Section XX

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, ^[1] 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. ^[2]

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. ^[3]

Others again tell us that the interpretation of the name Memphis ^[4] is "the haven of good men," and that the true sepulchre of Osiris lies in that little island which the Nile makes at Philae. ^[5] 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.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

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, &c., were kept.

[2]:

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 p. 231 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. Amélineau. It is now in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo.

[3]:

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 .

[4]:

In Egyptian, MEN-NEFER, i.e., "fair haven."

[5]:

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.

Other Egypt Concepts:

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Discover the significance of concepts within the article: ‘Section XX’. Further sources in the context of Egypt might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:

Memphis, Osiris, Abydos, Isi, Horu, Aeschylus, God, Nile, Happiness, Olive tree, Temple, Immortality, Sadness, Sacrifice, Rainbow, Good men, Divine Being, True cause, Grave, Little island, Famous story, Tamarisk tree, Firm foundation, Poet, Representation, Fable, Customary rite, Egyptian, Soul of Osiris, Apis Bull, Philae.