The Syrian Goddess

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 5, Racial Myths in Egypt and Europe

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER V

Racial Myths in Egypt and Europe

Worship of Animals--Possessed by Spirits of Good and Evil--Reptiles as Destroyers and Protectors----Pigs of Set and Osiris--The Moon Eater--Horus Solar and Storm Myth--The Devil Pig in Egypt and Scotland--Contrast with Gaulish, Irish, and Norse Beliefs--Animal Conflicts for Mastery of Herd--Love God a Pig--Why Eels were not eaten--The Sacred Bull--Irish and Egyptian Myths--Corn Spirits--The Goose Festival in Europe--The Chaos Egg--Giant's Soul Myth--Nilotic and other Versions--Wild Ass as Symbol of Good and Evil.

ONE of the most interesting phases of Nilotic religion was the worship of animals. Juvenal ridiculed the Egyptians for this particular practice in one of his satires, and the early fathers of the Church regarded it as proof of the folly of pagan religious ideas. Some modern-day apologists, on the other hand, have leapt to the other extreme by suggesting that the ancient philosophers were imbued with a religious respect for life in every form, and professed a pantheistic creed. Our task here, however, is to investigate rather than to justify or condemn ancient Egyptian beliefs. We desire to get, if possible, at the Egyptian point of view. That being so, we must recognize at the outset that we are dealing with a confused mass of religious practices and conceptions of Egyptian and non-Egyptian origin, which accumulated during a vast period of time and were perpetuated as much by custom as by conviction. The average Egyptian of the later Dynasties might have been as little able to account for his superstitious regard for the crocodile or the serpent as is the society lady of to-day to explain her dread of being one of a dinner party of thirteen, or of spilling salt at table; he worshipped animals because they had always been worshipped, and, although originally only certain representatives of a species were held to be sacred, he was not unwilling to show reverence for the species as a whole.

We obtain a clue which helps to explain the origin of animal worship in Egypt in an interesting Nineteenth-Dynasty papyrus preserved in the British Museum. This document contains a calendar in which lucky and unlucky days are detailed in accordance with the ideas of ancient seers. Good luck, we gather, comes from the beneficent deities, and bad luck is caused by the operations of evil spirits. On a particular date demons are let loose, and the peasant is warned not to lead an ox with a rope at any time during the day, lest one of them should enter the animal and cause it to gore him. An animal, therefore, was not feared or worshipped for its own sake, but because it was liable to be possessed by a good or evil spirit.

The difference between good and evil spirits was that the former could be propitiated or bargained with, so that benefits might be obtained, while the latter ever remained insatiable and unwilling to be reconciled. This primitive conception is clearly set forth by Isocrates, the Greek orator, who said: "Those of the gods who are the sources to us of good things have the title of Olympians; those whose department is that of calamities and punishments have harsher titles. To the first class both private persons and states erect altars and temples; the second is not worshipped either with prayers or burnt sacrifices, but in their case we perform ceremonies of riddance".

"Ceremonies" of riddance are, of course, magical ceremonies. It was by magic that the Egyptians warded off the attacks of evil spirits. Ra's journey in the sun bark through the perilous hour-divisions of night was accomplished by the aid of spells which thwarted the demons of evil and darkness in animal or reptile form.

In Egypt both gods and demons might possess the same species of animals or reptiles. The ox might be an incarnation of the friendly Isis, or of the demon which gored the peasant. Serpents and crocodiles were at once the protectors and the enemies of mankind. The dreaded Apep serpent symbolized everything that was evil and antagonistic to human welfare; but the beneficent mother goddess Uazit of Buto, who shielded Horus, was also a serpent, and serpents were worshipped as defenders of households; images of them were hung up for "luck" or protection, as horseshoes are in our own country even at the present day; the serpent amulet was likewise a protective agency., like the serpent stone of the Gauls and the familiar "lucky pig" which is still worn as a charm.

In certain parts of Egypt the crocodile was also worshipped, and was immune from attack; 1 in others it was ruthlessly hunted down. As late as Roman times the people of one nome waged war against those of another because their sacred animals were being slain by the rival religious organization.

Here we touch upon the tribal aspect of animal worship. Certain animals or reptiles were regarded as the protectors of certain districts. A particular animal might be looked upon by one tribe as an incarnation of their deity, and by another as the incarnation of their Satan. The black pig, for instance, was associated by the Egyptians with Set, who was the god of a people who conquered and oppressed them in pre-Dynastic times. Horus is depicted standing on the back of the pig and piercing its head with a lance; its legs and jaws are fettered with chains. But the pig was also a form of Osiris, "the good god".

Set was identified with the Apep serpent of night and storm, and in certain myths the pig takes the place of the serpent. It was the Set pig, for instance, that fed upon the waning moon, which was the left eye of Horus. How his right eye, the sun, was once blinded is related in a Heliopolitan myth. Horus sought, it appears, to equal Ra, and desired to see all things that had been created. Ra delivered him a salutory lesson by saying: "Behold the black pig". Horus looked, and immediately one of his eyes (the sun) was destroyed by a whirlwind of fire. Ra said to the other gods: "The pig will be abominable to Horus". For that reason pigs were never sacrificed to him. 2 Ra restored the injured eye, and created for Horus two horizon brethren who would guard him against thunderstorms and rain.

The Egyptians regarded the pig as an unclean animal. Herodotus relates that if they touched it casually, they at once plunged into water to purify themselves. 3 Swineherds lost caste, and were not admitted to the temples. Pork was never included among the meat offerings to the dead. In Syria the pig was also "taboo". In the Highlands, even in our own day, there survives a strong prejudice against pork, and the black pig is identified with the devil.

On the other hand, the Gauls, who regarded the pig as sacred, did not abstain from pork. Like their kinsmen, the Achns, too, they regarded swineherds as important personages; these could even become kings. The Scandinavian heroes in Valhal feast upon swine's flesh, and the boar was identified with Frey, the corn god. In the Celtic (Irish) Elysium presided over by Dagda, the corn god, as the Egyptian Paradise was presided over by Osiris, there was always "one pig alive and another ready roasted". 4 Dagda's son, Angus, the love god, the Celtic Khonsu, had a herd of swine, and their chief was the inevitable black pig.

In The Golden Bough, Professor Frazer shows that the pig was tabooed because it was at one time a sacred animal identified with Osiris. Once a year, according to Herodotus, pigs were sacrificed in Egypt to the moon and to Osiris. The moon pig was eaten, but the pigs offered to Osiris were slain in front of house doors and given back to the swineherds from whom they were purchased.

Like the serpent and the crocodile, the pig might be either the friend or the enemy of the corn god. At sowing time it rendered service by clearing the soil of obnoxious roots and weeds which retard the growth of crops. When, however, the agriculturists found the--

Snouted wild boar routing tender corn,

they apparently identified it with the enemy of Osiris--it slew the corn god. The boar hunt then ensued as a matter of course. We can understand, therefore, why the Egyptians sacrificed swine to Osiris because, as Plutarch says, "not that which is dear to the gods but that which is contrary is fit to be sacrificed". The solution of the problem may be that at sowing time the spirit of Osiris entered the boar, and that at harvest the animal was possessed by the spirit of Set.

This conclusion leads us back to the primitive conception of the Great Mother Deity. In the archaic Scottish folk tale, which is summarized in our Introduction, she is the enemy of mankind. 5 But her son, the lover of the spirit of summer--he is evidently the prototype of the later love god--is a beneficent giant; he fights against his mother, who separated him from his bride and sought to destroy all life. Ra similarly desired to slay "his enemies", because he created evil as well as good. Seb, the Egyptian earth god, was the father of Osiris, "the good god", and of Set, the devil; they were "brothers". Osiris was a boar, and Set was a boar. The original "battle of the gods" may, therefore, have been the conflict between the two boars for the mastery of the herd--a conflict which also symbolized the warfare between evil and good, winter and summer. Were not the rival forces of Nature created together at the beginning? The progeny of the Great Father, or the Great Mother, included evil demons as well as good gods.

The Greek Adonis was slain by a boar; Osiris was slain by Set, the black boar; the Celtic Diarmid was slain by a boar which was protected by a Hag who appears to be identical with the vengeful and stormy Scottish Earth Mother. The boar was "taboo" to the worshippers of Adonis and Osiris; in Celtic folklore "bonds" are put upon Diarmid not to hunt the boar. Evidently Adonis, Osiris, and Diarmid represented the "good" boars.

These three deities were love gods; the love god was identified with the moon, and the primitive moon spirit was the son of the Great Mother; the Theban Khonsu was the son of Mut; the Nubian Thoth was the son of Tefnut. Now Set, the black boar of evil, devoured the waning moon, and in doing so he devoured his brother Osiris. When the Egyptians, therefore, sacrificed a pig to the moon, and feasted upon it like Set, they ate the god. They did not eat the pig sacrificed to Osiris, because apparently it represented the enemy of the god; they simply slew it, and thus slew Set.

It would appear that there were originally two moon pigs--the "lucky pig" of the waxing moon and the black pig of the waning moon. These were the animal forms of the moon god and of the demon who devoured the moon--the animal form of the love god and the thwarted rebel god; they also symbolized growth and decay--Osiris was growth, and Set symbolized the slaughter of growth: he killed the corn god.

The primitive lunar myth is symbolized in the legend which tells that Set hunted the boar in the Delta marshes. He set out at full moon, just when the conflict between the demon and the lunar deity might be expected to begin, and he found the body of Osiris, which he broke up into fourteen parts--a suggestion of the fourteen phases of lunar decline. We know that Set was the moon-eating pig. The black boar of night therefore hunts, slays, and devours the white boar of the moon. But the generative organ of Osiris is thrown into the river, and is swallowed by a fish: similarly Set flings the wrenched-out "eye" of Horus into the Nile.

Now the fish was sacred in Egypt 6 . It had a symbolic significance; it was a phallic symbol. The Great Mother of Mendes, another form of Isis, is depicted with a fish upon her head. Priests were not permitted to eat fish, and the food which was "taboo" to the priests was originally "taboo" to all the Egyptians. In fact, certain fish were not eaten during the Eighteenth Dynasty and later, and fish were embalmed. Those fish which were included among articles of dietary were brought to the table with fins and tails removed. The pig which was eaten sacrificially once a year had similarly its tall cut off. Once a year, on the ninth day of the month of Thoth, the Egyptians ate fried fish at their house doors: the priests offered up their share by burning them. Certain fish were not eaten by the ancient Britons. The eel is still abhorred in Scotland: it was sacred and tabooed in Egypt also.'

Osiris was worshipped at Memphis in the form of the bull Apis, Egyptian Hapi, which was known to the Greeks as "Serapis", their rendering of Asar-Hapi (Osiris-Apis). This sacred animal was reputed to be of miraculous birth, like the son of the Great Mother deity. "It was begotten", Plutarch was informed, "by a ray of generative light flowing from the moon." "Apis", said Herodotus, "was a young black bull whose mother can have no other offspring." It was known by its marks; it had "on its forehead a white triangular spot, on its back an eagle, a beetle lump under its tongue, while the hair of its tail was double". Plutarch said that "on account of the great resemblance which the Egyptians imagine between Osiris and the moon, its more bright and shining parts being shadowed and obscured by those that are of darker hue, they call the Apis the living image of Osiris". The bull, Herodotus says, was "a fair and beautiful image of the soul of Osiris". Diodorus similarly states that Osiris manifested himself to men through successive ages as Apis. "The soul of Osiris migrated into this animal", he explains.

That this bull represented the animal which obtained mastery of the herd is suggested by the popularity of bull fights at the ancient sports; there are several representations on the ancient tombs of Egyptian peasants, carrying staves, urging bulls to battle one against another. Worshippers appear to have perpetuated the observance of the conflict between the male animals in the mock fights at temples. Herodotus relates that when the votaries of the deity presented themselves at the temple entrance they were armed with staves. Men with staves endeavoured to prevent their admission, and a combat ensued between the two parties, "in which many heads were broken, and, I should suppose," adds Herodotus, "many lives lost, although this the Egyptians positively deny". Apparently Set was the thwarted male animal--that is, the demon with whom the Egyptianized Set (Sutekh) was identified.

The sacred Apis bull might either be allowed to die a natural death, or it was drowned when its age was twenty-eight years--a suggestion of the twenty-eight phases of the moon and the violent death of Osiris. The whole nation mourned for the sacred animal; its body was mummified and laid in a tomb with much ceremony. Mariette, the French archlogist, discovered the Eighteenth-Dynasty tombs of the Memphite bulls in 1851. The sarcophagi which enclosed the bodies weighed about 58 tons each. One tomb which he opened had been undisturbed since the time of the burial, and the footprints of the mourners were discoverable after a lapse of 3000 years. 7

eml05

SACRED ANIMALS

top: left to right: Cat (Bast); Urs, with horns; Shrine with Sokar Hawk; Ape (Thoth); Ibis (Thoth).
bottom, left to right: Apis Bull; Fish (Lepidotus); Jackal (Anubis); Snake (form of Uazit); Cat with Kittens (Bast).

eml05

FIGURE OF THE APIS BULL, WITH A KING MAKING OFFERINGS
(British Museum)

After the burial the priests set out to search for the successor of the old bull, and there was great rejoicing when one was found; its owner was compensated with generous gifts of gold. In the Anpu-Bata story, which is evidently a version of the Osiris myth, the elder brother is honoured and becomes rich after he delivers the Bata bull to the Pharaoh. It will be noted that the Osiris soul was believed to be in the animal's liver, which was eaten--here we have again the ceremony of eating the god. Before the bull was transferred to its temple it was isolated for forty days, and was seen during that period by women only.

At Heliopolis the soul of Osiris entered the Mnevis bull. This sacred animal was evidently a rival to Apis. Ammianus Marcellinus says that Apis was dedicated to the moon and Mnevis to the sun.

In Upper Egypt the sacred bull was Bakh (Bacis) a form of Mentu; it was ultimately identified with Ra.

The worship of Apis ultimately triumphed, and in Roman times became general all over Egypt.

Like the Osiris boar, the Osiris bull was identified with the corn spirit. But its significance in this regard is not emphasized in the Egyptian texts. That may have been because different tribes regarded different animals as harvest deities. The association of Apis with Ptah is therefore of interest. We have suggested that Ptah was originally worshipped by a people of mountain origin. In the great caves of southern Palestine there survive rude scratchings of cows and bulls, suggesting that this pastoral people venerated their domesticated animals. In Europe the corn spirit was identified with the bull and cow principally by the Hungarians, the Swiss, and the Prussians, and by some of the French, for the "corn bull" was slain at Bordeaux. On the other hand, it may be that in the Irish legend regarding the conflict between the Brown Bull of Ulster and the White-horned Bull of Connaught we have a version of a very ancient myth which was connected with Osiris in Egypt. Both Irish animals were of miraculous birth; their mothers were fairy cows.

Like the Egyptian Anpu-Bata story, the Irish legend is characterized by belief in the transmigration of souls. It relates that the rival bulls were originally swineherds. One served Bodb, the fairy king of Munster, who was a son of Dagda, the Danann corn god; the other served Ochall Ochne, the fairy king of Connaught, the province occupied by the enemies of the beneficent Danann deities. The two herds fought one against another. "Then, the better to carry on their quarrel, they changed themselves into two ravens and fought for a year; next they turned into water monsters, which tore one another for a year in the Suir and a year in the Shannon; then they became human again, and fought as champions; and ended by changing into eels. One of these eels went into the River Cruind in Cualgne in Ulster, where it was swallowed by a cow belonging to Daire of Cualgne; and the other into the spring of Uaran Garad, in Connaught, where it passed into the belly of a cow of Queen Medb's. Thus were born those two famous beasts, the Brown Bull of Ulster and the White-horned Bull of Connaught." 8 The brown bull was victorious in the final conflict; it afterwards went mad, burst its heart with bellowing, and fell dead. In this myth we have the conflict between rival males, suggested in the Osiris-Set boar legend and the mock fights at the Egyptian bull temple.

The sacred cow was identified with Isis, Nepthys, Hathor, and Nut. Isis was also fused with Taurt, the female hippopotamus, who was goddess of maternity and was reputed to be the mother of Osiris. Even the crocodile was associated with the worship of the corn god; in one of the myths this reptile recovers the body of Osiris from the Nile.

Bast, another Great Mother who was regarded as a form of Isis, was identified with the cat, an animal which was extremely popular as a household pet in Egypt. Herodotus relates that when a house went on fire the Egyptians appeared to be occupied with no thought but that of preserving their cats. These animals were prone to leap into the flames, and when a family lost a cat in such circumstances there was universal sorrow. A Roman soldier was once mobbed and slain because he killed a household cat. 9 The cat was identified in France with the corn spirit: the last portion of grain which was reaped was called "the cat's tail". 10

We have referred in the Introduction to the goose which laid the sun egg. Apparently this bird was at one time sacred. Although it was a popular article of diet in ancient Egypt, and was favoured especially by the priests, it was probably eaten chiefly in the winter season. The goose and the duck were sacred in Abyssinia, where the Mediterranean type has been identified in fusion with Semitic, Negroid, and other types. In the Highlands of Scotland the goose was eaten, until recently, on Christmas Day only. Throughout England it was associated with Michaelmas. "If you eat goose at Michaelmas", runs an old saying, "you will never want money all the year round." The bird was evidently identified with the corn spirit. In Shropshire the shearing of the last portion of grain was referred to as "cutting the gander's neck". When all the corn was gathered into a stackyard in Yorkshire an entertainment was given which was called "The Inning Goose". During the reign of Henry IV the French subjects of the English king called the harvest festival the "Harvest Gosling". The Danes had also a goose for supper after harvest.

The sun god Ra, of Egypt, was supposed to have been hatched from the egg which rose from the primordial deep. This belief is reminiscent of the folk tale of the European giant who hid his soul in an egg, as Anpu hid his soul in the blossom of the acacia.

In one Scottish version of the ancient mythical story the giant's soul is in a stump of a tree, a hare, a salmon, a duck, and an egg; in another it is in a bull, a ram, a goose, and an egg. Ptah was credited with making the sun egg which concealed his own soul, or the soul of Ra. So was Khn These artisan gods appear to be of common origin (see Chapter XIV); they became giants in their fusion with the primitive earth god, who was symbolized as a gander, while they were also identified with the ram and the bull. Khnreceived offerings of fish, so that a sacred fish may be added. Anpu's soul passed from the blossom to a bull, and then to a tree. It may be that in these folk tales we have renderings of the primitive myth of a pastoral people which gave origin to the Egyptian belief in the egg associated with Ra, Ptah, and Khn In the Book of the Dead reference is made to the enemies of Ra, "who have cursed that which is in the egg". The pious were wont to declare: "I keep watch over the egg of the Great Cackler" (the chaos goose), or, according to another reading: "I am the egg which is in the Great Cackler" (Budge). Set, the earth deity, was believed to have flown through the air at the beginning in the form of the chaos goose. The Celtic deities likewise appeared to mankind as birds.

The hare was identified with a god of the underworld. Doves and pigeons were sacred; the ibis was an incarnation of Thoth, the hawk of Horus, and the swallow of Isis. The mythical phnix, with wings partly of gold and partly of crimson, was supposed to fly from Arabia to Heliopolis once every five hundred years. It was reputed to spring from the ashes of the parent bird, which thus renewed its youth.

The frog was sacred, and the frog goddess Hekt was a goddess of maternity. Among the gods identified with the ram were Amon and Min and the group of deities resembling Ptah. Anubis was the jackal. Mut, the Theban Great Mother, and the primitive goddess Nekhebat were represented by the vulture. The shrew mouse was sacred to Uazit, who escaped from Set in this form when she was the protector of Horus, son of Isis. The dog-faced ape was a form of Thoth; the lion was a form of Aker, an old, or imported, earth god.

There were two wild asses in Egyptian mythology, and they represented the good and evil principles. One was Set, and the other the sun ass, which was chased by the night serpent. Although the souls of the departed, according to the Book of the Dead, boasted that they drove back the "Eater of the Ass" (the serpent which devoured the sun); they also prayed that they would "smite the ass" (the devil ass) "and crush the serpent". When Set was driven out of Egypt he took flight on the back of the night ass, which was another form of the night serpent. Set was also the Apep serpent and the "roaring serpent", which symbolized the tempest.

Herodotus has recorded that although the number of beasts in ancient Egypt was comparatively small, both those which were wild and those which were tame were regarded as sacred. They were fed upon fish, and ministered to by hereditary lay priests and priestesses. "In the presence of the animals", the Greek historian wrote, "the inhabitants of the cities perform their vows. They address themselves as supplicants to the deity who is believed to be manifested by the animal in whose presence they are. . . . It is a capital offence to kill one of these animals."

Footnotes

1 Snake worshippers in India are careful not to injure or offend a serpent, and believe that "the faithful" are never stung.
2 Evidently because the sun cult was opposed to lunar rites which included the sacrifice of pigs.
3 Before the Greeks sacrificed a young pig, in connection with the mysteries of Demeter and Dionysos, they washed it and themselves in the sea. Plutarch: Vit. Phoc. xxviii.
4 Celtic Myth and Legend, p. 136. This is a tribal phase of pig worship, apparently, of different character to that which obtained in Egypt. It may be that the reverence for the good pig was greater than the hatred of the black and evil pig.
5 Ghosts also were enemies. A dead wife might cause her husband to be stricken with disease. Budge's Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, vol. ii, p. 211.
6 The Egyptian sacred fish were the Oxyrhinchus, Lepidotus, Latus, and Phagrus.
7 Apis worship was of great antiquity. Reference is made to the Apis priests in the Fourth Dynasty.
8 Celtic Myth and Legend, pp. 164-5.
9 Similarly British soldiers got into trouble recently for shooting sacred pigeons.
10 In Ireland the cat deity was the god Cairbre cinn cait, "of the cat's head". He was a god of the Fir Bolg, the enemies of the Gaulish Danann people.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 4, The Peasant who became King

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER IV

The Peasant who became King

The Two Brothers--Peasant Life--The Temptress--Wrath of Anpu--Attempt to slay his Brother--Flight of Bata--Elder Brother undeceived--Kills his Wife--Bata hides his Soul--His Wife--Sought by the King--Bata's Soul Blossom destroyed--Wife becomes a Queen--Recovery of Lost Soul--Bata as a Bull--Slaughtered for the Queen--Bata a Tree--Bata reborn as Son of his Wife--The King who slew his Wife--mother--Belief in Transmigration of Souls.

THERE were once two brothers, and they were sons of the same father and of the same mother. Anpu was the name of the elder, and the younger was called Bata. Now Anpu had a house of his own, and he had a wife. His brother lived with him as if he were his son, and made garments for him. It was Bata who drove the oxen to the field, it was he who ploughed the land, and it was he who harvested the grain. He laboured continually upon his brother's farm, and his equal was not to be found in the land of Egypt; he was imbued with the spirit of a god.

In this manner the brothers lived together, and many days went past. Each morning the younger brother went forth with the oxen, and when evening came on he drove them again to the byre, carrying upon his back a heavy burden of fodder which he gave to the animals to eat, and he brought with him also milk and herbs for Anpu and his wife. While these two ate and drank together in the house, Bata rested in the byre with the cattle and he slept beside them.

When day dawned, and the land grew bright again, the younger brother was first to rise up, and he baked bread for Anpu and carried his own portion to the field and ate it there. As he followed the oxen he heard and he understood their speech. They would say: "Yonder is sweet herbage", and he would drive them to the place of their choice, whereat they were well pleased. They were indeed noble animals, and they increased greatly.

The time of ploughing came on, and Anpu spake unto Bata, saying: "Now get ready the team of oxen, for the Nile flood is past and the land may be broken up. We shall begin to plough on the morrow; so carry seed to the field that we may sow it."

As Anpu desired, so did Bata do. When the next day dawned, and the land grew bright, the two brothers laboured in the field together, and they were well pleased with the work which they accomplished. Several days went past in this manner, and it chanced that on an afternoon the seed was finished ere they had completed their day's task.

Anpu thereupon spake to his younger brother saying: "Hasten to the granary and procure more seed."

Bata ran towards the house, and entered it. He beheld his brother's wife sitting upon a mat, languidly pleating her hair.

"Arise," he said, "and procure corn for me, so that I may hasten back to the field with it. Delay me not."

The woman sat still and said: "Go thou thyself and open the storeroom. Take whatsoever thou dost desire. If I were to rise for thee, my hair would fall in disorder."

Bata opened the storeroom and went within. He took a large basket and poured into it a great quantity of seed. Then he came forth carrying the, basket through the house.

The woman looked up and said: "What is the weight of that great burden of thine?"

Bata answered: "There are two measures of barley and three of wheat. I carry in all upon my shoulders five measures of seed."

"Great indeed is thy strength," sighed the woman. "Ah, thee do I contemplate and admire each day!"

Her heart was moved towards him, and she stood up saying: "Tarry here with me. I will clothe thee in fine raiment."

The lad was made angry as the panther, and said: "I regard thee as a mother, and my brother is like a father unto me. Thou hast spoken evil words and I desire not to hear them again, nor will I repeat unto any man what thou hast just spoken."

He departed abruptly with his burden and hastened to the field, where he resumed his labour.

At eventide Anpu returned home and Bata prepared to follow after him. The elder brother entered his house and found his wife lying there, and it seemed as if she had suffered violence from an evildoer. She did not give him water to wash his hands, as was her custom. Nor did she light the lamp. The house was in darkness. She moaned where she lay, as if she were in sickness, and her garment was beside her.

"Who hath been here?" asked Anpu, her husband.

The woman answered him: "No one came nigh me save thy younger brother. He spoke evil words unto me, and I said: 'Am I not as a mother, and is not thine elder brother as a father unto thee?' Then was he angry, and he struck me until I promised that I would not inform thee. . . . Oh I if thou wilt allow him to live now, I shall surely die."

The elder brother became like an angry panther. He sharpened his dagger and went out and stood behind the door of the byre with purpose to slay young Bata when he came nigh.

The sun had gone down when the lad drove the oxen into the byre, carrying on his back fodder and herbs, and in one hand a vessel of milk, as was his custom each evening.

The first ox entered the byre, and then it spoke to Bata, saying: "Beware I for thine elder brother is standing behind the door. In his hand is a dagger, and he desires to slay thee. Draw not nigh unto him."

The lad heard with understanding what the animal had said. Then the second ox entered and went to its stall, and spake likewise words of warning, saying: "Take speedy flight."

Bata peered below the byre door, and he saw the legs of his brother, who stood there with a dagger in his hand. He at once threw down his burden and made hurried escape. Anpu rushed after him furiously with the sharp dagger.

In his sore distress the younger brother cried unto the sun god Ra-Harmachis, saying: "O blessed lord! thou art he who distinguisheth between falsehood and truth."

The god heard his cry with compassion, and turned round. 1 He caused a wide stream to flow between the two brothers, and, behold! it was full of crocodiles. Then it came that Anpu and Bata stood confronting one another, one upon the right bank and the other upon the left. The elder brother twice smote his hands with anguish because that he could not slay the youth.

Bata called out to Anpu, saying: "Tarry where thou art until the earth is made bright once again. Lo! when Ra, the sun god, riseth up, I shall reveal in his presence all that I know, and he shall judge between us, discerning what is false and what is true. . . . Know thou that I may not dwell with thee any longer, for I must depart unto the fair region of the flowering acacia."

When day dawned, and the sun god Ra appeared in his glory, the two brothers stood gazing one upon the other across the stream of crocodiles. Then the lad spake to his elder brother, saying: "Why didst thou come against me, desiring to slay me with treachery ere yet I had spoken for myself? Am I not thy younger brother, and hast thou not been as a father and thy wife as a mother unto me? Hear and know now that when I hastened to procure seed thy wife spoke, saying: 'Tarry thou with me.' But this happening hath been related unto thee in another manner."

So spake Bata, and he told his brother what was true regarding the woman. Then he called to witness the sun god, and said: "Great was thy wickedness in desiring to murder me by treachery." As he spoke he cut off a piece of his flesh and flung it into the stream, where it was devoured by a fish. 2 He sank fainting upon the bank.

Anpu was stricken with anguish; tears ran from his eyes. He desired greatly to be beside his brother on the opposite bank of the stream of crocodiles.

Bata spake again, saying: "Verily, thou didst desire an evil thing, but if thy desire now is to do good, I shall instruct thee what thou shouldst do. Return unto thy home and tend thine oxen, for know now that I may not dwell with thee any longer, but must depart unto the fair region of the flowering acacia. What thou shalt do is to come to seek for me when I need thine aid, for my soul shall leave my body and have its dwelling in the highest blossom of the acacia. When the tree is cut down, my soul will fall upon the ground. There thou mayest seek it, even if thy quest be for seven years, for, verily, thou shalt find it if such is thy desire. Thou must then place it in a vessel of water, and I shall come to life again and reveal all that hath befallen and what shall happen thereafter. When the hour cometh to set forth on the quest, behold! the beer given to thee will bubble, and the wine will have a foul smell. These shall be as signs unto thee."

Then Bata took his departure, and he went into the valley of the flowering acacia, which was across the ocean. 3 His elder brother returned home. He lamented, throwing dust upon his head. He slew his wife and cast her to the dogs, and abandoned himself to mourning for his younger brother.

Many days went past, and Bata reached at length the valley of the flowering acacia. He dwelt there alone and hunted wild beasts. At eventide he lay down to rest below the acacia, in whose highest blossom his soul was concealed. In time he built a dwelling place and he filled it with everything that he desired.

Now it chanced that on a day when he went forth he met the nine gods, who were surveying the whole land. They spoke one to another and then asked of Bata why he had forsaken his home because of his brother's wife, for she had since been slain. "Return again," they said, "for thou didst reveal unto thine elder brother the truth of what happened unto thee."

They took pity on the youth, and Ra spoke, saying: "Fashion now a bride for Bata, so that he may not be alone."

Then the god Khnumu 4 fashioned a wife whose body was more beautiful than any other woman's in the land, because that she was imbued with divinity.

Then came the seven Hathors 5 and gazed upon her. In one voice they spoke, saying: "She shall surely die a speedy death."

Bata loved her dearly. Each day she remained in his house while he hunted wild beasts, and he carried them home and laid them at her feet. He warned her each day, saying: "Walk not outside, lest the sea may come up and carry thee away. I could not rescue thee from the sea spirit, 6 against whom I am as weak as thou art, because my soul is concealed in the highest blossom of the flowering acacia. If another should find my soul I must needs fight for it."

Thus he opened unto her his whole heart and revealed its secrets.

Many days went past. Then on a morning when Bata had gone forth to hunt, as was his custom, his girl wife went out to walk below the acacia) which was nigh to the house.

Lo! the sea spirit beheld her in all her beauty and caused his billows to pursue her. Hastily she fled away and returned to the house, whereat the sea spirit sang to the acacia: "Oh, would she were mine!"

The acacia heard and cast to the sea spirit a lock of the girl wife's hair. The sea bore it away towards the land of Egypt and unto the place where the washers of the king cleansed the royal garments.

Sweet was the fragrance of the lock of hair, and it perfumed the linen of the king. There were disputes among the washers because that the royal garments smelt of ointment, nor could anyone discover the secret thereof. The king rebuked them.

Then was the heart of the chief washer in sore distress, because of the words which were spoken daily to him regarding this matter. He went down to the seashore; he stood at the place which was opposite the floating lock of hair, and he beheld it at length and caused it to be carried unto him. Sweet was its fragrance, and he hastened with it to the king.

Then the king summoned before him his scribes, and they spake, saying: "Lo! this is a lock from the hair of the divine daughter of Ra, and it is gifted unto thee from a distant land. Command now that messengers be sent abroad to seek for her. Let many men go with the one who is sent to the valley of the flowering acacia so that they may bring the woman unto thee". 7

The king answered and said: "Wise are your words, and they are pleasant unto me."

So messengers were sent abroad unto all lands. But those who journeyed to the valley of the flowering acacia returned not, because that Bata slew them all; the king had no knowledge of what befel them.

Then the king sent forth more messengers and many soldiers also, so that the girl might be brought unto him. He sent also a woman, and she was laden with rare ornaments . . . and the wife of Bata came back with her.

Then was there great rejoicing in the land of Egypt. Dearly did the king love the divine girl, and he exalted her because of her beauty. He prevailed upon her to reveal the secrets of her husband, and the king then said: "Let the acacia be cut down and splintered in pieces."

Workmen and warriors were sent abroad, and they reached the acacia. They severed from it the highest blossom, in which the soul of Bata was concealed. The petals were scattered, and Bata dropped down dead. 8

A new day dawned, and the land grew bright. The acacia was then cut down.

Meanwhile Anpu, the elder brother of Bata., went into his house, and he sat down and washed his hands. 9 He was given beer to drink, and it bubbled, and the wine had a foul smell.

He seized his staff, put on his shoes and his garment, and armed himself for his journey, and departed unto the valley of the flowering acacia.

When he reached the house of Bata he found the young man lying dead upon a mat. Bitterly he wept because of that. But he went out to search for the soul of his brother at the place where, below the flowering acacia) Bata was wont to lie down to rest at eventide. For three years he continued his search, and when the fourth year came his heart yearned greatly to return to the land of Egypt. At length he said: "I shall depart at dawn to-morrow."

A new day came, and the land grew bright. He looked over the ground again at the place of the acacia for his brother's soul. The time was spent thus. In the evening he continued his quest also, and he found a seed, which he carried to the house, and, lo! the soul of his brother was in it. He dropped the seed into a vessel filled with cold water, and sat down as was his custom at evening.

Night came on, and then the soul absorbed the water.

The limbs of Bata quivered and his eyes opened and gazed upon his elder brother, but his heart was without feeling. Then Anpu raised the vessel which contained the soul to the lips of Bata, and he drank the water. Thus did his soul return to its place, and Bata was as he had been before.

The brothers embraced and spoke one to the other. Bata said: "Now I must become a mighty bull with every sacred mark. None will know my secret. Ride thou upon my back, and when the day breaks I shall be at the place where my wife is. Unto her must I speak. Lead me before the king, and thou shalt find favour in his eyes. The people will wonder when they behold me, and shout welcome. But thou must return unto thine own home."

A new day dawned, and the land grew bright. Bata was a bull, and Anpu sat upon his back and they drew nigh to the royal dwelling. The king was made glad, and he said: "This is indeed a miracle." There was much rejoicing throughout the land. Silver and gold were given to the elder brother, and he went away to his own home and waited there.

In time the sacred bull stood in a holy place, and the beautiful girl wife was there. Bata spoke unto her, saying: "Look thou upon me where I stand, for, lo! I am still alive."

Then said the woman: "And who art thou?"

The bull made answer: "Verily, I am Bata. It was thou who didst cause the acacia to be cut down; it was thou who didst reveal unto Pharaoh that my soul had dwelling in the highest blossom, so that it might be destroyed and I might cease to be. But, lo! I live on, and I am become a sacred bull."

The woman trembled; fear possessed her heart when Bata spoke unto her in this manner. She at once went out of the holy place.

It chanced that the king sat by her side at the feast, and made merry, for he loved her dearly. She spoke, saying: "Promise before the god that thou wilt do what I ask of thee."

His Majesty took a vow to grant her the wish of her heart, and she said: "It is my desire to eat of the liver of the sacred bull, for he is naught to thee." 10

Sorrowful was the king then, and his heart was troubled, because of the words which she spake. . . .

A new day dawned, and the land grew bright. Then the king commanded that the bull should be offered in sacrifice.

One of the king's chief servants went out, and when the bull was held high upon the shoulders of the people he smote its neck and it cast two drops of blood 11 towards the gate of the palace, and one drop fell upon the right side and one upon the left. There grew up in the night two stately Persea trees 12 from where the drops of blood fell down.

This great miracle was told unto the king, and the people rejoiced and made offerings of water and fruit to the sacred trees.

A day came when his majesty rode forth in his golden chariot. He wore his collar of lapis lazuli, and round his neck was a garland of flowers. The girl wife was with him, and he caused her to stand below one of the trees, and it whispered unto her:

"Thou false woman, I am still alive. Lo! I am even Bata, whom thou didst wrong. It was thou who didst cause the acacia to be cut down. It was thou who didst cause the sacred bull to be slain, so that I might cease to be."

Many days went past, and the woman sat with the king at the feast, and he loved her dearly. She spake, saying: "Promise now before the god that thou wilt do what I ask of thee."

His Majesty made a vow of promise, and she said: "It is my desire that the Persea trees be cut down so that two fair seats may be made of them."

As she desired, so was it done. The king commanded that the trees should be cut down by skilled workmen, and the fair woman went out to watch them. As she stood there, a small chip of wood entered her mouth, and she swallowed it.

After many days a son was born to her, and he was brought before the king, and one said: "Unto thee a son is given."

A nurse and servants were appointed to watch over the babe.

There was great rejoicing throughout the land when the time came to name the girl wife's son. The king made merry, and from that hour he loved the child, and he appointed him Prince of Ethiopia.

Many days went past, and then the king chose him to be heir to the kingdom.

In time His Majesty fulfilled his years, and he died, and his soul flew to the heavens.

The new king (Bata) then said: "Summon before me the great men of my Court, so that I may now reveal unto them all that hath befallen me and the truth concerning the queen."

His wife 13 was then brought before him. He revealed himself unto her, and she was judged before the great men, and they confirmed the sentence. 14

Then Anpu was summoned before His Majesty, and he was chosen to be the royal heir.

When Bata had reigned for thirty years, 15 he came to his death, and on the day of his burial his elder brother stood in his place.

Egyptian Love Songs

(Collected by Scribes over 3000 years ago, and laid in tombs so that they might be sung by departed souls in Paradise.)

THE WINE OF LOVE

Oh! when my lady cometh,
And I with love behold her,
I take her to my beating heart
And in mine arms enfold her;
My heart is filled with joy divine
For I am hers and she is mine.

Oh! when her soft embraces
Do give my love completeness,
The perfumes of Arabia
Anoint me with their sweetness;
And when her lips are pressed to mine
I am made drunk and need not wine.

THE SNARE OF LOVE

(Sung by a girl snarer to one she loves.)

With snare in hand I hide me,
I wait and will not stir;
The beauteous birds of Araby
Are perfumed all with myrrh--
Oh, all the birds of Araby,
That down to Egypt come,
Have wings that waft the fragrance
Of sweetly smelling gum!

I would that, when I snare them, Together we could be,
I would that when I hear them
Alone I were with thee.
If thou wilt come, my dear one,
When birds are snared above,
I'll take thee and I'll keep thee
Within the snare of love.

THE SYCAMORE SONG

A sycamore sang to a lady fair,
And its words were dropping like honey dew.
"Now ruby red is the fruit I bear
All in my bower for you.

"Papyri green are my leaves arrayed,
And branch and stem like to opal gleam;
Now come and rest in my cooling shade
The dream of your heart to dream.

"A letter of love will my lady fair
Send to the one who will happy be,
Saying: 'Oh, come to my garden rare
And sit in the shade with me!

"'Fruit I will gather for your delight,
Bread I will break and pour out wine,
I'll bring you the perfumed flow'rs and bright
On this festal day divine.'

"My lady alone with her lover will be,
His voice is sweet and his words are dear-
Oh, I am silent of all I see,
Nor tell of the things I hear!"

THE DOVE SONG

I hear thy voice, O turtle dove--
The dawn is all aglow--
Weary am I with love, with love,
Oh, whither shall I go?

Not so, O beauteous bird above,
Is joy to me denied. . . .
For I have found my dear, my love,
And I am by his side.

We wander forth, and hand in hand
Through flow'ry ways we go--
I am the fairest in the land,
For he hath called me so.

JEALOUSY

My face towards the door I'll keep
Till I my love behold,
With watching eyes and list'ning ears
I wait . . . and I turn cold,
I sigh and sigh;
He comes not nigh.

My sole possession is his love
All sweet and dear to me;
And ever may my lips confess
My heart, nor silent be.
I sigh and sigh;
He comes not nigh.

But now . . . a messenger in haste
My watching eyes behold . . .
He went as swiftly as he came.
"I am delayed", he told.
I sigh and sigh;
He comes not nigh.

Alas! confess that thou hast found
One fairer far than me.
O thou so false, why break my heart
With infidelity?
I sigh and sigh;
He'll ne'er come nigh.

THE GARDEN OF LOVE

Oh! fair are the flowers, my beloved,
And fairest of any I wait.
A garden art thou, all fragrant and dear,
Thy heart, O mine own, is the gate.

The canal of my love I have fashioned,
And through thee, my garden, it flows--
Dip in its waters refreshing and sweet,
When cool from the north the wind blows.

In our beauteous haunt we will linger,
Thy strong hand reposing in mine--
Then deep be my thoughts and deeper my joy,
Because, O my love, I am thine.

Oh! thy voice is bewitching, beloved,
This wound of my heart it makes whole--
Ah! when thou art coming, and thee I behold,
Thou'rt bread and thou'rt wine to my soul.

LOVE'S PRETENCE

With sickness faint and weary
All day in bed I'll lie;
My friends will gather near me
And she'll with them come nigh.
She'll put to shame the doctors
Who'll ponder over me,
For she alone, my loved one,
Knows well my malady.

Footnotes

1 Ra is here in his human form, walking through Egypt.
2 He was thus mutilated like Osiris, Attis, Adonis, and other gods.
3 Probably in Syria.
4 A creative god who resembles Ptah.
5 The seven Fates.
6 A non-Egyptian conception apparently.
7 An early version of the Cinderella story.
8 Like the typical giant of European folklore, who conceals his soul and is betrayed by his wife.
9 The Egyptians always washed their hands before and after meals.
10 It was believed that the soul was in the liver.
11 The belief that the soul was in the blood.
12 Out tree for the spirit and one for the soul.
13 Who was also his mother. Bata was reborn as the son of his wife. The tale is based upon belief in the transmigration of souls.
14 The sentence is not given, but is indicated by the prophecy of the seven Hathors, who said she would die "a speedy death" (a death by violence).
15 This suggests that he was sacrificed at the Sed festival.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 3, Dawn of Civilization

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER III

Dawn of Civilization

Early Peoples--The Mediterranean Race--Blonde Peoples of Morocco and Southern Palestine--Fair Types in Egypt--Migrations of Mediterraneans --They reach Britain--Early Nilotic Civilizations--Burial Customs--Osiris Invasion--The Set Conquest--Sun Worshippers from Babylonia--Settlement in North--Coming of Dynastic Egyptians--The Two Kingdoms--United by Mena--The Mathematicians of the Delta--Introduction of Calendar--Progressive Pharaohs--Early Irrigation Schemes.

IN the remote ages, ere the ice cap had melted in northern Europe, the Nile valley was a swamp, with growth of jungle like the Delta. Rain fell in season, so that streams flowed from the hills, and slopes which are now barren wastes were green and pleasant grassland. Tribes of Early Stone Age savages hunted and herded there, and the flints they chipped and splintered so rudely are still found in mountain caves, on the surface of the desert, and embedded in mud washed down from the hills.

Other peoples of higher development appeared in time 1 and after many centuries elapsed they divided the valley between them, increasing in numbers and breaking off in tribes. Several small independent kingdoms were thus formed. When government was ultimately centralized after conquest, these kingdoms became provinces, called nomes, 2 and each had its capital, with its ruling god and local theological system. The fusion of peoples which resulted caused a fusion of religious beliefs, and one god acquired the attributes of another without complete loss of identity.

The early settlers came from North Africa, which was possessed by tribes of the Mediterranean race. They were light-skinned "long heads" of short stature, with slender bodies, aquiline noses, and black hair and eyes. In the eastern Delta they were the Archaic Egyptians; in the western Delta and along the coast, which suffered from great subsidences in later times, they were known as the Libyans. Tribes of the latter appear to have mingled with a blonde and taller stock. 3 On the northern slopes of the Atlas Mountains this type has still survival; a similar people occupied southern Palestine in pre-Semitic times. Blue-eyed and light-haired individuals thus made appearance in the Nile valley at an early period. They were depicted in tomb paintings, and, although never numerous, were occasionally influential. There are fair types among modern-day Berbers. The idea that these are descendants of Celts or Goths no longer obtains.

As they multiplied and prospered, the Mediterranean peoples spread far from their North African area of characterization. Their migration southward was arrested in Nubia, where the exploring tribes met in conflict hordes of dusky Bushmen, with whom they ultimately blended. Fusion with taller negroes followed in later times. Thus had origin the virile Nubian people, who were ever a menace to the Dynastic Pharaohs.

But the drift of surplus Mediterranean stock appears to have been greater towards the north than the south. Branching eastward, they poured into Palestine and Asia Minor. They were the primitive Phnicians who ultimately fused with Semites, and they were the Hittites who blended with Mongols and Alpine (or Armenoid) "broad heads". Possessing themselves of large tracts of Italy and Greece, they became known to history as the Italici, Ligurians, Pelasgians, and they founded a great civilization in Crete, where evidences have been forthcoming of their settlement as early as 10,000 B.C. 4

The western migration towards Morocco probably resulted in periodic fusions with blonde mountain tribes, so that the stock which entered Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar may have been more akin in physical type to the Libyans than to the Archaic Egyptians. The early settlers spread through western Europe, and are known to history as the Iberians. They also met and mingled with the tribes branching along the seacoast from Greece. Moving northward through the river valleys of France, the Iberians crossed over to Britain, absorbing everywhere, it would appear, the earlier inhabitants who survived the clash of conflict. These were the men of the Late Stone Age, which continued through vast intervals of time.

A glimpse of the early Mediterranean civilization is obtained in the Delta region. The dwellings of the Archaic Egyptians were of mud-plastered wickerwork, and were grouped in villages, round which they constructed strong stockades to ward off the attacks of desert lions and leopards, and afford protection for their herds of antelopes, goats, and ostriches. The cat and the dog were already domesticated. Men tattooed their bodies and painted their faces; they wore slight garments of goatskin, and adorned their heads with ostrich feathers. The women) who affected similar habits, but had fuller attire, set decorated combs in their hair., and they wore armlets and necklets of shells, painted pebbles, and animals' teeth which were probably charms against witchcraft.

These early settlers were herdsmen and hunters and fishermen, and among them were artisans of great skill, who chipped from splintered flint sharp lances and knives and keen arrowheads, while they also fashioned artistic pottery and hollowed out shapely stone jars. In their small boats they sailed and rowed upon the Nile; they caught fish with bone hooks, and snared birds in the Delta swamps. Their traders bartered goods constantly among the tribes who dwelt on the river banks. They were withal fierce and brave warriors, as fearless in the chase as in battle, for they not only slew the wild ox, but made attack with lance and bow upon the crocodile and hippopotamus, and hunted the wild boar and desert lion in moonlight.

As day followed night, so they believed that life came after death. They buried their dead in shallow graves, clad in goatskin, crouched up as if taking rest before setting forth on a journey, while beside them were placed their little palettes of slate for grinding face paint, their staffs and flint weapons and vessels of pottery filled with food for sustenance and drink for refreshment.

Long centuries went past, and a new civilization appeared in Lower Egypt. Tribes from the east settled there and effected conquests, introducing new arts and manners of life and new beliefs. The people began to till the soil after the Nile flood subsided, and they raised harvests of barley and wheat. It was the age of Osiris and Isis.

Each king was an Osiris, and his symbols of power were the shepherd's staff and the flail. The people worshipped their king as a god, and, after thirty years' reign, devoured him at their Sed festival 5 with cannibalistic ceremonial, so that his spirit might enter his successor and the land and the people have prosperity. The gnawed bones of monarchs have been found in tombs.'

Laws, which were stern and inexorable as those of Nature, disciplined the people and promoted their welfare. Social life was organized under a strict system of government. Industries were fostered and commerce flourished. Traders went farther afield as the needs of the age increased, and procured ivory from Nubia, silver from Asia, and from Araby its sweet perfumes and precious stones, and for these they bartered corn and linen and oil; there was also constant exchange of pottery and weapons and ornaments. Centuries went past, and this civilization at length suffered gradual decline, owing, probably, to the weakening of the central power.

Then followed a period of anarchy, when the kingdom, attracting plunderers, sustained the shock of invasion. Hordes of Semites, mingled probably with northern mountaineers, poured in from Syria and the Arabian steppes, and overthrew the power of the Osirian ruler. They were worshippers of Set (Sutekh), and they plundered and oppressed the people. Their sway, however, was but slight in the region of the western Delta, where frequent risings occurred and rebellion was ever fostered. Warfare disorganized commerce and impoverished the land. Art declined and an obscure period ensued.

But the needs of a country prevail in the end, and the north flourished once again with growing commerce and revived industries. On their pottery the skilled artisans painted scenes of daily life. Men and women were, it appears, clad in garments of white linen, and the rich had belts and pouches of decorated leather and ornaments of silver and gold set with precious stones. Tools and weapons of copper had come into use, but flint was also worked with consummate skill unsurpassed by an), other people.

The land was a veritable hive of industry. Food was plentiful, for the harvests yielded corn, and huntsmen found wild animals more numerous as beasts of prey were driven from their lairs and lessened in number. Great galleys were built to trade in the Mediterranean, and each was propelled by sixty oarsmen. The ships of other peoples also visited the ports of Egypt, probably from Crete and the Syrian coast, and caravans crossed the frontier going eastward and north, while alien traders entered the land and abode in it. Battle conflicts with men of various races were also depicted on the pottery, for there was much warfare from time to time.

Growing communities with Babylonian beliefs effected settlements in the north. These were the sun worshippers whose religion ultimately gained ascendancy all over Egypt. From primitive Pithom (house of Tum) they may have passed to On (Heliopolis), which became sacred to Ra-Tum and was the capital of a province and probably, for a period, of the kingdom of Lower Egypt.

A. masterful people also appeared in Upper Egypt. They came from or through Arabia, and had absorbed a culture from a remote civilization, which cannot be located, in common with the early Babylonians. Crossing the lower end of the Red Sea, they entered the verdurous valley of the Nile over a direct desert route, or through the highlands of Abyssinia. They were armed with weapons of copper, and effected their earliest settlement, it would appear, at Edfu. Then by gradual conquest they welded together the various tribes, extending their sway over an ever-increasing area. New and improved methods of agriculture were introduced. Canals were constructed for purposes of irrigation. The people increased in number and prosperity, and law and order was firmly established in the land.

These invaders were sun worshippers of the Horus-hawk cult, but they also embraced the religious beliefs of the people with whom they mingled, including the worship of the corn god Osiris. From Edfu and Hierakonpolis they pressed northward to sacred Abydos, the burial place of kings, and to Thinis, the capital of four united provinces. Several monarchs, who wore with dignity the white crown of Upper Egypt, reigned and "abode their destined hour". Then arose a great conqueror who was named Zaru, "The Scorpion". He led his victorious army down the Nile valley, extending his kingdom as he went, until he reached the frontier of the Fayum province, which was then a great swamp. There his progress was arrested. But a new era had dawned in Egypt, for there then remained but two kingdoms--the Upper and the Lower.

King Zaru was not slain at the Sed festival in accordance with the suggested ancient custom. He impersonated Osiris, throned in solitary dignity and wearing his crown, within a small curtained enclosure which opened at the front, and he held the crook in one hand and the flail in the other. The people made obeisance before him. It is not possible to follow the details of the ceremony, but from pictorial records it appears that large numbers of captives and oxen and cattle were offered up in sacrifice, so that slaughter might be averted by slaughter. The monarch was believed to have died a ceremonial death and to have come to life again with renewed energy which prolonged his years. An Abydos inscription declares of an Osiris ruler in this connection: "Thou dost begin thy days anew; like the holy moon child thou art permitted to prosper . . . thou hast grown young and thou art born to life again." 6 An important event at the festival was the appearance before the Pharaoh of his chosen successor, who performed a religious dance; and he was afterwards given for wife a princess of the royal line, so that his right to the throne might be secured.

The closing years of Zaru's reign were apparently occupied in organizing and improving the conquered territory. As befitted an Osirian king, he de-voted much attention to agriculture, and land was reclaimed by irrigation. An artist depicted him in the act of digging on the river bank with a hoe, as if performing the ceremony of "cutting the first sod" of a new canal. The people are shown to have had circular dwellings, with fruit trees protected by enclosures. Their square fields were surrounded by irrigating ditches.

When the king died he was buried at Abydos, like other rulers of his line, in one of the brick tombs of the time. The investigation of these by Flinders Petrie has made possible the reconstruction in outline of the history of Egypt immediately prior to the founding of the First Dynasty. It is significant to note that the dead were buried at full length instead of in contracted posture as in Lower Egypt.

The next great monarch was Narmer, who is believed by certain authorities to have been Mena. Petrie, however, holds that they were separate personalities. Another view is that the deeds of two or three monarchs were attributed to Mena, as in the case of the Sesostris of the Greeks. Evidently many myths attached to the memory of the heroic figure who accomplished the conquest of the northern kingdom and founded the First Dynasty of united Egypt. Mena was represented, for instance) as the monarch who taught the people how to gorge luxuriously while he lay upon a couch and slaves massaged his stomach, and tradition asserted that he met his death, apparently while intoxicated, by falling into the Nile, in which he was devoured by a hippopotamus. But these folk tales hardly accord with the character of a conqueror of tireless energy, who must have been kept fully occupied in organizing his new territory and stamping out the smouldering fires of rebellion.

The initial triumph of the traditional Mena, in his Narmer character, was achieved in the swampy Fayum, the buffer state between Upper and Lower Egypt. It had long resisted invasion, but in the end the southern forces achieved a great victory. The broad Delta region then lay open before them, and their ultimate success was assured. King Narmer is shown on a slate palette clutching with one hand the headlocks of the Fayum chief-who kneels in helpless posture-while with the other he swings high a mace to smite the final blow. A composed body servant waits upon the conquering monarch, carrying the royal sandals and a water jar. The ha-wk symbol is also depicted to signify that victory was attributed to Horus, the tribal god. Two enemies take flight beneath, and above the combatants are two cow heads of the pastoral and sky goddess Hathor.

This great scene was imitated, in the true conservative spirit of the ancient Egyptians, on the occasion of similar acts of conquest in after time. Indeed, for a period of 3000 years each succeeding Pharaoh who achieved victory in battle was depicted, like Narmer, smiting his humbled foeman, and his importance was ever emphasized by his gigantic stature. It was an artistic convention in those ancient days to represent an Egyptian monarch among his enemies or subjects like a Gulliver surrounded by Lilliputians.

After the conquest of the Fayum, the Libyans appear to have been the dominating people in Lower Egypt. Their capital was at Sais, the seat of their goddess Neith. The attributes of this deity reflect the character of the civilization of her worshippers. Her symbol was a shield and two arrows. She was depicted with green hands and face, for she was an earth spirit who provided verdure for the flocks of a pastoral people. A weaver's shuttle was tattooed upon her body, to indicate apparently that she imparted to women their skill at the loom.

Mena conquered the Libyans in battle, and many thousands were slain, and he extended his kingdom to the shores of the Mediterranean. Then he assumed, in presence of his assembled army, the red crown of Lower Egypt. He appears also to have legitimatized the succession by taking for wife Neithhotep, "Neith rests", a princess of the royal house of Sais.

So was the Horus tribe united with the Libyans who worshipped a goddess. In aftertime the triad of Sais was composed of Osiris, Neith, and Horus. Neith was identified with Isis.

The race memory of the conquest of Lower Egypt is believed to be reflected in the mythical tale of Horus overcoming Set. The turning-point in the campaign was the Fayum conflict where the animal gods of Set were slain. Petrie urges with much circumstantial detail the striking view that the expulsion of Set from Egypt signifies the defeat of the military aristocracy of "Semites " 7 by the Horus people, who, having espoused the religion of Osiris, also espoused the cause of the tribe which introduced his worship into the land. It is evident, from an inscription on a temple of southern Edfu, that many conquests were effected in the Delta region ere the union was accomplished. One version of the great folk tale states that when Horus overcame Set he handed him over to Isis bound in chains. She failed, however, to avenge her husband's death, and set her oppressor at liberty again. In his great wrath Horus then tore the crown from her head. This may refer particularly to the circumstances which led to the Libyan conquest. "We can hardly avoid", says Petrie, "reading the history of the animosities of the gods as being the struggles of their worshippers."

The Libyans were ever a troublesome people to the Pharaohs, whose hold on the western district of the Delta was never certain. Mena apparently endeavoured to break their power by taking captive no fewer than 120,000 prisoners. His spoils included also 100,000 oxen and 1,420,000 goats.

This displacement of so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the north was not without its effect in the physical character of the Nile-valley peoples. The differences of blend between north and south were well marked prior to the conquest. After the union of the two kingdoms the ruling classes of Upper Egypt approximated closely to the Delta type. It is evident that the great native civilization which flourished in the Nile valley for over forty centuries owed much to the virility and genius of the Mediterranean race, which promoted culture where ver its people effected settlements. One is struck, indeed) to note in this connection that the facial characteristics of not a few Pharaohs resemble those of certain great leaders of men who have achieved distinction among the nations of Europe.

The culture of the Horite conquerors was evidently well adapted for the Nile valley. It developed there rapidly during the three centuries which elapsed before the Delta was invaded, and assumed a purely Egyptian character. Hieroglyphics were in use from the beginning, copper was worked by "the smiths", and superior wheel-turned pottery made its appearance. But the greatest service rendered to ancient Egypt by the Horites was the ultimate establishment of settled conditions over the entire land in the interests of individual welfare and national progress.

The contribution of the north to Dynastic culture was not inconsiderable. In fact, it cannot really be overestimated. The Delta civilization was already well developed prior to the conquest. There was in use among the people a linear script which resembled closely the systems of Crete and the ean and those also that appeared later in Karia and Spain. Its early beginnings may be traced, perhaps, in those rude signs which the pioneers of the Late Stone Age in western Europe scratched upon the French dolmens. Archaic Phnician letters show that the great sea traders in after time simplified the system and diffused it far and wide.' Our alphabet is thus remotely North African in origin. 8

It was in the Delta also that the Calendar was invented by great mathematicians of the Late Stone Age, over sixty centuries ago, who recognized that an artificial division of time was necessary for purposes of accurate record and calculation. They began their year with the rising of the star Sirius (Sothos) at the height of the Nile inundation. and it was divided into twelve months of thirty days each, five extra days being added for religious festivals associated with agricultural rites. This Calendar was ultimately imported and adjusted by the Romans, and it continues in use, with subsequent refinements, all over the world until the present day. Under Mena's rule there are evidences of the progress which is ever fostered when ideas are freely exchanged and a stimulating rivalry is promoted among the people. The inventive mind was busily at work. Pottery improved in texture and construction, and was glazed in colours. Jewellery of great beauty was also produced, and weapons and tools were fashioned with artistic design. Draughtboards and sets of "ninepins" were evidently in demand among all classes for recreation in moments of leisure.

Meanwhile the administration of the united kingdom was thoroughly organized. Officials were numerous and their duties were strictly defined. Various strategic centres were garrisoned so as to prevent outbreaks and to secure protection for every industrious and law-abiding citizen. Memphis became an important city. According to tradition it was built by Mena, but the local theological system suggests that it existed prior to his day. It is probable that he erected buildings there, including a fortification, and made it a centre of administration for the northern part of his kingdom.

When Mena died he was buried at Abydos, and he was succeeded by his son Aha, "the fighter". Under the new monarch a vigorous military campaign was conducted in the south, and another province was placed under the sway of the central government. The peaceful condition of the north is emphasized by his recorded visit to Sais, where he made offerings at the shrine of Neith, the goddess of his mother's people.

Meanwhile the natural resources of the Nile valley were systematically developed. Irrigation works were undertaken everywhere, jungle was cleared away, and large tracts of land were reclaimed by industrious toilers. These activities were promoted and controlled by royal officials. King Den, a wise and progressive monarch, inaugurated the great scheme of clearing and draining the Fayum, which was to become in after time a fertile and populous province. The surveyors set to work and planned the construction of a canal, and the scheme was developed and continued by the monarchs who followed. It was as shrewdly recognized in the time of the First Dynasty as it is in our own day, that the progress and welfare of the Nile-valley people must ever depend upon the development of the agricultural resources of the country. The wealth of Egypt is drawn from the soil. All the glory and achievements of the Dynasties were made possible by the systems of government which afforded facilities and protection for the men who "cast their bread upon the waters" so that abundant return might be secured "after many days". When we are afforded, therefore, a glimpse of daily life on the land, as is given in the ancient and treasured folk tale which follows, 9 we are brought into closer touch with the people who toiled in contentment many thousands of years ago in the land of Egypt than is possible when we contemplate with wonder their exquisite works of art or great architectural triumphs. The spirit which pervaded the ancient peasantry of the Nile valley is reflected in the faithful and gentle service and the winning qualities of poor Bata, the younger brother. It gives us pause to reflect that the story of his injured honour and tragic fate moved to tears those high-born dames whose swaddled mummies now lie in our museums to be stared at by holidaymakers who wonder how they lived and what scenes surrounded their daily lives.

Footnotes

1 The early Pallithic men were probably of Bushman type and the later of Mediterranean. Evidences of development from the Pallithic to the Neolithic Age have been forthcoming
2 The Greek name; the old Egyptian name was "hesp".
3 There were Libyans in the western Delta; on its borders were the "Tehenu", and beyond these the "Lebu", and still farther west were the "Meshwesh", the Maxyes of the Greeks. All were referred to as Libyans.
4 Petrie's view. See Researches in Sinai, p. 185.
5 Maspero. This opinion, however, has been sharply challenged.
6 The Horus worshippers had evidently absorbed the beliefs of the Nilotic moon cult. Some authorities credit the Dynastic Egyptians with the introduction of Osiris worship. The close resemblance of Osiris to similar deities in Asia Minor and Europe favours the view that Osiris first entered Lower Egypt. See Golden Bough--Adonis, Attis, Osiris volume. The Osiran heaven was of Delta character.
7 It is possible that Set (Sutekh) was the god of a pre-Semitic people whose beliefs were embraced by certain Semitic tribes.
8 Professor Macalister is inclined to credit the Philistines instead of the Phoenicians with the work of systematizing the script.
9 It assumed its final form in the Empire period, and is evidently of remote antiquity.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 2, The Tragedy of Osiris

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER II

The Tragedy of Osiris

Osiris the Wise King--Introduction of Agriculture --Isis the Strong Queen--Conspiracy of Set--The Tragic Feast--Osiris is slain--The Quest of Isis----Set the Oppressor--"The Opener of the Ways"--Birth of Horus--Thoth the Healer--Tree encloses Osiris's Body--Isis as a Foster-mother--Her Swallow Guise--Flames of Immortality--Osiris brought back to Egypt --Torn in Pieces by Set, the Boar Hunter--Isis recovers Fragments--Ghost of Murdered King--Horus as Hamlet--Succession of Uncle and Son--Agricultural Rites--The Inundation--Lamentations at Sowing Time and Harvest --Osiris and Isis as Corn Spirits--Hapi, the Nile Deity--Isis as a Male.

WHEN Osiris was born, a voice from out of the heavens proclaimed: "Now hath come the lord of all things." The wise man Pamyles had knowledge of the tidings in a holy place at Thebes, and he uttered a cry of gladness, and told the people that a good and wise king had appeared among men.

When Ra grew old and ascended unto heaven, Osiris sat in his throne and ruled over the land of Egypt. Men were but savages when he first came amongst them. They hunted wild animals, they wandered in broken tribes hither and thither, up and down the valley and among the mountains, and the tribes contended fiercely in battle. Evil were their ways and their desires were sinful.

Osiris ushered in a new age. He made good and binding laws, he uttered just decrees, and he judged with wisdom between men. He caused peace to prevail at length over all the land of Egypt.

Isis was the queen consort of Osiris, and she was a woman of exceeding great wisdom. Perceiving the need of mankind, she gathered the ears of barley and wheat which she found growing wild, and these she gave unto the king. Then Osiris taught men to break up the land which had been under flood) to sow the seed, and, in due season, to reap the harvest. He instructed them also how to grind corn and knead flour and meal so that they might have food in plenty. By the wise ruler was the vine trained upon poles, and he cultivated fruit trees and caused the fruit to be gathered. A father was he unto his people, and he taught them to worship the gods, to erect temples, and to live holy lives. The hand of man was no longer lifted against his brother. There was prosperity in the land of Egypt in the days of Osiris the Good.

When the king perceived the excellent works which he had accomplished in Egypt, he went forth to traverse the whole world with purpose to teach wisdom unto all men, and prevail upon them to abandon their evil ways. Not by battle conquest did he achieve his triumphs, but by reason of gentle and persuasive speech and by music and song. Peace followed in his footsteps, and men learned wisdom from his lips.

Isis reigned over the land of Egypt until his return. She was stronger than Set, who regarded with jealous eyes the good works of his brother, for his heart was full of evil and he loved warfare better than peace. He desired to stir up rebellion in the kingdom. The queen frustrated his wicked designs. He sought in vain to prevail in battle against her, so he plotted to overcome Osiris by guile. His followers were seventy and two men who were subjects of the dusky queen of Ethiopia. 1


Thoth	Asar-Ash (Osiris-Ah) with attributes of Khonsu	Ptah


Ra		Set

LUNAR, SOLAR AND EARTH GODS


Osiris	Isis, winged, in the attitude of protecting Horus	Horus (as Harpokrates)

OSIRIS, ISIS AND HORUS

When Osiris returned from his mission, there was great rejoicing in the land. A royal feast was held, and set came to make merry, and with him were his fellow conspirators. He brought a shapely and decorated chest, which he had caused to be made according to the measurements of the king's body. All men praised it at the feast, admiring its beauty, and many desired greatly to possess it. When hearts were made glad with beer-drinking, Set proclaimed that he would gift the chest unto him whose body fitted its proportions with exactness. There was no suspicion of evil design among the faithful subjects of Osiris. The guests spoke lightly, uttering jests one against another, and all were eager to make trial as Set had desired. So it happened that one after another entered the chest on that fateful night, until it seemed that no man could be found to win it for himself. Then Osiris came forward. He lay down within the chest, and he filled it in every part. But dearly was his triumph won in that dark hour which was his hour of doom. Ere he could raise his body, the evil followers of Set sprang suddenly forward and shut down the lid, which they nailed fast and soldered with lead. So the richly decorated chest became the coffin of the good king Osiris, from whom departed the breath of life.

The feast was broken up in. confusion. Merrymaking ended in sorrow, and blood flowed after that instead of beer. Set commanded his followers to carry away the chest and dispose of it secretly. As he bade them, so did they do. They hastened through the night and flung it into the Nile. The current bore it away in the darkness, and when morning came it reached the great ocean and was driven hither and thither, tossing among the waves. So ended the days of Osiris and the years of his wise and prosperous reign in the land of Egypt.

When the grievous tidings were borne unto Isis, she was stricken with great sorrow and refused to be comforted. She wept bitter tears and cried aloud. Then she uttered a binding vow, cut off a lock of her shining hair, and put on the garments of mourning. Thereafter the widowed queen wandered up and down the land, seeking for the body of Osiris.

Nor would she rest nor stay until she found what she sought. She questioned each one she encountered, and one after another they answered her without knowledge. Long she made search in vain, but at length she was told by shoreland children that they had beheld the chest floating down the Nile and entering the sea by the Delta mouth which takes its name from the city of Tanis. 2

Meanwhile Set, the usurper, ascended the throne of Osiris and reigned over the land of Egypt. Men were wronged and despoiled of their possessions. Tyranny prevailed and great disorder, and the followers of Osiris suffered persecution. The good queen Isis became a fugitive in the kingdom, and she sought concealment from her enemies in the swamps and deep jungle of the Delta. Seven scorpions followed her, and these were her protectors. Ra, looking down from heaven, was moved to pity because of her sore distress, and he sent to her aid Anubis, "the opener of the ways", who was the son of Osiris and Nepthys, and he became her guide.

One day Isis sought shelter at the house of a poor woman, who was stricken with such great fear when she beheld the fearsome scorpions that she closed the door against the wandering queen. But a scorpion gained entrance) and bit her child so that he died. Then loud and long were the lamentations of the stricken mother.

The heart of Isis was touched with pity, and she uttered magical words which caused the child to come to life again, and the woman ministered unto the queen with gratitude while she remained in the house.

Then Isis gave birth unto her son Horus; but Set came to know where the mother and babe were concealed, and he made them prisoners in the house. 3

It was his desire to put Horus to death, lest he should become his enemy and the claimant of the throne of Osiris. But wise Thoth came out of heaven and gave warning unto Isis, and she fled with her child into the night. She took refuge in Buto, where she gave Horus into the keeping of Uazit, the virgin goddess of the city, who was a serpent, 4 So that he might have protection against the jealous wrath of Set, his wicked uncle, while she went forth to search for the body of Osiris. But one day, when she came to gaze upon the child, she found him lying dead. A scorpion had bitten him, nor was it in her power to restore him to life again. In her bitter grief she called upon the great god Ra. Her voice ascended to high heaven, and the sun boat was stayed in its course. Then wise Thoth came down to give aid. He worked a mighty spell; he spoke magical words over the child Horus, who was immediately restored to life again. 5 It was the will of the gods that he should grow into strong manhood and then smite his father's slayer.

The coffin of Osiris was driven by the waves to Byblos, in Syria, and it was cast upon the shore. A sacred tree sprang up and grew round it, and the body of the dead ruler was enclosed in its great trunk. The king of that alien land marvelled greatly at the wonderful tree, because that it had such rapid growth, and he gave command that it should be cut down. As he desired, so it was done. Then was the trunk erected in his house as a sacred pillar, but to no man was given knowledge of the secret which it contained.

A revelation came unto Isis, and she set out towards Byblos in a ship. When she reached the Syrian coast she went ashore clad in common raiment, and she sat beside a well, weeping bitterly. Women came to draw water, and they spoke to her with pity, but Isis answered not, nor ceased to grieve, until the handmaidens of the queen drew nigh. Unto them she gave kindly greetings. When they had spoken gently unto her she braided their hair, and into each lock she breathed sweet and alluring perfume. So it chanced that when the maidens returned unto the king's house the queen smelt the perfume, and commanded that the strange woman should be brought before her. Then it was that Isis found favour in the eyes of the queen, who chose her to be the foster-mother of the royal babe.

But Isis refused to suckle the child, and to silence his cries for milk, she put her finger into his mouth. When night came she caused fire to burn away his flesh, and she took the form of a swallow and flew, uttering broken cries of sorrow, round about the sacred pillar which contained the body of Osiris. It chanced that the queen came nigh and beheld her babe in the flames. She immediately plucked him forth; but although she rescued his body she caused him to be denied immortality. 6

Isis again assumed her wonted form, and she confessed unto the queen who she was. Then she asked the king that the sacred pillar be given unto her. The boon was granted, and she cut deep into the trunk and took forth the chest which was concealed therein. Embracing it tenderly, she uttered cries of lamentation that were so bitter and keen that the royal babe died with terror. Then she consecrated the sacred pillar, which she wrapped in linen and anointed with myrrh, and it was afterwards placed in a temple which the king caused to be erected to Isis, and for long centuries it was worshipped by the people of Byblos.

The coffin of Osiris was borne to the ship in which the queen goddess had sailed unto Syria. Then she went aboard, and took with her Maneros, the king's first-born, and put forth to sea. The ship sped on, and the land faded from sight. Isis yearned to behold once again the face of her dead husband, and she opened the chest and kissed passionately his cold lips, while tears streamed from her eyes. Maneros, son of the King of Byblos, came stealthily behind her, wondering what secret the chest contained. Isis looked round with anger, her bright eyes blinded him, and he fell back dead into the sea.

When Isis reached the land of Egypt she concealed the body of the dead king in a secret place, and hastened towards the city of Buto to embrace her son Horus; but shortlived was her triumph. It chanced that Set came hunting the boar 7 at full moon in the Delta jungle, and he found the chest which Isis had taken back from Syria. He caused it to be opened, and the body of Osiris was taken forth and rent into fourteen pieces, which he cast into the Nile, so that the crocodiles might devour them. But these reptiles had fear of Isis and touched them not, and they were scattered along the river banks. 8 A fish (Oxyrhynchus) swallowed the phallus.

The heart of Isis was filled with grief when she came to know what Set had done. She had made for herself a papyrus boat and sailed up and down the Delta waters, searching for the fragments of her husband's body, and at length she recovered them all, save the part which had been swallowed by the fish. She buried the fragments where they were found, and for each she made a tomb. In after days temples were erected over the tombs, and in these Osiris was worshipped by the people for long centuries.

Set continued to rule over Egypt, and he persecuted the followers of Osiris and Isis in the Delta swamps and along the seacoast to the north. But Horus, who was rightful king, grew into strong manhood. He prepared for the coming conflict, and became a strong and brave warrior. Among his followers were cunning workers in metal who were called Mesniu (smiths), and bright and keen were their weapons of war. The sun hawk was blazoned on their battle banners.

One night there appeared to Horus in a. dream a vision of his father Osiris. 9 The ghost urged him to overthrow Set) by whom he had been so treacherously put to death, and Horus vowed to drive his wicked uncle and all his followers out of the land of Egypt. So he gathered his army together and went forth to battle. Set came against him at Edfu and slew many of his followers. But Horus secured the aid of the tribes that remained faithful to Osiris and Isis, and Set was again attacked and driven towards the eastern frontier. The usurper uttered a great cry of grief when he was forced to take flight. He rested at Zaru, and there was the last battle fought. It was waged for many days, and Horus lost an eye. But Set was still more grievously wounded, 10 and he was at length driven with his army out of the kingdom.

It is told that the god Thoth descended out of heaven and healed the wounds of Horus and Set. Then the slayer of Osiris appeared before the divine council and claimed the throne. But the gods gave judgment that Horus was the rightful king, and he established his power in the land of Egypt, and became a wise and strong ruler like to his father Osiris.

Another version of the legend relates that when the fragments of the body of Osiris were recovered from the Nile, Isis and Nepthys lamented over them, weeping bitterly. In one of the temple chants Isis exclaims:

Gods, and men before the face of the gods, are weeping for thee at the same time when they behold me!
Lo! I invoke thee with wailing that reacheth high as heaven--
Yet thou hearest not my voice. Lo! I, thy sister, I love thee more than all the earth
And thou lovest not another as thou dost thy sister!

Nepthys cries,

Subdue every sorrow which is in the hearts of us thy sisters . . .
Live before us, desiring to behold thee. 11

The lamentations of the goddesses were heard by Ra, and he sent down from heaven the god Anubis, who, with the assistance of Thoth and Horus, united the severed portions of the body of Osiris, which they wrapped in linen bandages. Thus had origin the mummy form of the god. Then the winged Isis hovered over the body, and the air from her wings entered the nostrils of Osiris so that he was imbued with life once again. He afterwards became the Judge and King of the Dead.

Egyptian burial rites were based upon this legend. At the ceremony enacted in the tomb chapel two female relatives of the deceased took the parts of Isis and Nepthys, and recited magical formulso that the dead might be imbued with vitality and enabled to pass to the Judgment Hall and Paradise.

Osiris and Isis, the traditional king and queen of ancient Egyptian tribes, were identified with the deities who symbolized the forces of Nature, and were accordingly associated with agricultural rites.

The fertility of the narrow strip of country in the Nile valley depends upon the River Nile, which overflows its banks every year and brings down fresh soil from the hills. The river is at its lowest between April and June, the period of winter. Fed by the melting snows on the Abyssinian hills, and by the equatorial lakes, which are flooded during the rainy season, the gradual rise of the river becomes perceptible about the middle of June. The waters first assume a reddish tint on account of the clay which they carry. For a short period they then become greenish and unwholesome. Ere that change took place the Ancient Egyptians were wont to store up water for domestic use in large jars. By the beginning of August the Nile runs high. It was then that the canals were opened in ancient days, so that the waters might fertilize the fields.

"As the Nile rose," writes Wilkinson, 12 "the peasants were careful to remove the flocks and herds from the lowlands; and when a sudden irruption of the water, owing to the bursting. of a dike, or an unexpected and unusual increase of the river, overflowed the fields and pastures, they were seen hurrying to the spot, on foot or in boats, to rescue the animals and to remove them to the high grounds above the reach of the inundation. . . . And though some suppose the inundation does not now attain the same height as of old, those who have lived in the country have frequently seen the villages of the Delta standing, as Herodotus describes them, like islands in the ean Sea, with the same scenes of rescuing the cattle from the water." According to Pliny, "a proper inundation is of 16 cubits . . . in 12 cubits the country suffers from famine, and feels a deficiency even in 13; 14 causes joy, 15 scarcity, 16 delight; the greatest rise of the river to this period was of 18 cubits".

When the river rose very high in the days of the Pharaohs, "the lives and property of the inhabitants", says Wilkinson, "were endangered"; in some villages the houses collapsed. Hence the legend that Ra sought to destroy his enemies among mankind.

The inundation is at its height by the end of September, and continues stationary for about a month. Not until the end of September does the river resume normal proportions. November is the month for sowing; the harvest is reaped in Upper Egypt by March and in Lower Egypt by April.

It was believed by the ancient agriculturists that the tears of Isis caused the river to increase in volume. When Sirius rose before dawn about the middle of July it was identified with the goddess. In the sun-cult legend this star is Hathor, "the eye of Ra", who comes to slaughter mankind. There are evidences that human sacrifices were offered to the sun god at this period.

E. W. Lane, in his Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, tells that the night of 17 June is called "Leylet-en-Nuktah", or "the Night of the Drop", because "it is believed that a miraculous drop then falls into the Nile and causes it to rise". An interesting ceremony used to be performed at "the cutting of the dam" in old Cairo. A round pillar of earth was formed, and it was called the "bride", and seeds were sown on the top of it. Lane says that an ancient Arabian historian "was told that the Egyptians were accustomed, at the period when the Nile began to rise, to deck a young virgin in gay apparel, and throw her into the river, as a sacrifice to obtain a plentiful inundation".

When the ancient Egyptians had ploughed their fields they held a great festival at which the moon god, who, in his animal form, symbolized the generative principle, was invoked and worshipped. Then the sowing took place, amidst lamentations and mourning for the death of Osiris. The divine being was buried in the earth; the seeds were the fragments of his body. Reference is made to this old custom in Psalm cxxvi: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him".

When harvest operations began, the Egyptians mourned because they were slaying the corn spirit. Diodorus Siculus tells that when the first handful of grain was cut, the Egyptian reapers beat their breasts and lamented, calling upon Isis. When, however, all the sheaves were brought in from the fields, they rejoiced greatly and held their "harvest home".

Both Osiris and Isis were originally identified with the spirits of the corn. The former represented the earth god and the latter the earth goddess. But after the union of the tribes which worshipped the human incarnations of ancient deities, the rival conceptions were fused. As a result we find that the inundation is symbolized now as the male principle and now as the female principle; the Nile god, Hapi, is depicted as a man with female breasts. In an Abydos temple chant Isis makes reference to herself as "the woman who was made a male by her father, Osiris". 13

The Scottish Osiris

(JOHN BARLEYCORN)

THERE were three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough'd him down
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerful spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.

The sultry suns of summer came,
And he grew thick and strong,
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.

His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've ta'en a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then ty'd him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turn'd him o'er and o'er.

They fil up a darksome pit
With water to the brim,
They heav in John Barleycorn-
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They tossed him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But the miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.

And they hae ta'en his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland.

Burns.

Footnotes

1 After the period of Ethiopian supremacy (Twenty-fifth Dynasty) Set was identified with the Ethiopians.
2 Tanis was during the later Dynasties associated with the worship of Set as Sutekh
3 Another version of the myth places the birth of Horus after the body of Osiris was found.
4 She took the form of a shrew mouse to escape Set when he searched for Horus.
5 Thoth in his lunar character as divine physician.
6 We have here a suggestion of belief in cremation, which was practised by the cave-dwellers of southern Palestine. The ghost of Patroklos says: "Never again will I return from Hades when I receive from you my meed of fire".--Iliad, xxiii, 75.
7 The Osiris boar. See Chapter V.
8 The crocodile worshippers held that their sacred reptile recovered the body of Osiris for Isis.
9 This is the earliest known form of the Hamlet myth.
10 He was mutilated by Horus as he himself had mutilated Osiris.
11 The Burden of Isis, translated by J. T. Dennis (Wisdom of the East Series).
12 The Ancient Egyptians, Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson.
13 The Burden of Isis, Dennis, p. 49.

September 20, 2011
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Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 1, Creation Legend of Sun Worshippers

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER I

Creation Legend of Sun Worshippers

The Primordial Deep--Ra's "Soul Egg" arises--The Elder Gods--Isis and the Serpent--Plot to rival Ra--How his Magic Name was obtained--Ra. seeks to destroy Mankind--An Avenging Goddess--The Deluge--Worshippers are spared--Origin of Sacrifice--Ra ascends to Heaven--Earth God's Reptile Brood--Thoth the Deputy--The Sun God's Night journey--Perils of the Underworld--Rebirth of Sun at Dawn.

AT the beginning the world was a waste of water called Nu. and it was the abode of the Great Father. He was Nu, for he was the deep, and he gave being unto the sun god who hath said: "Lo! I am Khepera at dawn, Ra at high noon, and Tum at eventide". The god of brightness first appeared as a shining egg which floated upon the water's breast, and the spirits of the deep, who were the Fathers and the Mothers, were with him there, as he was with Nu, for they were the companions of Nu.

Now Ra was greater than Nu from whom he arose. He was the divine father and strong ruler of gods, and those whom he first created, according to his desire, were Shu, the wind god, and his consort Tefnut, who had the head of a lioness and was called "The Spitter" because she sent the rain. In aftertime these two deities shone as stars amidst the constellations of heaven, and they were called "The Twins".

Then came into being Seb, the earth god, and Nut, the goddess of the firmament, who became the parents of Osiris and his consort Isis and also of Set and his consort Nepthys.

Ra spake at the beginning of Creation, and bade the earth and the heavens to rise out of the waste of water. In the brightness of his majesty they appeared, and Shu, the uplifter, raised. Nut upon high. She formed the vault, which is arched over Seb, the god of earth, who lies prostrate beneath her from where, at the eastern horizon, she is poised upon her toes to where, at the western horizon, bending down with outstretched arms, she rests upon her finger tips. In the darkness are beheld the stars which sparkle upon her body and over her great unwearied limbs.

When Ra, according to his desire, uttered the deep thoughts of his mind, that which he named had being. When he gazed into space, that which he desired to see appeared before him. He created all things that move in the waters and upon the dry land. Now, mankind were born from his eye, and Ra, the Creator, who was ruler of the gods, became the first king upon earth. He went about among men; he took form like unto theirs, and to him the centuries were as years.

Ra had many names that were not known unto gods or men, and he had one secret name which gave to him his divine power. The goddess Isis, who dwelt in the world as a woman, grew weary of the ways of mankind; she sought rather to be amidst the mighty gods. She was an enchantress, and she desired greatly to have power equal with Ra in the heavens and upon the earth. In her heart, therefore, she yearned to know the secret name 1 of the ruling god, which was hidden in his bosom and was never revealed in speech.

Each day Ra walked forth, and the gods who were of his train followed him, and he sat upon his throne and uttered decrees. He had grown old, and as he spake moisture dripped from his mouth and fell upon the ground. Isis followed after him, and when she found his saliva she baked it with the earth on which it lay. In the form of a spear she shaped the substance, and it became a venomous serpent. She lifted it up; she cast it from her, and it lay on the path which Ra was wont to traverse when he went up and down his kingdom, surveying that which he had made. Now the sacred serpent which Isis created was invisible to gods and men.

Soon there came a day when Ra, the aged god, walked along the path followed by his companions. He came nigh to the serpent, which awaited him, and the serpent stung him. The burning venom entered his body, and Ra was stricken with great pain. A loud and mighty cry broke from his lips, and it was heard in highest heaven.

Then spake the gods who were with him, saying: "What hath befallen thee?" and "What thing is there?"

Ra answered not; he shook; all his body trembled and his teeth clattered, for the venom overflowed in his flesh as does the Nile when it floods the land of Egypt. But at length he possessed himself and subdued his heart and the fears of his heart. He spake, and his words were:

"Gather about me, ye who are my children, so that I may make known the grievous thing which hath befallen me even now. I am stricken with great pain by something I know not of . . . by something which I cannot behold. Of that I have knowledge in my heart, for I have not done myself an injury with mine own hand. Lo! I am without power to make known who hath stricken me thus. Never before hath such sorrow and pain been mine."

He spake further, saying: "I am a god and the son of a god; I am the Mighty One, son of the Mighty One. Nu, my father, conceived my secret name which giveth me power, and he concealed it in my heart so that no magician might ever know it, and, knowing it, be given power to work evil against me.

"As I went forth, even now, beholding, the world which I have created, a malignant thing did bite me. It is not fire, yet it burns in my flesh; it is not water, yet cold is my body and my limbs tremble. Hear me now! My command is that all my children be brought nigh to me so that they may pronounce words of power which shall be felt upon earth and in the heavens."

All the children of Ra were brought unto him as was his desire. Isis, the enchantress, came in their midst, and all sorrowed greatly, save her alone. She spoke forth mighty words, for she could utter incantations to subdue pain and to give life unto that from which life had departed. Unto Ra spake Isis, saying: "What aileth thee, holy father? . . . Thou hast been bitten by a serpent, one of the creatures which thou didst create. I shall weave spells; I shall thwart thine enemy with magic. Lo! I shall overwhelm the serpent utterly in the brightness of thy glory."

He answered her, saying: "A malignant thing did bite me. It is not fire, yet it burns my flesh. It is not water, yet cold is my body, and my limbs tremble.

Mine eyes also have grown dim. Drops of sweat fall from my face."

Isis spake unto the divine father and said: "Thou must, even now, reveal thy secret name unto me, for, verily, thou canst be delivered from thy pain and distress by the power of thy name."

Ra heard her in sorrow. Then he said: "I have created the heavens and the earth. Lo! I have even framed the earth, and the mountains are the work of my hands; I made the sea, and I cause the Nile to flood the land of Egypt. I am the Great Father of the gods and the goddesses. I gave life unto them. I created every living thing that moves upon the dry land and in the sea depths. When I open my eyes there is light: when I close them there is thick darkness. My secret name is known not unto the gods. I am Khepera at dawn, Ra at high noon, and Tum at eventide."

So spake the divine father; but mighty and magical as were his words they brought him no relief. The poison still burned in his flesh and his body trembled. He seemed ready to die.

Isis, the enchantress, heard him, but there was no sorrow in her heart. She desired, above all other things, to share the power of Ra, and she must needs have revealed unto her his sacred name which Nu conceived and uttered at the beginning. So she spake to Ra, saying:

"Divine father, thou hast not yet spoken thy name of power. If thou shalt reveal it unto me I will have strength to give thee healing."

Hotter than fire burned the venom in the heart of Ra. Like raging flames it consumed his flesh, and he suffered fierce agony. Isis waited, and at length the Great Father spake in majesty and said; "It is my will that Isis be given my secret name, and that it leave my heart and enter hers."

When he had spoken thus, Ra vanished from before the eyes of the gods. The sun boat was empty, and there was thick darkness. Isis waited, and when the secret name of the divine father was about to leave his heart and pass into her own, she spake unto Horus her son and said:

"Now, compel the ruling god, by a mighty spell, to yield up also his eyes, which are the sun and the moon."'

Isis then received in her heart the secret name of Ra, and the mighty enchantress said

"Depart, O venom, from Ra; come forth from his heart and from his flesh; flow out, shining from his mouth. . . . I have worked the spell. . . . Lo! I have overcome the serpent and caused the venom to be spilled upon the ground, because that the secret name of the divine father hath been given unto me. . . . Now let Ra live, for the venom hath perished."

So was the god made whole. The venom departed from his body and there was no longer pain in his heart or any sorrow.

As Ra grew old ruling over men, there were those among his subjects who spake disdainfully regarding him, saying: "Aged, indeed, is King Ra, for now his bones are silvern and his flesh is turned to gold, although his hair is still true lapis lazuli (dark)."

Unto Ra came knowledge of the evil words which were spoken against him, and there was anger in his heart, because that there were rebellious sayings on the lips of men and because they sought also to slay him. He spake unto his divine followers and said:

"Bring before me the god Shu and the goddess

Tefnut, the god Seb and his consort Nut, and the fathers and mothers who were with me at the beginning when I was in Nu. Bring Nu before me also. Let them all come hither in secret, so that men may not behold them, and, fearing, take sudden flight. Let all the gods assemble in my great temple at Heliopolis."

The gods assembled as Ra desired, and they made obeisance before him. They then said: "Speak what thou desirest to say and we will hear."

He addressed the gods, saying: "O Nu, thou the eldest god, from whom I had my being, and ye ancestral gods, hear and know now, that rebellious words are spoken against me by mankind, whom I did create. Lo! they seek even to slay me. It is my desire that ye should instruct me what ye would do in this matter. Consider well among yourselves and guide me with wisdom. I have hesitated to punish mankind until I have heard from Your lips what should now be done regarding them.

"For lo! I desire in my heart to destroy utterly that which I did create. All the world will become a waste of water through a great flood as it was at the beginning, and I alone shall be left remaining, with no one else beside me save Osiris and his son Horus. I shall become a small serpent invisible to the gods. To Osiris will be given power to reign over the dead, and Horus will be exalted on the throne which is set upon the island of fiery flames."

Then spake forth Nu, god of primeval waters, and he said: "Hear me now, O my son, thou who art mightier far than me, although I gave thee life. Steadfast is thy throne; great is the fear of thee among men. Let thine eye go forth against those who are rebels in the kingdom."

Ra said: "Now do men seek escape among the hills; they tremble because of the words they have uttered."

The gods spake together, saying: "Let thine eye go forth against those who are rebels in the kingdom and it shall destroy them utterly. When it cometh down from heaven as Hathor, no human eye can be raised against it."

Ra heard, and, as was his will, his eye went forth as Hathor against mankind among the mountains, and they were speedily slain. The goddess rejoiced in her work and drave over the land, so that for many nights she waded in blood.

Then Ra repented. His fierce anger passed away, and he sought to save the remnant of mankind. He sent messengers, who ran swifter than the storm wind, unto Elephantine, so that they might obtain speedily many plants of virtue. These they brought back, and they were well ground and steeped with barley in vessels filled with the blood of mankind. So was beer made and seven thousand jars were filled with it.

Day dawned and Hathor 2 went upstream slaughtering mankind. Ra surveyed the jars and said: "Now shall I give men protection. It is my will that Hathor may slay them no longer."

Then the god gave command that the jars should be carried to the place where the vengeful goddess rested for the night after that day of slaughter 3 . The jars were emptied out as was his desire, and the land was covered with the flood.

When Hathor awoke her heart was made glad. She stooped down and she saw her beauteous face mirrored in the flood. Then began she to drink eagerly, and she was made drunken so that she went to and fro over the land, nor took any heed of mankind.

Ra spake unto her, saying: "Beautiful goddess, return to me in peace."

Hathor returned, and the divine father said: "Henceforward shall comely handmaidens, thy priestesses, prepare for thee in jars, according to their number, draughts of sweetness, and these shall be given as offerings unto thee at the first festival of every New Year.' 4

So it came that from that day, when the Nile rose in red flood, covering the land of Egypt, offerings of beer were made unto Hathor. Men and women partook of the draughts of sweetness at the festival and were made drunken like the goddess.

Now when Hathor had returned to Ra he spake unto her with weariness, saying:

"A fiery pain torments me, nor can I tell whence it comes. I am still alive, but I am weary of heart and desire no longer to dwell among men. Lo! I have not destroyed them as I have power to do."

The gods who followed Ra said: "Be no longer weary. Power is thine according to thy desire."

Ra answered them, saying: "Weary indeed are my limbs and they fail me. I shall go forth no longer alone, nor shall I wait until I am stricken again with pain. Help shall be given unto me according to my desire."

Then the ruler of the gods called unto Nu, from whom he had being, and Nu bade Shu, the atmosphere god, and Nut, goddess of the heavens, to give aid unto Ra in his distress.

Nut took the form of the Celestial Cow, and Shu lifted Ra upon her back. Then darkness came on. Men issued forth from their hiding places in great fear, and when they beheld Ra departing from them they sorrowed because of the rebellious words which had been spoken against his majesty. Indeed they cried unto Ra, beseeching him to slay those of his enemies who remained. But Ra was borne through the darkness, and men followed him until he appeared again and shed light upon the earth. Then did his faithful subjects arm themselves with weapons, and they sallied forth against the enemies of the sun god and slaughtered them in battle.

Ra beheld that which his followers among men had done, and he was well pleased. He spake unto them saying: "Now is your sin forgiven. Slaughter atones for slaughter. Such is sacrifice and the purport thereof." When Ra had thus accepted in atonement for the sin of men the sacrifice of his enemies who desired to slay him, he spake unto the heavenly goddess Nut, saying:

"Henceforth my dwelling place must be in the heavens. No longer will I reign upon the earth."

So it happened, according to his divine will. The great god went oil his way through the realms which are above, and these he divided and set in order. He spake creating words, and called into existence the field of Aalu, and there he caused to assemble a multitude of beings which are beheld in heaven, even the stars, and these were born of Nut. In millions they came to praise and glorify Ra. Unto Shu, the god of atmosphere, whose consort is Nut, was given the keeping of the multitude of beings that shine in thick darkness. Shu raised his arms, uplifting over his head the Celestial Cow 5 and the millions and millions of stars.

Then Ra spake unto the earth god, who is called Seb, and said:

"Many fearsome reptiles dwell in thee. It is my will now that they may have dread of me as great as is my dread of them. Thou shalt discover why they are moved with enmity against me. When thou hast done that, thou shalt go unto Nu, my father, and bid him to have knowledge of all the reptiles in the deep and upon the dry land. Let be made known unto each one that my rays shall fall upon them. By words of magic alone can they be overcome. I shall reveal the charms by which the children of men call thwart all reptiles, and Osiris, thy son, shall favour the magicians who protect mankind against them."

He spake again and called forth the god Thoth who came into being by his word.

"For thee, O Thoth he said, "I shall make a resplendent abode in the great deep and the underworld which is Duat. Thou shalt record the sins of men, and the names of those who are mine enemies; in Duat thou shalt bind them. Thou shalt be temporary dweller in my place; thou art my deputy. Lo! I now give messengers unto thee."

So came into being by his power the ibis, the crane, and the dog ape, 6 the messengers of Thoth.

Ra spake again, saying: "Thy beauty shall be shed through the darkness; thou shalt join night with day."

So came into being the moon (Ah) of Thoth, and Ra said: "All living creatures shall glorify and praise thee as a wise god."

When all the land is black, the sun bark of Ra passes through the twelve hour-divisions of night in Duat. At eventide, when the god is Tum, he is old and very frail. Five-and-seventy invocations are chanted to give him power to overcome the demons of darkness who are his enemies. He then enters the western gate, through which dead men's souls pass to be judged before Osiris. In front of him goes the jackal god, Anubis, for he is "Opener of the Ways". Ra has a sceptre in one hand: in the other he carries the Ankh, which is the symbol of life.

When the sun bark enters the river nes of the underworld the companions of Ra are with him. Watchman is there, and Striker, and Steersman is at the helm, and in the bark are also those divinities who are given power, by uttering magical incantations, to overcome the demons of evil.

The gloomy darkness of the first hour-division is scattered by the brightness of Ra. Beside the bark gather the pale shades of the newly dead, but none of them can enter it without knowledge of the magical formulae which it is given unto few to possess.

At the end of the first hour-division is a high and strong wall, and a gate is opened by incantations so that the bark of Ra may pass through. So from division to division, all through the perilous night, the sun god proceeds, and the number of demons that must be thwarted by magic and fierce fighting increases as he goes. Apep, the great Night serpent, ever seeks to overcome Ra and devour him.

The fifth hour-division is the domain of dreaded Sokar, the underworld god, with three human heads, a serpent's body, and mighty wings between which appears his hawk form. His abode is in a dark and secret place which is guarded by fierce sphinxes. Nigh to him is the Drowning Pool, watched over by five gods with bodies like to men and animals' heads. Strange and mysterious forms hover nigh, and in the pool are genii in torture, their heads aflame with everlasting fire.

In the seventh hour-division sits Osiris, divine judge of the dead. Fiery serpents, which are many-headed, obey his will. Feet have they to walk upon and hands, and some carry sharp knives with which to cut to pieces the souls of the wicked. Whom Osiris deems to be worthy, he favours; such shall live in the Nether World: whom he finds to be full of sin, he rejects; and these do the serpents fall upon, dragging them away, while they utter loud and piercing cries of grief and agony, to be tortured and devoured; lo! the wicked perish utterly. In this division of peril the darksome Night serpent Apep attacks the sun bark, curling its great body round the compartment of Ra with ferocious intent to devour him. But the allies of the god contend against the serpent; they stab it with knives until it is overcome. Isis utters mighty incantations which cause the sun bark to sail onward unscathed nor stayed.

In the eighth division are serpents which spit forth fire to illumine the darkness, and in the tenth are fierce water reptiles and ravenous fishes. The god Horus burns great beacons in the eleventh hour-division; ruddy flames and flames of gold blaze aloft in beauty: the enemies of Ra are consumed in the fires of Horus.

The sun god is reborn in the twelfth hour-division. He enters the tail of the mighty serpent, which is named "Divine Life", and issues from its mouth in the form of Khepera, which is a beetle. Those who are with the god are reborn also. The last door of all is guarded by Isis, wife of Osiris, and Nepthys, wife of Set, in the form of serpents. They enter the sun bark with Ra.

Now nes, the river of Duat, flows into the primeval ocean in which Nu has his abode. And as Ra was lifted out of the deep at the beginning, so he is lifted by Nu at dawn. He is then received by Nut, goddess of the heavens; he is born of Nut and grows in majesty, ascending to high noon.

The souls of the dead utter loud lamentations when the sun god departs out of the darkness of Duat. 7

Footnotes

1 The secret name was called Ran; it was one of the god's spirits. See Chapter VII.
2 Hence, the reference to "Horus the Ra".
3 The feline goddess Sekhet is also given as the slaughterer. In one of the temple chants we read: "Hathor overcometh the enemy of her sire by this her name of Sekhet".
4 20 July, when the star Sirius (Sothis) appears as the morning star. The Nile is then in full flood.
5 Hathor, the sky goddess, in her cow form, displaces Nut.
6 Here the old lunar deity Thoth is associated with the dawn. The chattering of apes at sunrise gave origin to the idea that they worshipped the rising sun.
7 The myths from which this chapter has been constructed date from the Empire period, and especially the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties. Ra is first a human god (the Pharaoh), then a world god like Ptah in his giant form, and lastly a cosmic deity. The priests were evidently engaged in systematizing the theology of the sun cult. Ra, the sun, is shown to be greater than his father Nu; and a concession is made to the worshippers of Isis in the legend which credits Ra with imparting to her the powers she possessed. Horus is given recognition; he possesses himself of the "eyes" of Ra (the sun and moon). Thoth also, as Ah, has control of the moon. The result of the compromising process was to leave everything vague and even confused, but this greatness of Ra was made manifest.

September 20, 2011
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Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The History of Isis and Osiris 9

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

FIFTH EXPLANATION OF THE STORY

XLIV

The philosophers say that the story is nothing but an enigmatical description of the phenomena of Eclipses.

XLV

Plutarch discusses the five explanations which he has described, and begins to state his own views about them. It must be concluded, he says, that none of these explanations taken by itself contains the true explanation of the foregoing history, though all of them together do.

Typhon means every phase of Nature which is hurtful and destructive, not only drought, darkness, the sea, It is impossible that any one cause, be it bad or even good, should be the common principle of all things. There must be two opposite and quite different and distinct Principles.

XLVI

Plutarch compares this view with the Magian belief in Ormazd and Ahriman, the former springing from light, and the latter from darkness.

XLVII

Ormazd made six good gods, and Ahriman six of a quite contrary nature. Ormazd increased his own bulk three times, and adorned the heaven with stars, making the Sun to be the guard of the other stars. He then created twenty-four other gods, and placed them in an egg, and Ahriman also created twenty-four gods; the latter bored a hole in the shell of the egg and effected an entrance into it, and thus good and evil became mixed together.

XLVIII

Plutarch quotes Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Aristotle, and Plato in support of his hypothesis of the Two Principles, and refers to Plato's Third Principle.

XLIX

Osiris represents the good qualities of the universal Soul, and Typhon the bad; Bebo 1 is a malignant being like Typhon, with whom Manetho identifies him.

L

The ass, crocodile, and hippopotamus are all associated with Typhon; in the form of a crocodile Typhon escaped from Horus. 2

The cakes offered on the seventh day of the month Tybi have a hippopotamus stamped on them.

LI

Osiris symbolizes wisdom and power, and Typhon all that is malignant and bad.

The remaining sections contain a long series of fanciful statements by Plutarch concerning the religion and manners and customs of the Egyptians, of which the Egyptian texts now available give no proofs.

Footnotes

1 In Egyptian, BEBI, or BABA, or BABAI, he was the first-born Son of Osiris.
2 See the Legend of Heru-Behutet,

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The History of Isis and Osiris 8

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

FOURTH EXPLANATION OF THE STORY

XLI

Osiris is the Moon, and Typhon is the Sun; Typhon is therefore called Seth, 1 a word meaning "violence," "force," Herakles accompanies the Sun, and Hermes the Moon.

XLII

Plutarch connects the death-day of Osiris, the seventeenth of Hathor, with the seventeenth day of the Moon's revolution, when she begins to wane. The age of Osiris, twenty-eight years, suggests the comparison with the twenty-eight days of the Moon's revolution. The tree-trunk which is made into the shape of a crescent at the funeral of Osiris refers to the crescent moon when she wanes. The fourteen pieces into which Osiris was broken refer to the fourteen days in which the moon wanes.

XLIII

The height of the Nile in flood at Elephantine is twenty-eight cubits, at Mendes and Xo low Nile is seven cubits, and at Memphis middle Nile is fourteen cubits; these figures are to be compared with the twenty-eight days of the Moon's revolution, the seven-day phase of the Moon, and the fourteen days' Moon, or full moon.

Apis was begotten by a ray of light from the Moon, and on the fourteenth day of the month Phamenoth 2 Osiris entered the Moon. Osiris is the power of the Moon, Isis the productive faculty in it.

Footnotes

1 In Egyptian, gods-38isis-osiris-8 , or which Plutarch seems to connect with set,
2 Marked in the papyrus Sallier IV. as a particularly unlucky day.

September 20, 2011
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Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 7

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

THIRD EXPLANATION OF THE STORY

XXXII

Such then are the arguments of those who endeavour to account for the above-mentioned history of Isis and Osiris upon a supposition that they were of the order of Daemons; but there are others who pretend to explain it upon other principles, and in more philosophical manner.

To begin, then, with those whose reasoning is the most simple and obvious. As the Greeks allegorize their Kronos into Time, and their Hera into Air, and tell us that the birth of Hephaistos is no other but the change of air into fire, so these philosophers say that by Osiris the Egyptians mean the Nile, by Isis that part of the country which Osiris, or the Nile, overflows, and by Typhon the sea, which, by receiving the Nile as it runs into it, does, as it were, tear it into many pieces, and indeed entirely destroys it, excepting only so much of it as is admitted into the bosom of the earth in its passage over it, which is thereby rendered fertile.

The truth of this explanation is confirmed, they say, by that sacred dirge which they make over Osiris when they bewail "him who was born on the right side of the world and who perished on the left." 1 For it must be observed that the Egyptians look upon the east as the front or face of the world, 2 upon the north as its right side, 3 and upon the south as its left. 4 As, therefore, the Nile rises in the south, and running directly northwards is at last swallowed up by the sea, it may rightly enough be said to be born on the right and to perish on the left side, This conclusion, they say, is still farther strengthened from that abhorrence which the priests express towards the sea, as well as salt, which they call "Typhon's foam."

And amongst their prohibitions is one which forbids salt being laid on their tables. And do they not also carefully avoid speaking to pilots, because this class of men have much to do with the sea and get their living by it? And this is not the least of their reasons for the great dislike which they have for fish, and they even make the fish a symbol of "hatred," as is proved by the pictures which are to be seen on the porch of the temple of Neith at Sa. The first of these is a child, the second is an old man, the third is a hawk, and then follow a fish and a hippopotamus. The meaning of all these is evidently, "O you who are coming into the world, and you who are going out of it (i.e., both young and old), God hateth impudence."

For by the child is indicated "all those who are coming into life"; by the old man, "those who are going out of it"; by the hawk, "God"; by the fish, "hatred," on account of the sea, as has been before stated; and by the hippopotamus, "impudence," this creature being said first to slay his sire, and afterwards to force his dam. 5 The Pythagoreans likewise may be thought perhaps by some to have looked upon the sea as impure, and quite different from all the rest of nature, and that thus much is intended by them when they call it the "tears of Kronos."

XXXIII

Some of the more philosophical priests assert that Osiris does not symbolize the Nile only, nor Typhon the sea only, but that Osiris represents the principle and power of moisture in general, and that Typhon represents everything which is scorching, burning, and fiery, and whatever destroys moisture. Osiris they believe to have been of a black 6 colour, because water gives a black tinge to everything with which it is mixed.

XXXIV

The Mnevis Bull 7 kept at Heliopolis is, like Osiris, black in colour, "and even Egypt 8 itself, by reason of the extreme blackness of the soil, is called by them 'Chemia,' the very name which is given to the black part or pupil of the eye. 9 It is, moreover, represented by them under the figure of a human heart."

XXXV

The Sun and Moon are not represented as being drawn about in chariots, but as sailing round the world in ships, which shows that they owe their motion, support, and nourishment to the power of humidity. 10 Homer and Thales both learned from Egypt that "water was the first principle of all things, and the cause of generation." 11 ]

XXXVI

The Nile and all kinds of moisture are called the "efflux of Osiris." Therefore a water-pitcher 12 is always carried first in his processions, and the leaf of a fir-tree represents both Osiris and Egypt. 13

XXXVII

Osiris is the great principle of fecundity, which is proved by the Pamylia festivals, in which a statue of the god with a triple phallus is carried about. 14 The three-fold phallus merely signifies any great and indefinite number.]

XXXVIII

The Sun is consecrated to Osiris, and the lion is worshipped, and temples are ornamented with figures of this animal, because the Nile rises when the sun is in the constellation of the Lion. Horus, the offspring of Osiris, the Nile, and Isis, the Earth, was born in the marshes of Buto, because the vapour of damp land destroys drought. Nephthys, or Teleute, represents the extreme limits of the country and the sea-shore, that is, barren land. Osiris (i.e., the Nile) overflowed this barren land, and Anubis 15 was the result. 16

XXXVIX

As to what they relate of the shutting up of Osiris in a box, this appears to mean the withdrawal of the Nile to its own bed. This is the more probable as this misfortune is said to have happened to Osiris in the month of Hathor, precisely at that season of the year when, upon the cessation of the Etesian or north winds the Nile returns to its own bed, and leaves the country everywhere bare and naked. At this time also the length of the nights increases, darkness prevails, whilst light is diminished and overcome. At this time the priests celebrate doleful rites, and they exhibit as a suitable representation of the grief of Isis a gilded ox covered with a fine black linen cloth. Now, the ox is regarded as the living image of Osiris. This ceremony is performed on the seventeenth and three following days, 17 and they mourn:

1. The falling of the Nile;

2. The cessation of the north winds;

3. The decrease in the length of the days;

4. The desolate condition of the land.

On the nineteenth of the month Pachons they march in procession to the sea, whither the priests and other officials carry the sacred chest, wherein is enclosed a small boat of gold; into this they first pour some water, and then all present cry out with a loud voice, "Osiris is found." This done, they throw some earth, scent, and spices into the water, and mix it well together, and work it up into the image of a crescent, which they afterwards dress in clothes. This shows that they regard the gods as the essence and power of water and earth.

XL

Though Typhon was conquered by Horus, Isis would not allow him to be destroyed. Typhon was once master of all Egypt, i.e., Egypt was once covered by the sea, which is proved by the sea-shells which are dug out of the mines, and are found on the tops of the hills. The Nile year by year creates new land, and thus drives away the sea further and further, i.e., Osiris triumphs over Typhon.

Footnotes

1 Plutarch here refers to Osiris as the Moon, which rises in the West.
2 According to the texts the front of the world was the south, khent, gods-37isis-osiris-7 and from this word is formed the verb "to sail to the south."
3 In the texts the west is the right side, unemi, in Coptic, .
4 In the texts the east is the left side, abti.
5 Each of these signs, , except the last, does mean what Plutarch says it means, but his method of reading them together is wrong, and it proves that he did not understand that hieroglyphics were used alphabetically as well as ideographically.
6 Experiments recently conducted by Lord Rayleigh indicate that the true colour of water is blue.
7 In Egyptian, Nem-ur, or Men-ur, and he was "called the life of Ra."
8 The commonest name of Egypt is KEMT, "black land," as opposed to the reddish-yellow sandy deserts on each side of the "valley of black mud." The word for "black" is kam.
9 Plutarch seems to have erred here. The early texts call the pupil of the eye "the child in the eye," as did the Semitic peoples (see my Liturgy of Funerary Offerings, p. 136). The Copts spoke of the "black of the eye," derived from the hieroglyphic "darkness," "blackness."
10 There is no support for this view in the texts.
11 It was a very common belief in Egypt that all things arose from the great celestial ocean called Nu, whence came the Nile.
12 Plutarch refers to the vessel of water, with which the priest sprinkles the ground to purify it.
13He seems to refer here to the olive-tree: Beqet, "olive land," was one of the names of Egypt.

14 Plutarch seems to be confounding Osiris with Menu, the god of generation, who is generally represented in an ithyphallic form. The festival of the phallus survived in Egypt until quite recently.
15 The Egyptian ANPU. The texts make one form of him to be the son of Set and Nephthys.
16 Plutarch's explanations in this chapter are unsupported by the texts.
17 The 17th day is very unlucky; the 18th is very lucky; the 19th and 20th are very unlucky. On the 17th day Isis and Nephthys made great lamentation for their brother Un-nefer at Sa; on the 19th no man should leave the house; and the man born on the 20th would die of the plague.

September 20, 2011
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Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 6

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

SECOND EXPLANATION OF THE STORY

XXV

There is another and a better method which some employ in explaining this story. They assert that what is related of Typhon, Osiris, and Isis is not to be regarded as the afflictions of gods, or of mere mortals, but rather as the adventures of certain great Daemons. These beings, they say, are supposed by some of the wisest of the Greek philosophers, that is to say, Plato, Pythagoras, Xenocrates, and Chrysippus, in accordance with what they had learned from ancient theologians, to be stronger and more powerful than men, and of a nature superior to them.

They are, at the same time, inferior to the pure and unmixed nature of the gods, as partaking of the sensations of the body, as well as of the perceptions of the soul, and consequently liable to pain as well as pleasure, and to such other appetites and affections, as flow from their various combinations. Such affections, however, have a greater power and influence over some of them than over others, just as there are different degrees of virtue and vice found in these Daemons as well as in mankind. In like manner, the wars of the Giants and the Titans which are so much spoken of by the Greeks, the detestable actions of Kronos, the combats between Apollo and the Python, the flights of Dionysos, and the wanderings of Demeter, are exactly of the same nature as the adventures of Osiris and Typhon. Therefore, they all are to be accounted for in the same manner, and every treatise of mythology will readily furnish us with an abundance of other similar instances. The same thing may also be affirmed of those other things which are so carefully concealed under the cover of mysteries and imitations.

XXVI

Plutarch points out that Homer calls great and good men "god-like" and "God's compeers," but the word Daemon is applied to the good and bad indifferently (see Odyssey, vi. 12; Iliad, xiii. 810, v. 438, iv. 31, ). Plato assigns to the Olympian Gods good things and the odd numbers, and the opposite to the Daemons. Xenocrates believed in the existence of a series of strong and powerful beings which take pleasure in scourgings and fastings, Hesiod speaks of "holy daemons" (Works and Days, 126) and "guardians of mankind," and "bestowers of wealth," and these are regarded by Plato as a "middle order of beings between the gods and men, interpreters of the wills of the gods to men, and ministering to their wants, carrying the prayers and supplications of mortals to heaven, and bringing down thence in return oracles and all other blessings of life." Empedocles thought that the Daemons underwent punishment, and that when chastened and purified they were restored to their original state.

XXVII

To this class belonged Typhon, who was punished by Isis. in memory of all she had done and suffered, she established certain rites and mysteries which were to be types and images of her deeds, and intended these to incite people to piety, and, to afford them consolation. Isis and Osiris were translated from good Daemons into gods, and the honours due to them are rightly of a mixed kind, being those due to gods and Daemons. Osiris is none other than Pluto, and Isis is not different from Proserpine.

XXX

Typhon is held by the Egyptians in the greatest contempt, and they do all they can to vilify him. The eolour red being associated with him, they treat with contumely all those who have a ruddy complexion; the ass 1 being usually of a reddish colour, the men of Koptos are in the habit of sacrificing asses by casting them down precipices. The inhabitants of Busiris and Lycopolis never use trumpets, because their sounds resemble the braying of an ass. The cakes which are offered at the festivals during Paoni and Paopi are stamped with the figure of a fettered ass. The Pythagoreans regarded Typhon as a daemon, and according to them he was produced in the even number fifty-six; and Eudoxus says that a figure of fifty-six angles typifies the nature of Typhon.

XXXI

The Egyptians only sacrifice red-coloured bulls, and a single black or white hair in the animal's head disqualifies it for sacrifice. They sacrifice creatures wherein the souls of the wicked have been confined, and through this view arose the custom of cursing the animal to be sacrificed, and cutting off its bead and throwing it into the Nile. No bullock is sacrificed which has not on it the seal of the priests who were called "Sealers." The impression from this seal represents a man upon his knees, with his hands tied behind him, and a sword pointed at his throat. The ass is identified with Typhon not only because of his colour, but also because of his stupidity and the sensuality of his disposition. The Persian king Ochus was nicknamed the "Ass," which made him to say, "This ass shall dine upon your ox," and accordingly he slew Apis. Typhon is said to have escaped from Horus by a flight of seven days on an ass.

Footnotes

1 The ass is associated with Set, or Typhon, in the texts, but on account of his virility he also typifies a form of the Sun-god. In a hymn the deceased prays, "May I smite the Ass, may I crush the serpent-fiend Sebau," but the XLth Chapter of the Book of the Dead is entitled, "Chapter of driving back the Eater of the Ass." The vignette shows us the deceased in the act of spearing a monster serpent which has fastened its jaws in the back of an ass. In Chapter CXXV. there is a dialogue between the Cat and the Ass.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 5

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

FIRST EXPLANATION OF THE STORY

XXII

Now as to those who, from many things of this kind, some of which are proclaimed openly, and others are darkly hinted at in their religious institutions, would conclude that the whole story h no other than a mere commemoration of the various actions of their kings and other great men, who, by reason of their excellent virtue and the mightiness of their power, added to their other titles the honour of divinity, though they afterwards fell into many and grievous calamities, those, I say, who would in this manner account for the various scenes above-mentioned, must be owned indeed to make use of a very plausible method of eluding such difficulties as may arise about this subject, and ingeniously enough to transfer the most shocking parts of it from the divine to the human nature. Moreover, it must be admitted that such a solution is not entirely destitute of any appearance of historical evidence for its support. For when the Egyptians themselves tell us that Hermes had one hand shorter than another, that Typhon was of red complexion, Horus fair, and Osiris black, does not this show that they were of the human species, and subject to the same accidents as all other men? 1 Nay, they go farther, and even declare the particular work in which each was engaged whilst alive. Thus they say that Osiris was a general, that Canopus, from whom the star took its name, was a pilot, and that the ship which the Greeks call Argo, being made in imitation of the ship of Osiris, was, in honour of him, turned into a constellation and placed near Orion and the Dog-star, the former being sacred to Horus and the latter to Isis.

XXIII

But I am much afraid that to give in to this explanation of the story will be to move things which ought not to be moved; and not only, as Simonides says, "to declare war against all antiquity," but likewise against whole families and nations who are fully possessed with the belief in the divinity of these beings. And it would be no less than dispossessing those great names of their heaven, and bringing them down to the earth. It would be to shake and loosen a worship and faith which have been firmly settled in nearly all mankind from their infancy. It would be to open a wide door for atheism to enter in at, and to encourage the attempts of those who would humanize the divine nature. More particularly it would give a clear sanction and authority to the impostures of Euhemerus the Messenian, who from mere imagination, and without the least appearance of truth to support it, has invented a new mythology of his own, asserting that "all those in general who are called and declared to be gods are none other than so many ancient generals and sea-captains and kings." Now, he says that he found this statement written in the Panchaean dialect in letters of gold, though in what part of the globe his Panchaeans dwell, any more than the Tryphillians, whom he mentions at the same time with them, he does not inform us. Nor can I learn that any other person, whether Greek or Barbarian, except himself, has ever yet been so fortunate as to meet with these imaginary countries.

XXIV

Plutarch goes on to say that the Assyrians commemorate Semiramis, the Egyptians Sesostris, the Phrygians Manis or Masdis, the Persians Cyrus, and the Macedonians Alexander, yet these heroes are not regarded as gods by their peoples. The kings who have accepted the title of gods have afterwards had to suffer the reproach of vanity and presumption, and impiety and injustice.

Footnotes

1 Red is the colour attributed to all fiends in the Egyptian texts. One of the forms of Horus is described as being "blue-eyed," and the colour of the face of Osiris is often green, and sometimes black.

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Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 4

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

XVI

Isis nursed the child by giving it her finger to suck instead of the breast. She likewise put him each night into the fire in order to consume his mortal part, whilst, having transformed herself into a swallow, she circled round the pillar and bemoaned her sad fate.

This she continued to do for some time, till the queen, who stood watching her, observing the child to be all of a flame, cried out, and thereby deprived him of some of that immortality which would otherwise have been conferred upon him.

The goddess then made herself known, and asked that the pillar which supported the roof might be given to her. Having taken the pillar down, she cut it open easily, and having taken out what she wanted, she wrapped up the remainder of the trunk in fine linen, and having poured perfumed oil over it, she delivered it again into the hands of the king and queen. Now, this piece of wood is to this day preserved in the temple, and worshipped by the people of Byblos.

When this was done, Isis threw herself upon the chest, and made at the same time such loud and terrible cries of lamentation over it, that the younger of the king's sons who heard her was frightened out of his life. But the elder of them she took with her, and set sail with the chest for Egypt. Now, it being morning the river Phaedrus sent forth a keen and chill air, and becoming angry she dried up its current.

XVII

At the first place where she stopped, and when she believed that she was alone, she opened the chest, and laying her face upon that of her dead husband, she embraced him and wept bitterly. Then, seeing that the little boy had silently stolen up behind her, and had found out the reason of her grief, she turned upon him suddenly, and, in her anger, gave him so fierce and terrible a look that he died of fright immediately.

Others say that his death did not happen in this manner, but, as already hinted, that he fell into the sea. Afterwards he received the greatest honour on account of the goddess, for this Maneros, whom the Egyptians so frequently call upon at their banquets, is none other than he. This story is contradicted by those who tell us that the true name of this child was Palaestinus, or Pelusius, and that the city of this name was built by the goddess in memory of him. And they further add that this Maneros is thus honoured by the Egyptians at their feasts because he was the first who invented music.

Others again state that Maneros is not the name of any particular person, but a were customary form of complimentary greeting which the Egyptians use towards each other at their more solemn feasts and banquets, meaning no more by it than to wish "that what they were then about might prove fortunate and happy to them."

This is the true import of the word. In like manner they say that the human skeleton which is carried about in a box on festal occasions, and shown to the guests, is not designed, as some imagine, to represent the particular misfortunes of Osiris, but rather to remind them of their mortality, and thereby to excite them freely to make use of and to enjoy the good things which are set before them, seeing that they must quickly become such as they there saw. This is the true reason for introducing the skeleton at their banquets. But to proceed with the narrative.

XVIII

When Isis had come to her son Horus, who was being reared at Buto, 1 she deposited the chest in a remote and unfrequented place. One night, however, when Typhon was hunting by the light of the moon, he came upon it by chance, and recognizing the body which was enclosed in it, he tore it into several pieces, fourteen 2 in all, and scattered them in different places up and down the country. When Isis knew what had been done, she set out in search of the scattered portions of her husband's body; and in order to pass more easily through the lower, marshy parts of the country, she made use of a boat made of the papyrus plant. For this reason, they say, either fearing the anger of the goddess, or else venerating the papyrus, the crocodile never injures anyone who travels in this sort of vessel. 3 And this, they say, hath given rise to the report that there are very many different sepulchres of Osiris in Egypt, for wherever Isis found one of the scattered portions of her husband's body, there she buried it.

Others, however, contradict this story, and tell us that the variety of sepulchres of Osiris was due rather to the policy of the queen, who, instead of the real body, as she pretended, presented to these cities only an image of her husband. This she did in order to increase the honours which would by these means be paid to his memory, and also to defeat Typhon, who, if he were victorious in his fight against Horus in which be was about to engage, would search for the body of Osiris, and being distracted by the number of sepulchres would despair of ever being able to find the true one. We are told, moreover, that notwithstanding all her efforts, Isis was never able to discover the phallus of Osiris, which, having been thrown into the Nile immediately upon its separation from the rest of the body, 4 had been devoured by the Lepidotus, the Phagrus, and the Oxyrhynchus, fish which above all others, for this reason, the Egyptians have in more especial avoidance. In order, however, to make some amends for the loss, Isis consecrated the phallus made in imitation of it, and instituted a solemn festival to its memory, which is even to this day observed by the Egyptians.

XIX

After these things Osiris returned from the other world, and appeared to his son Horus, and encouraged him to fight, and at the same time instructed him in the exercise of arms. He then asked him what he thought was the most glorious action a man could perform, to which Horus replied, "To revenge the injuries offered to his father 5 and mother." Osiris then asked him what animal he thought most serviceable to a soldier, and Horus replied, "A horse." On this Osiris wondered, and he questioned him further, asking him why he preferred a horse to a lion, and Horus replied, "Though the lion is the more serviceable creature to one who stands in need of help, yet is the horse more useful in overtaking and cutting off a flying enemy." 6 These replies caused Osiris to rejoice greatly, for they showed him that his son was sufficiently prepared for his enemy. We are, moreover, told that amongst the great numbers who were continually deserting from Typhon's party was his concubine Thoueris, 7 and that a serpent which pursued her as she was coming over to Horus was slain by his soldiers. The memory of this action is, they say, still preserved in that cord which is thrown into the midst of their assemblies, and then chopped in pieces. Afterwards a battle took place between Horus and Typhon, which lasted many days, but Horus was at length victorious, and Typhon was taken prisoner. He was delivered over into the custody of Isis, who, instead of putting him to death, loosed his fetters and set him free. This action of his mother incensed Horus to such a degree that he seized her, and pulled the royal crown off her head; but Hermes came forward, and set upon her head the head of an ox instead of a helmet. 8 After this Typhon accused Horus of illegitimacy, but, by the assistance of Hermes, his legitimacy was fully established by a decree of the gods themselves. 9 After this two other battles were fought between Horus and Typhon, and in both Typhon was defeated.

Moreover, Isis is said to have had union with Osiris after his death, 10 and she brought forth Harpokrates, 11 who came into the world before his time, and was lame in his lower limbs.

XX

Such then are the principal circumstances of this famous story, the more harsh and shocking parts of it, such as the cutting up of Horus and the beheading of Isis, being omitted. Now, if such could be supposed to be the real sentiments of the Egyptians concerning those divine Beings whose most distinguishing characteristics are happiness and immortality, or could it be imagined that they actually believed what they thus tell us ever to have actually taken place, I should not need to warn you, O Clea, you who are already sufficiently averse to such impious and absurd notions of the God, I should not, I say, have need to caution you, to testify your abhorrence of them, and, as Aeschylus expresses it, "to spit and wash your mouth" after the recital of them. In the present case, however, it is not so.

And I doubt not that you yourself are conscious of the difference between this history and those light and idle fictions which the poets and other writers of fables, like spiders, weave and spin out of their own imaginations, without having any substantial ground or firm foundation to work upon. There must have been some real distress, some actual calamity, at the bottom as the ground-work of the narration; for, as mathematicians assure us, the rainbow is nothing else but a variegated image of the sun, thrown upon the sight by the reflection of his beams from the clouds; and thus ought we to look upon the present story as the representation, or rather reflection, of something real as its true cause. And this notion is still farther suggested to us as well by that solemn air of grief and sadness which appears in their sacrifices, as by the very form and arrangement of their temples, which extend into long avenues and open aisles in some portions, 12 and in others retreating into dark and gloomy chapels which resembled the underground vaults which are allotted to the dead.

That the history has a substantial foundation is proved by the opinion which obtains generally concerning the sepulchres of Osiris.

There are many places wherein his body is said to have been deposited, and among these are Abydos and Memphis, both of which are said to contain his body. It is for this reason, they say, that the richer and more prosperous citizens wish to be buried in the former of these cities, being ambitious of lying, as it were, in the grave with Osiris. 13 The title of Memphis to be regarded as the grave of Osiris seems to rest upon the fact that the Apis Bull, who is considered to be the image of the soul of Osiris, is kept in that city for the express purpose that it may be as near his body as possible. 14

Others again tell us that the interpretation of the name Memphis 15 is "the haven of good men," and that the true sepulchre of Osiris lies in that little island which the Nile makes at Philae. 16

This island is, they say, inaccessible, and neither bird can alight on it, nor fish swim near it, except at the times when the priests go over to it from the mainland to solemnize their customary rites to the dead, and to crown his tomb with flowers, which, they say, is overshadowed by the branches of a tamarisk-tree, the size of which exceeds that of an olive-tree.

XXI

Eudoxus indeed asserts that, although there are many pretended sepulchres of Osiris in Egypt, the, place where his body actually lies is Busiris, 17 where likewise he was born. 18 As to Taphosiris, there is no need to mention it particularly, for its very name indicates its claim to be the tomb of Osiris.

There are likewise other circumstances in the Egyptian ritual which hint to us the reality upon which this history is grounded, such as their cleaving the trunk of a tree, their wrapping it up in linen which they tear in pieces for that purpose, and the libations of oil which they afterwards pour upon it; but these I do not insist on, because they are intermixed with such of their mysteries as may not be revealed.

Footnotes

1 In Egyptian, the double city Pe-Tep. See the texts from the Metternich Stele printed in this volume.
2 The fourteen members are: head, feet, bones, arms, heart, interior, tongue, eyes, fists, fingers, back, ears, loins, and body. Some of the lists in Egyptian add the face of a ram and the hair. The cities in which Isis buried the portions of his body are: Koptos, Philae in Elephantine, Herakleopolis Magna, Kusae, Heliopolis, Diospolis of Lower Egypt, Letopolis, Sa, Hermopolis of Lower Egypt, Athribis, Aq (Schedia), Ab in the Libyan nome, Netert, Apis.
3 Moses was laid in an ark of bulrushes, i.e., papyrus, and was found uninjured.
4 We meet with a similar statement in the Tale of the Two Brothers, where we are told that the younger brother, having declared his innocence to the elder brother, out off his phallus and threw it into the river, where it was devoured by the naru fish.
5 The texts give as a very common title of Horus, "Horus, the avenger of his father."
6 There is no evidence that the Egyptians employed the horse in war before the XVIIIth Dynasty, a fact which proves that the dialogue here given is an invention of a much later date than the original legend of Osiris.
7 In Egyptian, TA-URT, the hippopotamus goddess.
8 According to the legend given in the Fourth Sallier Papyrus, the fight between Horus and Set began on the 26th day of the month of Thoth, and lasted three days and three nights. It was fought in or near the hall of the lords of Kher-aha, i.e., near Heliopolis, and in the presence of Isis, who seems to have tried to spare both her brother Set and her son Horus. For some reason Horus became enraged with his mother, and attacking her like a "leopard of the south," he cut off the head of Isis. Thereupon Thoth came forward, and using words of power, created a substitute in the form of a cow's head, and placed it on her body (Sallier, iv., p. 2; see Select Papyri, pl. cxlv.).
9 Horus inherited the throne by his father's will, a fact which is so often emphasized in the texts that it seems there may be some ground for Plutarch's view.
10 This view is confirmed by the words in the hymn to Osiris, "she moved the inactivity of the Still-Heart (Osiris), she drew from him his essence, she made an heir."
11 In Egyptian, HERU-PA-KHART, "Horus the Child."
12 Plutarch refers to the long colonnaded courts which extend in a straight line to the sanctuary, which often contains more than one shrine, and to the chambers wherein temple properties, vestments, , were kept.
13 In what city the cult of Osiris originated is not known, but it is quite certain that before the end of the VIth Dynasty Abydos became the centre of his worship, and that he dispossessed the local god An-Her in the affections of the people. Tradition affirmed that the head of Osiris was preserved at Abydos in a box, and a picture of it, gods-34isis-osiris-4 became the symbol of the city. At Abydos a sort of miracle play, in which all the sufferings and resurrection of Osiris were commemorated, was performed annually, and the raising up of a model of his body, and the placing of his head upon it, were the culminating ceremonies. At Abydos was the famous shaft into which offerings were cast for transmission to the dead in the Other World, and through the Gap in the hills close by souls were believed to set out on their journey thither. One tradition places the Elysian Fields in the neighbourhood of Abydos. A fine stone bier, a restoration probably of the XXVIth Dynasty, which represented the original bier of Osiris, was discovered there by M. Amineau. It is now in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo.
14 Apis is called the "life of Osiris," gods-34isis-osiris-4 , and on the death of the Bull, its soul went to heaven and joined itself to that of Osiris, and it formed with him the dual-god Asar-Hep, i.e., Osiris-Apis, or Sarapis. The famous Serapeum at Memphis was called .
15 In Egyptian, MEN-NEFER, i.e., "fair haven."
16 Osiris and Isis were worshipped at Philae until the reign of Justinian, when his general, Narses, closed the temple and carried off the statues of the gods to Constantinople, where they were probably melted down.
17 In Egyptian, Pa-Asar-neb-Tetu, "the house of Osiris, the lord of Tetu." In the temple of Neb-Sekert, the backbone of the god was preserved, according to one text, but another says it was his jaws(?) and interior.
18 This view represents a late tradition, or at all events one which sprang up after the decay of Abydos.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 3

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

XI

When you hear, therefore, the mythological tales which the Egyptians tell of their gods, their wanderings, their mutilations, and many other disasters which befell them, remember what has just been said, and be assured that nothing of what is thus told you is really true, or ever happened in fact. For can it be imagined that it is the dog 1 itself which is reverenced by them under the name of Hermes 2 ?

It is the qualities of this animal, his constant vigilance, and his acumen in distinguishing his friends from his foes, which have rendered him, as Plato says, a meet emblem of that god who is the chief patron of intelligence. Nor can we imagine that they think that the sun, like a newly born babe, springs up every day out of a lily. It is quite true that they represent the rising sun in this manner, 3 but the reason is because they wish to indicate thereby that it is moisture to which we owe the first kindling of this luminary. In like manner, the cruel and bloody king of Persia, Ochus, who not only put to death great numbers of the people, but even slew the Apis Bull himself, and afterwards served him up in a banquet to his friends, is represented by them by a sword, and by this name he is still to be found in the catalogue of their kings.

This name, therefore, does not represent his person, but indicates his base and cruel qualities, which were best suggested by the picture of an instrument of destruction. If, therefore, O Clea, you will hear and entertain the story of these gods from those who know how to explain it consistently with religion and philosophy, if you will steadily persist in the observance of all these holy rites which the laws require of you, and are moreover fully persuaded that to form true notions of the divine nature is more acceptable to them than any sacrifice or mere external act of worship can be, you will by this means be entirely exempt from any danger of falling into superstition, an evil no less to be avoided than atheism itself.

XII

Now, the story of Isis and Osiris, its most insignificant and superfluous parts being omitted, runs thus:--

The goddess Rhea, 4 they say, having accompanied with Kronos 5 by stealth, was discovered by Helios 6 who straightway cursed her, and declared that she should not be delivered in any month or year. Hermes, however, 'being also in love with the same goddess, in return for the favours which he had received from her, went and played at dice with Selene, 7 and won from her the seventieth part of each day. These parts he joined together and made from them five complete days, and he added them to the three hundred and sixty days of which the year formerly consisted. These five days are to this day called the "Epagomenae," 8 that is, the superadded, and they are observed by them as the birthdays of their gods. 9 On the first of these, they say, Osiris was born, and as he came into the world a voice was heard saying, "The Lord of All 10 is born." Some relate the matter in a different way, and say that a certain person named Pamyles, as he was fetching water from the temple of Dios at Thebes, heard a voice commanding him to proclaim aloud that the good and great king Osiris was then born, and that for this reason Kronos committed the education of the child to him, and that in memory of this event the Pamylia were afterwards instituted, which closely resemble the Phallephoria or Priapeia of the Greeks. Upon the second of these days was born Aroueris, 11 whom some call Apollo, and others the Elder Horus. Upon the third day Typhon was born, who came into the world neither at the proper time nor by the right way, but he forced a passage through a wound which he made in his mother's side. Upon the fourth day Isis was born, in the marshes of Egypt, 12 and upon the fifth day Nephthys, whom some call Teleute, or Aphrodite, or Nike, was born. As regards the fathers of these children, the first two are said to have been begotten by Helios, Isis by Hermes, and Typhon and Nephthys by Kronos. Therefore, since the third of the superadded days was the birthday of Typhon, the kings considered it to be unlucky, 13 and in consequence they neither transacted any business in it, nor even suffered themselves to take any refreshment until the evening. They further add that Typhon married Nephthys, 14 and that Isis and Osiris, having a mutual affection, enjoyed each other in their mother's womb before they were born, and that from this commerce sprang Aroueris, whom the Egyptians likewise call Horus the Elder, and the Greeks Apollo.

XIII

Osiris having become king of Egypt, applied himself to civilizing his countrymen by turning them from their former indigent and barbarous course of life. He taught them how to cultivate and improve the fruits of the earth, and he gave them a body of laws whereby to regulate their conduct, and instructed them in the reverence and worship which they were to pay to the gods. With the same good disposition he afterwards travelled over the rest of the world, inducing the people everywhere to submit to his discipline, not indeed compelling them by force of arms, but persuading them to yield to the strength of his reasons, which were conveyed to them in the most agreeable manner, in hymns and songs, accompanied with instruments of music. From this last circumstance the Greeks identified him with their Dionysos, or Bacchus. During the absence of Osiris from his kingdom, Typhon had no opportunity of making any innovations in the state, Isis being extremely vigilant in the government, and always upon her guard. After his return, however, having first persuaded seventy-two other people to join with him in the conspiracy, together with a certain queen of Ethiopia called Aso, who chanced to be in Egypt at that time, he formed a crafty plot against him. For having privily taken the measure of the body of Osiris, he caused a chest to be made of exactly the same size, and it was very beautiful and highly decorated. This chest he brought into a certain banqueting room, where it was greatly admired by all who were present, and Typhon, as if in jest, promised to give it to that man whose body when tried would be found to fit it. Thereupon the whole company, one after the other, went into it, but it did not fit any of them; last of all Osiris himself lay down in it. Thereupon all the conspirators ran to the chest, and clapped the cover upon it, and then they fastened it down with nails on the outside, and poured melted lead over it. They next took the chest to the river, which carried it to the sea through the Tanaic mouth of the Nile; and for this reason this mouth of the: Nile is still held in the utmost abomination by the Egyptians, and is never mentioned by them except with marks of detestation. These things, some say, took place on the seventeenth day of the month of Hathor, when the sun was in Scorpio, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Osiris, though others tell us that this was the year of his life and not of his reign.

XIV

The first who had knowledge of the accident which had befallen their king were the Pans and Satyrs, who inhabited the country round about Chemmis, 15 and they having informed the people about it, gave the first occasion to the name of Panic Terrors, which has ever since been made use of to signify any sudden fright or amazement of a multitude. As soon as the report reached Isis, she immediately cut off one of the locks of her hair, and put on mourning apparel in that very place where she happened to be; for this reason the place has ever since been called "Koptos," or the "city of mourning," though some are of opinion that this word rather signifies "deprivation." After this she wandered round about through the country, being full of disquietude and perplexity, searching for the chest, and she inquired of every person she met, including some children whom she saw, whether they knew what was become of it. Now, it so happened that these children had seen what Typhon's accomplices had done with the body, and they accordingly told her by what mouth of the Nile it had been conveyed to the sea. For this reason the Egyptians look upon children as endued with a kind of faculty of divining, and in consequence of this notion are very curious in observing the accidental prattle which they have with one another whilst they are at play, especially if it be in a sacred place, forming omens and presages from it. Isis meanwhile having been informed that Osiris, deceived by her sister Nephthys, who was in love with him, had unwittingly enjoyed her instead of herself, as she concluded from the melilot-garland which he had left with her, made it her business likewise to search out the child, the fruit of this unlawful commerce (for her sister, dreading the anger of her husband Typhon, had exposed it as soon as it was born). Accordingly, after much pains and difficulty, by means of some dogs that conducted her to the place where it was, she found it and bred it up; and in process of time it became her constant guard and attendant, and obtained the name of Anubis, and it is thought that it watches and guards the gods as dogs do men.

XV

At length Isis received more particular news that the chest had been carried by the waves of the sea to the coast of Byblos, and there gently lodged in the branches of a bush of tamarisk, which in a short time had grown up into a large and beautiful tree, and had grown round the chest and enclosed it on every side so completely that it was not to be seen. Moreover, the king of the country, amazed at its unusual size, had cut the tree down, and made that part of the trunk wherein the chest was concealed into a pillar to support the roof of his house. These things, they say, having been made known to Isis in an extraordinary manner by the report of demons, she immediately went to Byblos, where, setting herself down by the side of a fountain, she refused to speak to anybody except the queen's women who chanced to be there. These, however, she saluted and caressed in the kindest manner possible, plaiting their hair for them, and transmitting into them part of that wonderful odour which issued from her own body. This raised a great desire in the queen their mistress to see the stranger who had this admirable faculty of transfusing so fragrant a smell from herself into the hair and skin of other people. She therefore sent for her to court, and, after a further acquaintance with her, made her nurse to one of her sons. Now, the name of the king who reigned at this time at Byblos was Melkander (Melkarth?), and that of his wife was Astarte, or, according to others, Sais, though some call her Nemanoun, which answers to the Greek name Athenais.

Footnotes

1 The animal here referred to must be the dog-headed ape, , which we see in pictures of the Judgment assisting Thoth to weigh the heart of the dead. This dog-headed ape is a wonderfully intelligent creature, and its weird cleverness is astonishing.
2 The Egyptian Tehuti, or Thoth.
3
4 I.e., NUT, the Sky-goddess.
5 I.e., KEB, the Earth-god.
6 I.e., RA.
7 I.e., AAH.
8 In Egyptian, "the five days over the year,"
9In Egyptian thus:--

I. Birthday of Osiris,

II. Birthday of Horus,

III. Birthday of Set,

IV. Birthday of Isis,

V. Birthday of Nephthys
10 One of the chief titles of Osiris was Neb er tcher, i.e., "lord to the uttermost limit of everything."
11 I.e., Heru-ur, "Horus the Elder."
12 It was Horus, son of Isis, who was born in the marshes of Egypt.
13 This day is described as unlucky in the hieroglyphic texts.
14 Set and Nephthys are regarded as husband and wife in the texts; their offspring was Anubis, Anpu.
15 I In Egyptian, KHEBT, in the VIIIth nome of Lower Egypt.

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 2

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

VI

The priests of the Sun at Heliopolis 1 never carry wine into their temples, for they regard it as indecent for those who are devoted to the service of any god to indulge in the drinking of wine whilst they are under the immediate inspection of their Lord and King. 2

The priests of the other deities are not so scrupulous in this respect, for they use it, though sparingly. During their more solemn purifications they abstain from wine wholly, and they give themselves up entirely to study and meditation, and to the hearing and teaching of those divine truths which treat of the divine nature.

Even the kings, who are likewise priests, only partake of wine in the measure which is prescribed for them in the sacred books, as we are told by Hecataeus. This custom was only introduced during the reign of Psammetichus, and before that time they drank no wine at all. If they used it at any time in pouring out libations to the gods, it was not because they looked upon it as being acceptable to them for its own sake, but they poured it out over their altars as the blood of their enemies who had in times past fought against them.

For they believe the vine to have first sprung out of the earth after it was fattened by the bodies of those who fell in the wars against the gods. And this, they say, is the reason why drinking its juice in great quantities makes men mad and beside themselves, filling them, as it were, with the blood of their own ancestors. These things are thus related by Eudoxus in the second book of his Travels, as he had them from the priests themselves.

VII

As to sea-fish, the Egyptians in general do not abstain from all kinds of them, but some from one sort and some from another. Thus, for example, the inhabitants of Oxyrhynchus 3 will not touch any that have been taken with an angle; for as they pay especial reverence to the Oxyrhynchus Fish, 4 from whence they derive their name, they are afraid lest perhaps the hook may be defiled by having been at some time or other employed in catching their favourite fish.

The people of Syene 5 in like manner abstain from the Phagrus Fish 6 ; for as this fish is observed by them to make his first appearance upon their coasts just as the Nile begins to overflow, they pay special regard to these voluntary messengers as it were of that most joyful news. The priests, indeed, entirely abstain from all sorts in general. 7 Therefore, upon the ninth day of the first month, when all the rest of the Egyptians are obliged by their religion to eat a fried fish before the door of their houses, they only burn them, not tasting them at all. For this custom they give two reasons: the first and most curious, as falling in with the sacred philosophy of Osiris and Typhon, will be more properly explained in another place.

The second, that which is most obvious and manifest, is that fish is neither a dainty nor even a necessary kind of food, a fact which seems to be abundantly confirmed by the writings of Homer, who never makes either the delicate Pheacians or the Ithacans (though both peoples were islanders) to feed upon fish, nor even the companions of Ulysses during their long and most tedious voyage, till they were reduced thereto by extreme necessity. In short, they consider the sea to have been forced out of the earth by the power of fire, and therefore to lie out of nature's confines; and they regard it not as a part of the world, or one of the elements, but as a preternatural and corrupt and morbid excrement.

VIII

This much may be depended upon: the, religious rites and ceremonies of the Egyptians were never instituted upon irrational grounds, never built upon mere fable and superstition, but founded with a view to promote the morality and happiness of those who were to observe them, or at least to preserve the memory of some valuable piece of history, or to represent to us some of the phenomena of nature.

As concerning the abhorrence which is expressed for onions, it is wholly improbable that this detestation is owing to the loss of Diktys, who, whilst he was under the guardianship of Isis, is supposed to have fallen into the river and to have been drowned as he was reaching after a bunch of them. No, the true reason of their abstinence from onions is because they are observed to flourish most and to be in the greatest vigour at the wane of the moon, and also because they are entirely useless to them either in their feasts 8 or in their times of abstinence and purification, for in the former case they make tears come from those who use them, and in the latter they create thirst.

For much the same reason they likewise look upon the pig as an impure animal, and to be avoided, observing it to be most apt to engender upon the decrease of the moon, and they think that those who drink its milk are more subject to leprosy and such-like cutaneous diseases than others. The custom of abstaining from the flesh of the pig 9 is not always observed, for those who sacrifice a sow to Typhon once a year, at the full moon, afterwards eat its flesh. The reason they give for this practice is this: Typhon being in pursuit of this animal at that season of the moon, accidentally found the wooden chest wherein was deposited the body of Osiris, which he immediately pulled to pieces. This story, however, is not generally admitted, there being some who look upon it, as they do many other relations of the same kind, as founded upon some mistake or misrepresentation.

All agree, however, in saying that so great was the abhorrence which the ancient Egyptians expressed for whatever tended to promote luxury, expense, and voluptuousness, that in order to expose it as much as possible they erected a column in one of the temples of Thebes, full of curses against their king Meinis, who first drew them off from their former frugal and parsimonious course of life. The immediate cause for the erection of the pillar is thus given:

Technatis, 10 the father of Bocchoris, leading an army against the Arabians, and his baggage and provisions not coming up to him as soon as he expected, was therefore obliged to eat some of the very poor food which was obtainable, and having eaten, he lay down on the bare ground and slept very soundly. This gave him a great affection for a mean and frugal diet, and induced him to curse the memory of Meinis, and with the permission of the priests he made these curses public by cutting them upon a pillar. 11

IX

Now, the kings of Egypt were always chosen either out of the soldiery or priesthood, the former order being honoured and respected for its valour, and the latter for its wisdom. If the choice fell upon a soldier, he was immediately initiated into the order of priests, and by them instructed in their abstruse and hidden philosophy, a philosophy for the most part involved in fable and allegory, and exhibiting only dark hints and obscure resemblances of the truth.

This the priesthood hints to us in many instances, particularly by the sphinxes, which they seem to have placed designedly before their temples as types of the enigmatical nature of their theology. To this purpose, likewise, is that inscription which they have engraved upon the base of the statue of Athene 12 at Sa, whom they identify with Isis: "I am everything that has been, that is, and that shall be: and my veil no man hath raised." In like manner the word "Amoun," or as it is expressed in the Greek language, "Amm," which is generally looked upon as the proper name of the Egyptian Zeus, is interpreted by Manetho 13 the Sebennite 14 to signify "concealment" or "something which is hidden." 15

Hecataeus of Abdera indeed tells us that the Egyptians make use of this term when they call out to one another. If this be so, then their invoking Amoun is the same thing as calling upon the supreme being, whom they believe to be "hidden" and "concealed" in the universal nature, to appear and manifest itself to them. So cautious and reserved was the Egyptian wisdom in those things which appertained to religion.

X

And this is still farther evinced from those voyages which have been made into Egypt by the wisest men among the Greeks, namely, by Solo, Thales Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, and, as some say, even by Lycurgus himself, on purpose to converse with the priests. And we are also told that Eudoxus was a disciple of Chnouphis the Memphite, Solo of Sonchis the Sae, and Pythagoras of Oinuphis the Heliopolite.

But none of these philosophers seems either to have been more admired and in greater favour with the priests, or to have paid a more especial regard to their method of philosophising, than this last named, who has particularly imitated their mysterious and symbolical manner in his own writings, and like them conveyed his doctrines to the world in a kind of riddle. For many of the precepts of Pythagoras come nothing short of the hieroglyphical representations themselves, such as, "eat not in a chariot," "sit not on a measure (choenix)," "plant not a palm-tree," and "stir not the fire with a sword in the house."

And I myself am of the opinion that, when the Pythagoreans appropriated the names of several of the gods to particular numbers, as that of Apollo to the unit, of Artemis to the duad, of Athene to the seven, and of Poseidon to the first cube, in this they allude to something which the founder of their sect saw in the Egyptian temples, or to some ceremonies performed in them, or to some symbols there exhibited. Thus, their great king and lord Osiris is represented by the hieroglyphics for an eye and a sceptre, 16 the name itself signifying "many-eyed," as we are told by some 17 who would derive it from the words os, 18 "many," and iri, 19 an "eye," which have this meaning in the Egyptian language.

Similarly, because the heavens are eternal and are never consumed or wax old, they represent them by a heart with a censer placed under it. Much in the same way are those statues of the Judges at Thebes without hands, and their chief, or president, is represented with his eyes turned downwards, which signifies that justice ought not to be obtainable by bribes, nor guided by favour or affection. Of a like nature is the Beetle which we see engraven upon the seals of the soldiers, for there is no such thing as a female beetle of this species; for they are all males, and they propagate their kind by casting their seed into round balls of dirt, which afford not only a proper place wherein the young may be hatched, but also nourishment for them as soon as they are born.

Footnotes

1 Called ANU in the Egyptian texts; it was the centre of the great solar cult of Egypt. It is the "On" of the Bible.
2 The Sun-god was called Ra.
3 The Per-Matchet.
4 Probably the pike, or "fighting fish."
5 In Egyptian, SUNU, the Seweneh of the Bible, and the modern Aswan.
6 A kind of bream, the an of the Egyptian texts.
7 Compare Chap. CXXXVIIAof the Book of the Dead. "And behold, these things shall be performed by a man who is clean, and is ceremonially pure, one who hath eaten neither meat nor fish, and who hath not had intercourse with women" (ll. 52, 53).
8 Bunches of onions were offered to the dead at all periods of Egyptian history, and they were regarded as typical of the "white teeth" of Horus. The onion was largely used in medicine.
9 The pig was associated with Set, or Typhon, and the black variety was specially abominated because it was a black pig which struck Horus in the eye, and damaged it severely. See Book of the Dead, Chap. CXII.
10 In Egyptian, TAFNEKHT, the first king of the XXIVth Dynasty.
11 An unlikely story, for Tafnekht had no authority at Thebes.
12 The Egyptian goddess Net, in Greek Νηιθ, the great goddess of Sa, in the Western Delta. She was self-existent, and produced her son, the Sun-god, without union with a god. In an address to her, quoted by Mallet (Culte de Neit, p. 140), are found the words, "thy garment hath not been unloosed," thus Plutarch's quotation is correct.
13 He compiled a History of Egypt for Ptolemy II., and flourished about B.C. 270; only the King-List from this work is preserved.
14 He was a native of the town of Sebennytus.
15 Amen means "hidden," and AMEN is the "hidden god."
16 The oldest form of the name is AS-AR, gods-32isis-osiris-2 ; the first sign, , is a throne, and the second, , is an eye, but the exact meaning represented by the two signs is not known. In late times a sceptre, took the place of the throne, but only because of its phonetic value as or us. Thus we have the forms and .
17 This is a mistake.
18 In Egyptian, gods-32isis-osiris-2 ash, "many."
19 in Egyptian, art, Coptic , "eye."

September 20, 2011
0
Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts

Legends of the Gods, The history of Isis and Osiris 1

Legends of the Gods

The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations

by E. A. Wallis Budge

London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trner & Co. Ltd.

[1912]

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WITH EXPLANATIONS OF THE SAME, COLLECTED BY PLUTARCH, AND SUPPLEMENTED BY HIS OWN VIEWS

I

Though it be the wise man's duty, O CLEA, 1 to apply to the gods for every good thing which he hopes to enjoy, yet ought he more especially to pray to them for their assistance in his search after that knowledge which more immediately regards themselves, as far as such knowledge may be attained, inasmuch as there is nothing which they can bestow more truly beneficial to mankind, or more worthy themselves, than truth. For whatever other good things are indulged to the wants of men, they have all, properly speaking, no relation to, and are of a nature quite different from, that of their divine donors.

For 'tis not the abundance of their gold and silver, nor the command of the thunder, but wisdom and knowledge which constitute the power and happiness of those heavenly beings. It is therefore well observed by Homer (Iliad, xiii. 354), and indeed with more propriety than be usually talks of the gods, when, speaking of Zeus and Poseidon, he tells us that both were descended from the same parents, and born in the same region, but that Zeus was the elder and knew most"; plainly intimating thereby that the empire of the former was more august and honourable than that of his brother, as by means of his age he was his superior, and more advanced in wisdom and science. Nay, 'tis my opinion, I own, that even the blessedness of that eternity which is the portion of the Deity himself consists in that universal knowledge of all nature which accompanies it; for setting this aside, eternity might be more properly styled an endless duration than an enjoyment of existence.

II

To desire, therefore, and covet after truth, those truths more especially which concern the divine nature, is to aspire to be partakers of that nature itself, and to profess that all our studies and inquiries are devoted to the acquisition of holiness. This occupation is surely more truly religious than any external purifications or mere service of the temple can be. But more especially must such a disposition of mind be highly acceptable to that goddess to whose service you are dedicated, for her especial characteristics are wisdom and foresight, and her very name seems to express the peculiar relation which she bears to knowledge. For "Isis" 2 is a Greek word, and means "knowledge," and "Typhon," 3 the name of her professed adversary, is also a Greek word, and means "pride and insolence."

This latter name is well adapted to one who, full of ignorance and error, tears in pieces and conceals that holy doctrine which the goddess collects, compiles, and delivers to those who aspire after the most perfect participation in the divine nature. This doctrine inculcates a steady perseverance in one uniform and temperate course of life, and an abstinence from particular kinds of foods, as well as from all indulgence of the carnal appetite, and it restrains the intemperate and voluptuous part within due bounds, and at the same time habituates her votaries to undergo those austere and rigid ceremonies which their religion obliges them to observe.

The end and aim of all these toils and labours is the attainment of the knowledge of the First and Chief Being, who alone is the object of the understanding of the mind; and this knowledge the goddess invites us to seek after, as being near and dwelling continually with her. And this also is what the very name of her temple promiseth to us, that is to say, the knowledge and understanding of the eternal and self-existent Being (τοῦ ὄντας)-now, it is called "Iseion," which suggests that if we approach the temple of the goddess rightly, and with purity, we shall obtain the knowledge of that eternal and self-existent Being (τὸ ὂν).

III

The goddess Isis is said by some authors to be the daughter 4 of Hermes, 5 and by others of Prometheus, both of them famous for their philosophic turn of mind. The latter is supposed to have first taught mankind wisdom and foresight, as the former is reputed to have invented letters and music.

They likewise call the former of the two Muses at Hermopolis 6 Isis as well as Dikaiosune, 7 she being none other, it is said, than Wisdom pointing out the knowledge of divine truths to her votaries, the true Hierophori and Hierostoli. Now, by the former of these are meant such who carry about them looked up in their souls, as in a chest, the sacred doctrine concerning the gods, purified from all such superfluities as superstition may have added thereto.

And the holy apparel with which the Hierostoli adorn the statues of these deities, which is partly of a dark and gloomy and partly of a more bright and shining colour, seems aptly enough to represent the notions which this doctrine teaches us to entertain of the divine nature itself, partly clear and partly obscure.

And inasmuch as the devotees of Isis after their decease are wrapped up in these sacred vestments, is not this intended to signify that this holy doctrine still abides with them, and that this alone accompanies them in another life? For as 'tis not the length of the beard or the coarseness of the habit which makes a philosopher, so neither will these frequent shavings, or the mere wearing of a linen vestment, constitute a votary of Isis.

He alone is a true servant or follower of this goddess who, after he has heard, and has been made acquainted in a proper manner with the history of the actions of these gods, searches into the hidden truths which lie concealed under them, and examines the whole by the dictates of reason and philosophy.

IV

Nor, indeed, ought such an examination to be looked on as unnecessary whilst there are so many ignorant of the true reason even of the most ordinary rites observed by the Egyptian priests, such as their shavings 8 and wearing linen garments. Some, indeed, there are who never trouble themselves to think at all about these matters, whilst others rest satisfied with the most superficial accounts of them: "They pay a peculiar veneration to the sheep, 9 therefore they think it their duty not only to abstain from eating its flesh, but likewise from wearing its wool.

They are continually mourning for their gods, therefore they shave themselves. The light azure blossom of the flax resembles the clear and bloomy colour of the ethereal sky, therefore they wear linen"; whereas the true reason of the institution and observation of these rites is but one, and that common to all of them, namely, the extraordinary notions which they entertain of cleanliness, persuaded as they are, according to the saying of Plato, "none but the pure ought to approach the pure." Now, no superfluity of our food, and no excrementitious substance, is looked upon by them as pure and clean; such, however, are all kinds of wool and down, our hair and our nails. It would be the highest absurdity, therefore, for those who, whilst; they are in a course of purification, are at so much pains to take off the hair from every part of their own bodies, at the same time to clothe themselves with that of other animals.

So when we are told by Hesiod "not to pare our nails whilst we are present at the festivals of the gods," 10 we ought to understand that he intended hereby to inculcate that purity wherewith we ought to come prepared before we enter upon any religious duty, that we have not to make ourselves clean whilst we ought to be occupied in attending to the solemnity itself. Now, with regard to flax, this springs out of the immortal earth itself; and not only produces a fruit fit for food, but moreover furnishes a light and neat sort of clothing, extremely agreeable to the wearer, adapted to all the seasons of the year, and not in the least subject, as is said, to produce or nourish vermin; but more of this in another place.

V

Now, the priests are so scrupulous in endeavouring to avoid everything which may tend to the increase of the above-mentioned excrementitious substances, that, on this account, they abstain not only from most sorts of pulse, and from the flesh of sheep and swine, but likewise, in their more solemn purifications, they even exclude salt from their meals.

This they do for many reasons, but chiefly because it whets their appetites, and incites them to eat more than they otherwise would. Now, as to salt being accounted impure because, as Aristagoras tells us, many little insects are caught in it whilst it is hardening, and are thereby killed therein-this view is wholly trifling and absurd. From these same motives also they give the Apis Bull his water from a well specially set apart for the purpose, 11 and they prevent him altogether from drinking of the Nile, not indeed that they regard the river as impure, and polluted because of the crocodiles which are in it, as some pretend, for there is nothing which the Egyptians hold in greater veneration than the Nile, but because its waters are observed to be particularly nourishing and fattening. 12

And they strive to prevent fatness in Apis as well as in themselves, for they are anxious that their bodies should sit as light and easy about their souls as possible, and that their mortal part should not oppress and weigh down the divine and immortal.

Footnotes

1 She is said to have been a priestess of Isis and of Apollo Delphicus.
2 The Egyptian form of the name is AS-T, gods-31isis-osiris-1 , , or . Plutarch wishes to derive the name from some form of οῖ᾽δα.
3 In Egyptian, TEBH.
4 According to the Egyptian Heliopolitan doctrine, Isis was the daughter of Keb, the Earth-god, and Nut, the Sky-goddess; she was the wife of Osiris, mother of Horus, and sister of Set and Nephthys.
5 The Egyptian. TEHUTI, or Thoth, who invented letters, mathematics, He was the "heart of Ra," the scribe of the gods, and he uttered the words which created the world; he composed the "words of power," or magical formulae which were beneficial for the dead, and the religious works which were used by souls in their journey from this world to the next.
6 The Hermopolis here referred to is the city of Khemenu in Upper Egypt, wherein was the great sanctuary of Thoth.
7 i.e., Righteousness, or Justice. The goddess referred to is probably Maat.
8 A rubric in the papyrus of Nes-Menu in the British Museum orders the priestesses of Isis and Nephthys to have "the hair of their bodies shaved off" (No. 10,188, col. 1), but they are also ordered to wear fillets of rams' wool on their heads.
9 Probably the ram of Amen. Animal sacrifices were invariably bulls and cows.
10 This saying is by Pythagoras--Παρὰ θυσίαν μὴ ὀνυχίζου. The saying of Hesiod (Works and Days, 740) is rendered by Goodwin:-- "Not at a feast of Gods from five-branched tree, With sharp-edged steel to part the green from dry."
11 It is quite possible that Apis drank from a special well, but the water in it certainly came from the Nile by infiltration. In all the old wells at Memphis the water sinks as the Nile sinks, and rises as it rises.
12 On account of the large amount of animal matter contained in it.

September 20, 2011
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Published in Legends of the Gods
Written by LC Geerts