to be still in use when it collapsed. The assembalge contains recurrent groups of two or four figures shaped from the same mould and likely to have been set on the same base. Such series of figures do not seem to relate to economic matters or pilgrim's pratices, but rather to an iconography specifically selected for a ritual. Another  archaeological asssemblage of bronze figures discovered in the 19th century, deposited in the foundations of the huge religious centre of the Serapeum at Saqqara, is also explored. A survey of the Osiris statuettes found on the site, and now partly preserved in the Louvre, raises the question of their interpretation as testimony of a liturgical assemblage. It appears that here, too, it is possible to detect some reccurent groups of statuettes. Some details that may stand as criteria for liturgical assemblages are suggested, in order to facilitate the future study of such assemblage among the numerous surviving bronze statuettes.