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, 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," , 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.