SC: "Badawy, in a paper describing the stellar destiny of the Pharaoh, referred to Osiris as: 'a kind of Prince among the other stars', 'the most powerful among the stars' and 'Orion [probably beta-Orionis] as the brightest star in the southern sky...' Do you not think that this indicates that Badawy actually considered the Orion single star idea?"
In his original proposal, he simply refers to the 'Orion constellation':
"In the North and South walls (of the burial chamber) are the apertures, similar to those of the middle chamber, of channels square in section, cut out of one stone and roofed with a slab. They are sloping upwards to reach the North and South faces of the pyramid, at the same level and have accordingly different gradients: 31 degs for the northern and 45 degs for the southern. They are usually thought to be ventilation-channels, but would be better be considered as open ways for the king's soul to reach the circumpolar stars to the North and the Orion constellation, to the South." ('A History of Egyptian Architecture', Badawy 1954: 138)
Why not, Sah (sAH) as the personification of the constellation of Orion was 'a kind of Prince among the other stars' 'the most powerful among the stars'.
Neugebauer and Parker's identification of Sah with the constellation Orion, and spdt with Sirius:
"...from the decanal lists we know that Sah, divided into three or four decans, rose heliacally before and not after, Sirius..........We know furthermore from the names of the decans of Sah, ‘upper arm’, ‘lower arm’, ‘arm’, etc., that Sah was a human figure which is in any case graphically portrayed for us on the transverse strips of the coffin clocks and on the astronomical ceilings, such as Senmut. Given the identification of spd with Sirius, which is certain, and the fact that the decans of Sah immediately precede that of spd in the lists, the identification of Sah with Orion, whose stars rise heliacally immediately preceding Sirius, must be taken as likely in the highest degree. That does not mean, however, that it is possible to equate specific stars in the constellation with specific decans. We are not aware of exactly how the Egyptians fitted their conception of the figure of Sah to the constellation, nor of the history of the decanal shifts in names and probably in figure-conception through the centuries." (EAT Vol 1, N&P 1960: 25)
The text accompanying a depiction of Sah on Middle Kingdom coffin lids, reads: "Sah in the southern sky. O Sah turn your head so that you may see Osiris Idy (Idy / coffin 4, other names are Osiris Ikr, Osiris Hkat etc.)"
This text echos one of the earliest 'Pyramid Texts': In your identity of the one in Orion, with your season at the sky and season at the earth: Osiris, turn your face and look at this Unis, your seed that came forth from you active: he will live and this Unis will live, he will [not] die and this Unis will not die..... W 152; PT 219 §186a; Sethe Vol I: 106
CT