Chapter 10

CHAPTER II.

✦

OSIRIS THE GOD OF THE RESURRECTION.

The Egyptians of every period in which they are
known to us believed that Osiris was of divine origin,
that he suffered death and mutilation at the hands
of the powers of evil, that after a great struggle with
these powers he rose again, that he became henceforth
the king of the underworld and judge of the dead, and
that because he had conquered death the righteous also
might conquer death ; and they raised Osiris to such
an exalted position in heaven that he became the equal
and, in certain cases, the superior of Ba, the Sun-god,
and ascribed to him the attributes which belong unto
God. However far back we go, we find that these
views about Osiris are assumed to be known to the
reader of religious texts and accepted by him, and in
the earliest funeral book the position of Osiris in
respect of the other gods is identical with that which
he is made to hold in the latest copies of the Book
of the Dead. The first writers of the ancient hiero¬
glyphic funeral texts and their later editors have

THE HISTORY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

assumed so completely that the history of Osiris was
^ known unto all men, that none of them, as far as we
know, thought it necessary to write down a connected
narrative of the life and sufferings upon earth of this
god, or if they did, it has not come down to us. Even
in the Yth dynasty we find Osiris and the gods of his
cycle, or company, occupying a peculiar and special
place in the compositions written for the benefit of
the dead, and the stone and other monuments which
belong to still earlier periods mention ceremonies the
performance of which assumed the substantial accuracy
of the history of Osiris as made known to us by later
wTiters. But we have a connected history of Osiris
which, though not written in Egyptian, contains so
much that is of Egyptian origin that we may be sure
that its author drew his information from Egyptian
sources : I refer to the work, De Iside et Osiride, of
the Greek writer, Plutarch, who flourished about the
middle of the first century of our era. In it, unfortu¬
nately, Plutarch identifies certain of the Egyptian gods
with the gods of the Greeks, and he adds a number
of statements which rest either upon his own imagina¬
tion, or are the results of misinformation. The trans¬
lation 1 by Squire runs as follows : —

“ Pihea,2 say they, having accompanied Saturn 3 by

1 Plutarchi de Iside et Osiride liler : Greece et Anglice. By S.
Squire, Cambridge, 1744.

I.e,, Nut.

3 I.e., Seb.

THE BIRTH OF OSIRIS.

stealth, was discovered by the Sun,1 who hereupon
denounced a curse upon her, ‘ that she should not be
delivered in any month or year ’ — Mercury, however,
being likewise in love with the same goddess, in recom¬
pense of the favours which he had received from her,
plays at tables with the Moon, and wins from her the
seventieth part of each of her illuminations; these
several parts, making in the whole five days, he after¬
wards joined together, and added to the three hundred
and sixty, of which the year formerly consisted, which
days therefore are even yet called by the Egyptians
the Epact or superadd ed, and observed by them as the
birthdays of their gods. For upon the first of them,
say they, was Osiris born, just at whose entrance into
the world a voice was heard, saying, ‘ The lord of all
the earth is born.’ There are some indeed who relate
this circumstance in a different manner, as that a
certain person, named Pamyles, as he was fetching
water from the temple of Jupiter 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 Saturn committed the education of the
child to him, and that in memory of this event the
Pamylia were afterwards instituted, a festival much
resembling the Phalliphoria or Priapeia of the Greeks.
Upon the second of these days was Aroueris 2 born,
whom some call Apollo, and others distinguish by the

1 I.e.y Ra.

2 Ie., Heru-ur, “ Horus the Elder.”

BIRTH OF SET AND NEPHTHYS.

name of the elder Orus. Upon the third Typho 1 came
into the world, being born neither at the proper time,
nor by the proper place, but forcing his way through
a wound which he had made in his mother’s side. Isis
was born upon the fourth of them in the marshes of
Egypt, as Nepthys was upon the last, whom some call
Teleute and Aphrodite, and others Nike — Now as
to the fathers of these children, the two first of
them are said to have been begotten by the Sun,
Isis by Mercury, Typho and Nepthys by Saturn;
and accordingly, the third of these superadded days,
because it was looked upon as the birthday of Typho,
was regarded by the kings as inauspicious, and con¬
sequently they neither transacted any business on it,
or even suffered themselves to take any refreshment
until the evening. They further add, that Typho
married Nepthys ; and that Isis and Osiris, having
a mutual affection, loved each other in their mother’s
womb before they were born, and that from this com¬
merce sprang Aroueris, whom the Egyptians likewise
call the elder Orus, and the Greeks Apollo.

“ Osiris, being now become king of Egypt, applied
himself towards civilizing his countrymen, by turning
them from their former indigent and barbarous course
of life ; he moreover taught them how to cultivate and
improve the fruits of the earth ; he gave them a body
of laws to regulate their conduct by, and instructed

1 I.e., Set.

THE CONSPIRACY OF SET.

them in that 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, accom¬
panied by instruments of music: from which last
circumstance the Greeks conclude him to have been
the same with their Dionysius or Bacchus — During
Osiris’ absence from his kingdom, Typho 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 persons to
join with him in the conspiracy, together with a
certain queen of Ethiopia named Aso, who chanced
to be in Egypt at that time, he contrived a proper
stratagem to execute his base designs. For haviim
privily taken the measure of Osiris’ body, he caused
a chest to be made exactly of the same size with it,
as beautiful as may be,^ and set off with all the orna¬
ments of art. This chest he brought into his banquet-
ing-room ; where, after it had been much admired by
all who were present, Typho, as it were in jest, promised
to give it to any one of them whose body upon trial
it might be found to fit. Upon this the whole company,

4 6 OSIRIS IS TREACHEROUSLY MURDERED.

one after another, go into it; but as it did not fit
any of them, last of all Osiris lays himself down in
it, upon which the conspirators immediately ran
together, clapped the cover upon it, and then fastened
it down on the outside with nails, pouring likewise
melted lead over it. After this they carried it away
to the river side, and conveyed it to the sea by the
Tanaitic mouth of the Nile ; which, for this reason,
is still held in the utmost abomination by the
Egyptians, and never named by them but with proper
marks of detestation. These things, say they, were
thus executed upon the 17th 1 day of the month
Athyr, when the sun was in Scorpio, in the 28th year
of Osiris’ reign ; though there are others who tell us
that he was no more than 28 years old at this time.

“ The first who knew the accident which had befallen
their king were the Pans and Satyrs who inhabited
the country about Cliemmis (Panopolis) ; and they

immediately acquainting the people with the news

gave the first occasion to the name Panic Terrors,
which has ever since been made use of to signify any
sudden affright or amazement of a multitude. As to
Isis, as soon as the report reached her she immediately
cut off one of the locks of her hair,2 and put on mourn¬
ing apparel upon the very spot where she then

happened to be, which accordingly from this accident

1 In the Egyptian calendar this day was marked triply unlucky.

2 The hair cut off as a sign of mourning was usually laid in the
tomb of the dead.

HIS BODY CARRIED TO THE SEA.

has ever since been called Koptis, or the city of mourn¬
ing, though some are of opinion that this word rather
signifies deprivation. After this she wandered every¬
where about the country full of disquietude and per¬
plexity in search of the chest, inquiring of every person
she met with, even of some children whom she chanced
to see, whether they knew what was become of it.
Now it happened that these children had seen what
Typho’s accomplices had done with the body, and
accordingly acquainted her by what mouth of the Nile
it had been conveyed into the sea — For this reason
therefore 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,
during this interval, having been informed that Osiris,
deceived by her sister Nepthys who was in love with
him, had unwittingly united with her instead of herself,
as she concluded from the melilot-garland,3 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 Typho, had exposed it as soon as it was
born), and accordingly, after much pains and difficulty,
by means of some dogs that conducted her to the place

3 I.e., a wreath of clover.

48 isis Finds the body of osiris.

where it was, she found it and bred it up ; so that
in process of time it became her constant guard and
attendant, and from hence obtained the name of Anubis,
being thought to watch and guard the gods, as dogs to
mankind.

“ At length she receives more particular news of
the chest, that it had been carried by the waves of the
sea to the coast of Byblos,1 and there gently lodged
in the branches of a bush of Tamarisk, which, in a
short time, had shot up into a large and beautiful tree,
growing round the chest and enclosing it on every side,
so that it was not to be seen ; and farther, that the
kin" 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, a pillar to support
the roof of his house. These things, say they, being
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, excepting only to the
queen’s women who chanced to be there ; these indeed
she saluted and caressed in the kindest manner possible,
plaiting their hair for them, and transmitting into them
part of that wonderfully grateful odour which issued
from her own body. This raised a great desire in the
queen their mistress to see the stranger who had this

1 Not the Byblos of Syria (Jebel) but the papyrus swamps of the
Delta.

ISIS TRANSFORMS HERSELF. 49

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 Melcarthus, as that of his queen
was Astarte, or, according to others, Saosis, though

some call her Nemanoun, which answers to the Greek
name Athenais.

Isis fed the child by giving it her finger to suck
instead of the breast; she likewise put him every
night into the fire in order to consume his mortal
part, whilst transforming herself into a swallow, she
hovered round the pillar and bemoaned her sad fate.
Thus continued she to do for some time, till the queen,
who stood watching her, observing the child to be all
m a flame, cryed out, and thereby deprived him of that
immortality which would otherwise have been con¬
ferred upon him. The Goddess upon this, discovering
herself, requested that the pillar, which supported the
roof, might be given her ; which she accordingly took
down, and then easily cutting it open, after she had
taken out what she wanted, she wrapped up the re¬
mainder of the trunk in fine linnen, and pouring per¬
fumed oil upon it, delivered it again into the hands of
the king and queen (which piece of wood is to this
day preserved in the temple of Isis, and worshipped by
the people of Byblos). When this was done, she threw

THE MOURNING OF ISIS.

herself upon the chest, making at the same time such
a loud and terrible lamentation over it, as frightened
the younger of the king’s sons, who heard her, out of
his life. But the elder of them she took with her
and set sail with the chest for Egypt ; and it being
now about morning, the river Phsedrus sending forth
a rough and sharp air, she in her anger dried up its
current.

“No sooner was she arrived at a desart place, where
she imagined herself to be alone, but she presently
opened the chest, and laying her face upon her dead
husband’s, embraced his corpse, and wept bitterly;
but perceiving that the little boy had silently stolen
behind her, and found out the occasion of her grief,
she turned herself about on the sudden, and in her
anger gave him so fierce and stern a look that he
immediately died of the affright. Others indeed say
that his death did not happen in this manner, but, as
was hinted above, that he fell into the sea, and after¬
wards received the greatest honours on account of the
Goddess ; for that the Maneros,1 whom the Egyptians
so frequently call upon in their banquets, is none other
than this very boy. This relation is again contra¬
dicted by such as tell us that the true name of the
child was Palaestinus, or Pelusius, and that the city
of this name was built by the Goddess in memory of

1 A son of the first Egyptian king, wlio died in his early youth ;
see Herodotus, ii. 79.

SET FINDS THE BODY OF OSIRIS.

him; adding farther, that the Maneros above men¬
tioned is thus honoured by the Egyptians at their
feasts, because he was the first who invented music.
There are others, again, who affirm that Maneros is
not the name of any particular person, but a mere
customary form, and complimental manner of greeting
made use of by the Egyptians one towards another 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, for
that this is the true import of the word. In like
manner, say they, the human skeleton, which at these
times ol jollity is carried about in a box, and shewn to
all 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 they
must quickly become such as they there saw ; and
that this is the true reason of introducing it at their
banquets— but to proceed in the narration.

“ Isis intending a visit to her son Orus, who was
brought up at Butus, deposited the chest in the mean¬
while in a remote and unfrequented place : Typho
however, as he was one night hunting by the light
of the moon, accidentally met with it; and knowing
the body which was enclosed in it, tore it into several
pieces, fourteen in all, dispersing them up and down

THE SEPULCHRES OF OSIRIS.

in different parts of the country— Upon being made
acquainted with this event, Isis once more sets out
in search of the scattered fragments of her husband’s
body, making use of a boat made of the reed Papyrus
in order the more easily to pass thro the lower
and fenny parts of the country— For which reason,
say they, the crocodile never touches any persons, who
sail in this sort of vessels, as either fearing the anger
of the goddess, or else respecting it on account of its
having once carried her. To this occasion therefore
is it to be imputed, that there are so many different
sepulchres of Osiris shewn in Egypt ; for we are told,
that wherever Isis met with any of the scattered limbs
of her husband, she there buried it. There are others
however who contradict this relation, and tell us, that
this variety of Sepulchres was owing rather to the policy
of the queen, who, instead of the real body, as was pre¬
tended, presented these several cities with the image
only of her husband : and that she did this, not only to
render the honours, which would by this means be paid
to his memory, more extensive, but likewise that she
might hereby elude the malicious search of Typho;
who, if he got the better of Orus in the war wherein
they were going to be engaged, distracted by this
multiplicity of Sepulchres, might despair of being able
to find the true one — we are told moreover, that not¬
withstanding all her search, Isis was never able to
recover the member of Osiris, which having been

RETURN OF OSIRIS FROM THE OTHER WORLD. 53

thrown into the Nile immediately upon its separation
from the rest of the body, had been devoured by the
Lepidotus, the Phagrus, and the Oxyrynchus, fish which
of 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.

‘'After these things, Osiris returning from the other
world, appeared to his son Orus, encouraged him to the
battle, 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 Orus replied, ‘ to revenge the
injuries offered to his father and mother.’ He then
asked him, ‘ what animal he thought most serviceable
to a soldier ? ’ and being answered ‘ a horse ’ ; this
raised the wonder of Osiris, so that he farther ques¬
tioned him, ‘ why he preferred a horse before a
lion ? ’ because, adds Orus, ‘ tho’ the lion be the more
serviceable creature to one who stands in need of
help, yet is the horse 1 more useful in overtaking and
cutting off a flying adversary.’ These replies much
rejoiced Osiris, as they showed him that his son was

1 The horse does not appear to have been known in Egypt before
the XVIIIth dynasty ; this portion of Plutarch’s version of the history
of Osiris must, then, be later than b.c. 1500.

BATTLE BETWEEN SET AND HORUS.

sufficiently prepared for his enemy— We are moreover,
told, that among the great numbers who were con¬
tinually deserting from Typho’s party was his concu¬
bine Thueris, and that a serpent pursuing her as she
was coming over to Orus, was slain by her soldiers —
the memory of which action, say they, is still preserved
in that cord which is thrown into the midst of their
assemblies, and then chopt into pieces Afterwards
it came to a battle between them which lasted many
days; but victory at length inclined to Orus, Typho
himself being taken prisoner. Isis however, to whose
custody he was committed, was so far from putting him
to death, that she even loosed his bonds and set him
at liberty. This action of his mother so extremely
incensed Orus, that he laid hands upon her, and pulled
off the ensign of royalty which she wore on her
head ; and instead thereof Hermes clapt on an helmet
made in the shape of an oxe’s head — After this,
Typho publicly accused Orus of bastardy ; but by the
assistance of Hermes (Thoth) his legitimacy was fully
established by the judgment of the Gods themselves —
After this, there were two other battles fought between
them, in both of which Typho had the worst. Further¬
more, Isis is said to have accompanied with Osiris after
his death, and in consequence hereof to have brought
forth Harpocrates, who came into the world before
his time, and lame in his lower limbs.”

When we examine this story by the light of the

EGYPTIAN ACCOUNT OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 55

results of hieroglyphic decipherment, we find that a
large portion of it is substantiated by Egyptian texts :
e.g., Osiris was the son of Seb and Nut ; the Epact
is known in the Calendars as “ the five additional days
of the year ” ; the five gods, Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis,
and Nephthys, were born on the days mentioned by
Plutarch; the 17th day of Athyr (Hathor) is marked
as triply unlucky in the Calendars ; the wanderings
and troubles of Isis are described, and “ lamentations ”
which she is supposed to have uttered are found in
the texts; lists of the shrines of Osiris are preserved
in several inscriptions ; the avenging of his father by
Horus is referred to frequently in papyri and other
documents ; the conflict between Set and Horus is
described fully in a papyrus in the British Museum
(No. 10,184) ; a hymn in the papyrus of Hunefer
relates all that Tlioth performed for Osiris ; and the
begetting of Horus by Osiris after death is mentioned
in a hymn to Osiris dating from the XVIIIth dynasty
in the following passage : —

“ Thy sister put forth her protecting power for thee,
she scattered abroad those who were her enemies, she
drove away evil hap, she pronounced mighty words of
power, she made cunning her tongue, and her words
failed not. The glorious Isis was perfect in command
and in speech, and she avenged her brother. She
sought him without ceasing, she wandered round and
round the earth uttering cries of pain, and she rested

56 ANTIQUITY OF THE WORSHIP OF OSIRIS.

(or alighted) not until she had found him. She over¬
shadowed him with her feathers, she made air (or wind)
with her wings, and she uttered cries at the burial of
her brother. She raised up the prostrate form of him
whose heart was still, she took from him of his essence,
she conceived and brought forth a child, she suckled
it in secret, and none knew the place thereof ; and the
arm of the child hath waxed strong in the great house
of Seb. The company of the gods rejoice, and are glad
at the coming of Osiris’s son Horus, and firm of heart
and triumphant is the son of Isis, the heir of Osiris.” 1
What form the details of the history of Osiris took
in the early dynasties it is impossible to say, and we
know not whether Osiris was the god of the resur¬
rection to the predynastic or prehistoric Egyptians, or
whether that role was attributed to him after Mena
began to rule in Egypt. There is, however, good
reason for assuming that in the earliest dynastic times
he occupied the position of god and judge of those
who had risen from the dead by his help, for already
in the IVth dynasty, about B.c. 3800, king Men-kau-Ra
(the Mycerinus of the Greeks) is identified with him,
and on his coffin not only is he called “ Osiris, King
of the South and North, Men-kau-Ra, living for ever,”
but the genealogy of Osiris is attributed to him, and

1 This remarkable hymn was first made known by Chabas, who
published a translation of it, with notes, in Revue Archfologique,
Paris, 1S57, t. xiv. p. 65 ft’.

h ci o:

Isis suckling her child Horns in the papyrus swamps. 4. The goddess Nekhebet presenting years, and life, stability,

Thoth giving the emblem of magical protection to Isis. power, and sovereignty to the son of Osiris.

Amen-Ra presenting the symbol of “life” to Isis. 5. The goddess Sati presenting periods of years, and life, stability,

I power, and sovereignty to the son of Osiris.

OSIRIS THE GOD-MAN.

he is declared to be “born of heaven, offspring of Nut,
flesh and bone of Seb.” It is evident that the priests
of Heliopolis “edited” the religious texts copied and
multiplied in the College to suit their own views, but
in the early times when they began their work, the
worship of Osiris was so widespread, and the belief
in him as the god of the resurrection so deeply in¬
grained in the hearts of the Egyptians, that even in
the Heliopolitan system of theology Osiris and his
cycle, or company of gods, were made to hold a very
prominent position. He represented to men the idea
of a man who was both god and man, and he typified
to the Egyptians in all ages the being who by reason
of his sufferings and death as a man could sympathize
with them in their own sickness and death. The idea
of his human personality also satisfied their cravings
and yearnings for intercourse with a being who, though
he was partly divine, yet had much in common with
themselves. Originally they looked upon Osiris as
a man who lived on the earth as they lived, who ate
and drank, who suffered a cruel death, who by the
help of certain gods triumphed over death, and attained
unto everlasting life. But what Osiris did they could
do, and what the gods did for Osiris they must also do
for them, and as the gods brought about his resurrection
so they must bring about theirs, and as they made him
the ruler of the underworld so they must make them
to enter his kingdom and to live there as long as the

THE RESURRECTION OF OSIRIS.

god himself lived. Osiris, in some of his aspects, was
identified with the Nile, and with Ba, and with several
other “ gods ” known to the Egyptians, but it was in
his aspect as god of the resurrection and of eternal life
that he appealed to men in the valley of the Nile;
and for thousands of years men and women died
believing that, inasmuch as all that was done for Osiris
would be done for them symbolically, they like him
would rise again and inherit life everlasting. However
far back we trace religious ideas in Egypt, we never
approach a time when it can be said that there did
not exist a belief in the Besurrection, for everywhere
it is assumed that Osiris rose from the dead ; sceptics
must have existed, and they probably asked their
priests what the Corinthians asked Saint Paul, “ How
are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they
come ? ” But beyond doubt the belief in the Besur¬
rection was accepted by the dominant classes in Egypt.
The ceremonies which the Egyptians performed with
the view of assisting the deceased to pass the ordeal
of the judgment, and to overcome his enemies in the
next world, will be described elsewhere, as also will
be the form in which the dead were raised up; we
therefore return to the theological history of Osiris.

The centre and home of the worship of Osiris in
Egypt under the early dynasties was Abydos, where
the head of the god was said to be buried. It spread
north and south in the course of time, and several

OSIRIS THE CAUSE OF THE RESURRECTION. 6 1

large cities claimed to possess one or other of the limbs
of his body. The various episodes in the life of the
god were made the subject of solemn representations
in the temple, and little by little the performance
of the obligatory and non-obligatory services in con¬
nection with them occupied, in certain temples, the
greater part of the time of the priests. The original
ideas concerning the god were forgotten and new ones
grew up ; from being the example of a man who had *
risen from the dead and had attained unto life ever¬
lasting, he became the cause of the resurrection of the
dead; and the power to bestow eternal life upon
mortals was transferred from the gods to him. The
alleged dismemberment of Osiris was forgotten in the
fact that he dwelt in a perfect body in the underworld,
and that, whether dismembered or not, he had become
after his death the father of Horus by Isis. As early
as the Xllth dynasty, about b.c. 2500, the worship
of this god had become almost universal, and a thousand
years later Osiris had become a sort of national god.
The attributes of the great cosmic gods were ascribed
to him, and he appeared to man not only as the god
and judge of the dead, but also as the creator of the
world and of all things in it. He who was the son
of Ea became the equal of his father, and he took
his place side by side with him in heaven.

We have an interesting proof of the identification
of Osiris with Ea in Chapter XVII. of the Book of

62 IDENTIFICATION OF OSIRIS WITH RA.

the Dead. It will be remembered that this Chapter
consists of a series of what might almost be called
articles of faith, each of which is followed by one
or more explanations which represent one or more
quite different opinions ; the Chapter also is accom¬
panied by a series of Vignettes. In line 110 it is
said, “ I am the soul which dwelleth in the two tchafi }
What is this then ? It is Osiris when he goeth into
Tattu (' i.e ., Busiris) and findetli there the soul of Ra ;
there the one god embraceth the other, and souls spring
into being within the two tchafi In the Vignette
which illustrates this passage the souls of Ra and
Osiris are seen in the forms of hawks standing on a
pylon and facing each other in Tattu ; the former has
upon his head a disk, and the latter, who is human¬
headed, the white crown. It is a noticeable fact that
even at his meeting with Ra the soul of Osiris preserves
the human face, the sign of his kinship with man.

Now Osiris became not only the equal of Ra, but,
in many respects, a greater god than he. It is said
that from the nostrils of the head of Osiris, which
was buried at Abydos, came forth the scarabseus 2
which was at once the emblem and type of the god
Khepera, who caused all things to come into being,
and of the resurrection. In this manner Osiris became
the source and origin of gods, men, and things, and

1 l.e the souls of Osiris and Ra.

2 See von Bergmann in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1880, p. 88 ff.

1 2

— 1 l"“L

The soul of Ra (1) meeting the soul of Osiris (2) in Tattu. The
cat (t.e., Ra) by the Persea tree (3) cutting od the head of the
serpent which typified night.

HYMN TO OSIRIS.

ci lood of tli© t^od was forgotten. The next
step was to ascribe to him the attributes of God, and
in the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties he seems to have
disputed the sovereignty of the three companies of
gods, that is to say of the trinity of trinities of trinities,1
with Amen-Ea, who by this time was usually called
the king of the gods.” The ideas held concerning

Osiiis at this period will best be judged by the following
extracts from contemporary hymns: —

“ Glory 2 be to thee, 0 Osiris, Un-nefer, the great god
within Abtu (Abydos), king of eternity, lord of ever¬
lastingness, who passest through millions of years in
thy existence. The eldest son of the womb of Xut,
engendered by Seb the Ancestor [of the gods], lord
of the crowns of the South and of the North, lord of
the lofty white crown; as prince of gods and men
he hath received the crook and the whip, and the
dignity of his divine fathers. Let thy heart, which
dwelleth in the mountain of Ament, be content, for
thy son Horus is stablished upon thy throne. Thou art
crowned lord of Tattu (Busiris) and ruler in Abydos.”

“Praise3 be unto thee, 0 Osiris, lord of eternity,
Un-nefer, Heru-Khuti (Harmachis) whose forms are
manifold, and whose attributes are great, who art
Ptah-Seker-Tem in Annu (Heliopolis), the lord of the

1 Each company of the gods contained three trinities or triads.

2 See Chapters of Coming Forth by Day (translation), p. 11.

3 Ibid., p. 34.

HYMN TO OSIRIS.

hidden place, and the creator of Het-ka-Ptalr (Memphis)
and of the gods [therein], the guide of the underworld,
whom [the gods] glorify when thou settest in ISTut.
Isis embraceth thee in peace, and she driveth away
the fiends from the mouth of thy paths. Thou turnest
thy face upon Amentet, and thou makes t the earth
to shine as with refined copper. The dead rise up
to see thee, they breathe the air and they look upon
thy face when the disk riseth on its horizon; their
hearts are at peace, inasmuch as they behold thee, 0
thou who art eternity and everlastingness.”

In the latter extract Osiris is identified with the
great gods of Heliopolis and Memphis, where shrines
of the Sun-god existed in almost pre-dynastic times,
and finally is himself declared to be “ eternity and
everlastingness ” ; thus the ideas of resurrection and
immortality are united in the same divine being. In
the following Litany the process of identification with
the gods is continued : —

1. “Homage to thee, 0 thou who art the starry
deities in Annu, and the heavenly beings in Klier-aba ; 1
thou god Unti,2 who art more glorious than the gods
who are hidden in Annu. 0 grant thou unto me a
path whereon I may pass in peace, for I am just and
true ; I have not spoken lies wittingly, nor have I
done aught with deceit.”

1 A district near Memphis.

2 A god who walks before the boat of the god Af, holding a star ia
each hand.

A LITANY.

2. “ Homage to thee, 0 An in Antes, Harmachis;
thou stridest over heaven with long strides, 0 Har-
machis. 0 grant thou unto me a path,” etc.1

3. “ Homage to thee, 0 soul of everlastingness, thou
Soul who dwellest in Tattu, Un-nefer, son of Hut;
thou art lord of Akert (i.e., the underworld). 0 grant
thou unto me a path,” etc.

4. “Homage to thee in thy dominion over Tattu;
the Ureret crown is stablished upon thy head; thou
art the One who maketh the strength which protecteth
himself, and thou dwellest in peace in Tattu. 0 grant
thou unto me a path,” etc.

5. “ Homage to thee, 0 lord of the Acacia 3 tree, the
Seker boat 3 is set upon its sledge ; thou turnest back
the Fiend, the worker of Evil, and thou causest the
Utchat (i.e., the Eye of Horus or Ra), to rest upon its
seat. 0 grant thou unto me a path,” etc.

6. “ Homage to thee, 0 thou who art mighty in
thine hour, thou great and mighty Prince, dweller in
An-rut-f,4 lord of eternity and creator of everlasting¬
ness, thou art the lord of Suten-henen (i.e., Heracleopolis
Magna). 0 grant,” etc.

7. “ Homage to thee, 0 thou who restest upon

1 This petition is only written once, but it is intended to be repeated
after each of the nine sections of the Litany.

2 This tree was in Heliopolis, and the Cat, i.e., the Sun, sat near it.
(See p. 63).

3 The ceremony of setting the Seker boat on its sledge was per¬
formed at dawn.

4 The place where nothing grows— the underworld.

A LITANY.

Right and Truth, thou art lord of Abydos, and thy
limbs are joined unto Ta-tchesert {i.e., the Holy Land,
the underworld) ; thou art he to whom fraud and guile
are hateful. 0 grant,” etc.

8. “ Homage to thee, 0 thou who art within thy
boat, thou bringest Hapi {i.e., the Nile) forth from his
source ; the light shineth upon thy body, and thou art
the dweller in Nekhen. 0 grant,” etc.

9. “ Homage to thee, 0 creator of the gods, thou
kins of the South and of the North, 0 Osiris, victorious

one, ruler of the world in thy gracious seasons ; thou
art the lord of the celestial world. 0 grant,” etc.

And, again : “ Ea setteth as Osiris with all the
diadems of the di'vine spirits and of the gods of
Amentet. He is the one divine form, the hidden one
of the Tuat, the holy Soul at the head of Amentet,
Un-nefer, whose duration of life is for ever and ever.” 1

We have already referred to the help which Thoth
ouve to Isis when he provided her with the words
which caused her dead husband to live again, but the
best summary of the good deeds which this god
wrought for Osiris is contained in a hymn in the
Papyrus of Hunefer ,2 where the deceased is made
to say : —

“ I have come unto thee, 0 son of Nut, Osiris, Prince
of everlastingness ; I am in the following of the god
Thoth, and I have rejoiced at everything which he

1 See Chapters of Coming Forth by Day , p. 334. 2 Ibid., p. 343.

THOTH AND OSIRIS.

hath done for thee. He brought the sweet air into
thy nostrils, and life and strength to thy beautiful
face ; and the north wind which cometh forth from
Temu for thy nostrils, 0 lord of Ta-tchesert. He
made the god Shu to shine upon thy body ; he
illumined thy path with rays of light; he destroyed
for thee the faults and defects of thy members by the
magical power of the wrords of his mouth ; he made
Set and Horus to be at peace for thy sake ; he de¬
stroyed the storm-wind and the hurricane ; he made
the two combatants ( [i.e ., Set and Horus) to be gracious
unto thee and the two lands to be at peace before thee ;
he did away the wrath which was in their hearts, and
each became reconciled unto his brother {i.e., thyself).

“ Thy son Horus is triumphant in the presence of
the full assembly of the gods, the sovereignty over the
world hath been given unto him, and his dominion
extendeth unto the uttermost parts of the earth. The
throne of the god Seb hath been adjudged unto him,
together with the rank which was created by the god
Temu, and which hath been stablished by decrees
[made] in the Chamber of Archives, and hath been
inscribed upon an iron tablet according to the command
of thy father Ptah-Tanen when he sat upon the great
throne. He hath set his brother upon that which the
god Shu beareth up {i.e., the heavens), to stretch out
the waters over the mountains, and to make to spring
up that which groweth upon the hills, and the grain (?)

70 ADDRESS OF THOTH TO OSIRIS.

which shooteth upon the earth, and he giveth increase
by water and by land. Gods celestial and gods ter¬
restrial transfer themselves to the service of thy son
Horus, and they follow him into his hall [where] a
decree is passed that he shall be lord over them, and
they do [his will] straightway.

“ Let thy heart rejoice, O lord of the gods, let thy
heart rejoice greatly ; Egypt and the Eed Land are
at peace, and they serve humbly under thy sovereign
power. The temples are stablished upon their own
lands, cities and nomes possess securely the goods
which they have in their names, and we will make
unto thee the divine offerings which we are bound
to make, and offer sacrifices in thy name for ever.
Acclamations are made in thy name, libations are
poured out to thy ka, and sepulchral meals [are
brought unto thee] by the spirits who are in thy
following, and water is sprinkled. ... on each side
of the souls of the dead in this land. Every plan for
thee which hath been decreed by the commands of Ba
from the beginning hath been perfected. Now there¬
fore, 0 son of Nut, thou art crowned as Neb-er-tcher
is crowned at his rising. Thou livest, thou art stab¬
lished, thou renewest thy youth, and thou art true
and perfect ; thy father Ba maketh strong thy members,
and the company of the gods make acclamations unto
thee. The goddess Isis is with thee and she never
leaveth thee ; [thou art] not overthrown by thine

OSIRIS AND THE SECOND BIRTH. 7 1

enemies. The lords of all lands praise thy beauties,
even as they praise Ea when he riseth at the beginning
of each day. Thou rises t up like an exalted being
upon thy standard, thy beauties lift up the face [of
man] and make long [his] stride. The sovereignty
of thy father Seb hath been given unto thee, and the
goddess Nut, thy mother, who gave birth to the gods,
brought thee forth as the firstborn of five gods, and
created thy beauties and fashioned thy members. Thou
art stablished as king, the white crown is upon thy
head, and thou hast grasped in thy hands the crook
and whip; whilst thou wert in the womb, and liadst
not as yet come forth therefrom upon the earth, thou
wert crowned lord of the two lands, and the ‘Atef’
crown of Ea was upon thy brow. The gods come
unto thee bowing low to the ground, and they hold
thee in fear; they retreat and depart when they
see thee with the terror of Ea, and the victory of
thy Majesty is in their hearts. Life is with thee, and
offerings of meat and drink follow thee, and that which
is thy due is offered up before thy face.”

In one paragraph of another somewhat similar
hymn 1 other aspects of Osiris are described, and after
the words “ Homage to thee, 0 Governor of those who
are in Amentet,” he is called the being who “giveth
birth unto men and women a second time,” 2 i.e., “ who

1 See Chapters of Coming Forth by Day , p. 342.

2 The words are mes temema em nem.

; 2

IIORUS THE HEIR OF OSIRIS.

maketh mortals to be born again.” As the whole
paragraph refers to Osiris “ renewing himself/’ and. to
his making himself “ young like unto Ba each and
every day,” there can be no doubt that the resurrection
of the dead, that is to say, their birth into a new life,
is what the writer means by the second birth of men
and women. From this passage also we may see that
Osiris has become the equal of Ba, and that he has
passed from being the god of the dead to being the
god of the living. Moreover, at the time when the
above extracts were copied Osiris was not only assumed
to have occupied the position which Ba formerly held,
but his son Horus, who was begotten after his death,
was, by virtue of his victory over Set, admitted
to be the heir and successor of Osiris. And he not
only succeeded to the “ rank and dignity ” of his father
Osiris, but in his aspect of “ avenger of his father,”
he gradually acquired the peculiar position of inter¬
mediary and intercessor on behalf of the children
of men. Thus in the Judgment Scene he leads the
deceased into the presence of Osiris and makes an
appeal to his father that the deceased may be allowed
to enjoy the benefits enjoyed by all those who are
“true of voice” and justified in the judgment. Such
an appeal, addressed to Osiris in the presence of Isis,
from the son born under such remarkable circum¬
stances was, the Egyptian thought, certain of accept¬
ance; and the offspring of a father, after the death

PRAYER TO OSIRIS. 73

of whose body he was begotten, was naturally the best
advocate for the deceased.

But although such exalted ideas of Osiris and his
position among the gods obtained generally in Egypt
during the XVIIIth dynasty (about B.c. 1600) there
is evidence that some believed that in spite of every
precaution the body might decay, and that it was
necessary to make a special appeal unto Osiris if this
dire result was to be avoided. The following remark¬
able prayer was first found inscribed upon a linen
swathing which had enveloped the mummy of
Thothmes III., but since that time the text, written in
hieroglyphics, has been found inscribed upon the Papy¬
rus of JVu,1 and it is, of course, to be found also in the
late papyrus preserved at Turin, which the late Dr.
Lepsius published so far back as 1842. This text,
which is now generally known as Chapter CLIY of
the Book of the Dead, is entitled “The Chapter of
not letting the body perish.” The text begins : —

“Homage to thee, 0 my divine father Osiris! I
have come to thee that thou mayest embalm, yea
embalm these my members, for I would not perish
and come to an end, [but would be] even like unto
my divine father Khepera, the divine type of him
that never saw corruption. Come, then, and make
me to have the mastery over my breath, 0 thou lord

1 Brit. Mub., No. 10,477, sheet 18. I have published the text in
my Chapters of Coming Forth hy Day , pp. 398-402.

74 THE decay of the body described.

of the winds, who dost magnify those divine beings
who are like unto thyself. Stablish thou me, then,
and strengthen me, 0 lord of the funeral chest. Grant
thon that I may enter into the land of everlastingness,
even as it was granted unto thee, and unto thy fatliei
Temu, 0 thou whose body did not see corruption, and
who thyself never sawest corruption. I have never
wrought that which thou hatest, nay, I have uttered
acclamations with those who have loved thy KA. Let
not my body turn into worms, but deliver me [from
them] even as thou didst deliver thyself. I beseech
thee, let me not fall into rottenness as thou dost let
every god, and every goddess, and every animal, and
every reptile to see corruption when the soul hath
o-one forth from them after their death. For when
the soul departeth, a man seeth corruption, and the
bones of his body rot and become wholly loathsome¬
ness, the members decay piecemeal, the bones crumble
into an inert mass, the flesh turneth into foetid liquid,
and he becometh a brother unto the decay which
cometh upon him. And he turneth into a host of
worms, and he becometh a mass of worms, and an
end is made of him, and he perisheth in the sight of
the god Shu even as doth every god, and every goddess,
and every feathered fowl, and every fish, and every
creeping thing, and every reptile, and every animal,
and every thing whatsoever. When the worms see me
and know me, let them fall upon their bellies, and

THE DECEASED IDENTIFIED WITH KHEPERA. 75

let the fear of me terrify them ; and thus let it be
with every creature after [my] death, whether it be
animal, or bird, or fish, or worm, or reptile. And let
life arise out of death. Let not decay caused by any
reptile make an end [of me], and let not them come
against me in their various forms. Do not thou give me
over unto that slaughterer who dwelleth in his torture -
chamber (?), who killeth the members of the body and
maketli them to rot, who worketh destruction upon
many dead bodies, whilst he himself remaineth hidden
and liveth by slaughter ; let me live and perform his
message, and let me do that which is commanded by
him. Give me not over unto his fingers, and let him
not gain the mastery over me, for I am under thy
command, 0 lord of the gods.

“ Homage to thee, 0 my divine father Osiris, thou
hast thy being with thy members. Thou didst not
decay, thou didst not become worms, thou didst not
diminish, thou didst not become corruption, thou didst
not putrefy, and thou didst not turn into worms.”

The deceased then identifying himself with Khepera,
the god who created Osiris and his company of gods,
says : —

“ I am the god Khepera, and my members shall have
an everlasting existence. I shall not decay, I shall
not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall not turn into
worms, and I shall not see corruption under the eye
of the god Shu. I shall have my being, I shall have

THE SPIRITUAL BODY.

my being ; I shall live, I shall live ; I shall germinate,

I shall germinate, I shall germinate ; I shall wake up
in peace. I shall not putrefy ; my bowels shall not
perish; I shall not suffer injury; mine eye shall not
decay; the form of my countenance shall not dis¬
appear ; mine ear shall not become deaf ; my head shall
not be separated from my neck ; my tongue shall not be
carried away ; my hair shall not be cut off ; mine eye¬
brows shall not be shaved off, and no baleful injury shall
come upon me. My body shall be stablished, and it shall
neither fall into ruin nor be destroyed on this earth.”

Judging from such passages as those given above
we might think that certain of the Egyptians expected
a resurrection of the physical body, and the mention
of the various members of the body seems to make
this view certain. But the body of which the incorrup¬
tion and immortality are so strongly declared is the
sahu, or spiritual body, that sprang into existence out
of the physical body, which had become transformed
by means of the prayers that had been recited and
the ceremonies that had been performed on the day
of the funeral, or on that wherein it was laid in the
tomb. It is interesting to notice that no mention is
made of meat or drink in the CLIVth Chapter, and
the only thing which the deceased refers to as necessary
for his existence is air, which he obtains through the
god Temu, the god who is always depicted in human
form ; the god is here mentioned in his aspect of the

MUTILATION OF THE BODY AFTER DEATH. 77

night Sun as opposed to Ba the day Sun, and a
comparison of the Sun’s daily death with the death
of the deceased is intended to be made. The deposit
of the head of the God-man Osiris at Abydos has
already been mentioned, and the belief that it was
preserved there was common throughout Egypt. But
in the text quoted above the deceased says, “ My head
shall not be separated from my neck,” which seems
to indicate that he wished to keep his body whole,
notwithstanding that Osiris was almighty, and could
restore the limbs and reconstitute the body, even as
he had done for his own limbs and body which had
been hacked to pieces by Set. Chapter XLIII of the
Book of the Dead 1 also has an important reference
to the head of Osiris. It is entitled “The Chapter
of not letting the head of a man be cut off from him
in the underworld,” and must be of considerable
antiquity. In it the deceased says : “ I am the Great
One, the son of the Great One ; I am Fire, and the
son of the Fire, to whom was given his head after
it had been cut off. The head of Osiris was not taken
away from him, let not the head of the deceased be
taken away from him. I have knit myself together (or
reconstituted myself) ; I have made myself whole and
complete; I have renewed my youth ; I am Osiris, the
lord of eternity.”

From the above it would seem that, according to
1 See The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day , p. 98.

78 REASONS FOR MUTILATING THE BODY.

one version of the Osiris story, the head of Osiris was
not only cut off, but that it was passed through the
fire also ; and if this version be very ancient, as it
well may be and probably is, it takes us back to pre¬
historic times in Egypt when the bodies of the dead
were mutilated and burned. Prof. Wiedemann thinks 1
that the mutilation and breaking of the bodies of the
dead were the results of the belief that in order to
make the ka, or “ double,” leave this earth, the body
to which it belonged must be broken, and he instances
the fact that objects of every kind were broken at the
time when they were placed in the tombs. He traces
also a transient custom in the prehistoric graves of
Egypt where the methods of burying the body whole
and broken into pieces seem to be mingled, for though
in some of them the body has been broken into pieces,
it is evident that successful attempts have been made
to reconstitute it by laying the pieces as far as possible
in their proper places. And it may be this custom
which is referred to in various places in the Book of
the Dead, when the deceased declares that he has
collected his limbs “ and made his body whole again,”
and already in the Yth dynasty King Teta is thus
addressed — ‘ Pise up, 0 thou Teta ! Thou hast received
thy head, thou hast knitted together thy bones,2 thou
hast collected thy members.”

1 See J. de Morgan, Etlmographie Prehistorique , p. 210.

2 Becueil de Travaux, tom, v. p, 40 (1. 287).

PERSISTENCE OF OSIRIS WORSHIP. 79

The history of Osiris, the god of the resurrection,
has now been traced from the earliest times to the
end of the period of the rule of the priests of Amen
* (about B.c. 900), by which time Amen-Ba had been
thrust in among the gods of the underworld, and
prayers were made, in some cases, to him instead of
to Osiris. From this time onwards Amen maintained
this exalted position, and in the Ptolemaic period, in
an address to the deceased Kerasher we read “ Thy
face shineth before Ba, thy soul liveth before Amen,
and thy body is renewed before Osiris.” And again
it is said, “ Amen is nigh unto thee to make thee to
live again. . . . Amen cometh to thee having the
breath of life, and he causeth thee to draw thy breath
within thy funeral house.” But in spite of this, Osiris^
kept and held the highest place in the minds of the
Egyptians, from first to last, as the God-man, the being
who was both divine and human ; and no foreign
invasion, and no religious or political disturbances, and
no influence which any outside peoples could bring
to bear upon them, succeeded in making them regard
the god as anything less than the cause and symbol
and type of the resurrection, and of the life everlasting.
For about five thousand years men were mummified
in imitation of the mummied form of Osiris ; and they
went to their graves believing that their bodies would
vanquish the powers of death, and the grave, and
decay, because Osiris had vanquished them ; and they

So ANTHONY’S DISLIKE TO MUMMIFYING.

had certain hope of the resurrection in an immortal,
eternal, and spiritual body, because Osiris had risen
in a transformed spiritual body, and had ascended
into heaven, where he had become the king and the
judge of the dead, and had attained unto everlasting
life therein.^

The chief reason for the persistence of the worship
of Osiris in Egypt was, probably, the fact that it
promised both resurrection and eternal life to its
followers. '^Eveii after the Egyptians had embraced
Christianity they continued to mummify their dead,
and for long after they continued to mingle the
attributes of their God and the “ gods ” with those of
God Almighty and Christ. The Egyptians of their
own will never got away from the belief that the body
must be mummified if eternal life was to be assured
to the dead, but the Christians, though preaching the
same doctrine of the resurrection as the Egyptians,
went a step further, and insisted that there was no
need to mummify the dead at all./ St. Anthony the
Great besought his followers not to embalm his body
and keep it in a house, but to bury it and to tell
no man where it had been buried, lest those who loved
him should come and draw it forth, and mummify it
as thev were wont to do to the bodies of those whom

they regarded as saints. “ For long past,” he said, “ I
have entreated the bishops and preachers to exhort the
people not to continue to observe this useless custom ” ;

DEATH OF OSIRIS WORSHIP. 8 1

and concerning his own body, he said, “ At the resur¬
rection of the dead I shall receive it from the Saviour
incorruptible.”1 The spread of this idea gave the
art of mummifying its death-blow, and though from
innate conservatism, and the love of having the actual
bodies of their beloved dead near them, the Egyptians
continued for a time to preserve their dead as befoi^,
yet little by little the reasons for mummifying were
forgotten, the knowledge of the art died out, the funeral
ceremonies were curtailed, the prayers became a dead
letter, and the custom of making mummies became
obsolete. ' With the death of the art died also the
belief in and the worship of Osiris, who from being
the god of the dead became a dead god, and to the
Christians of Egypt, at least, his place was filled by
Christ, “ the firstfruits of them that slept,” Whose
resurrection and power to grant eternal life were at
that time being preached throughout most of the known
world.' In Osiris the Christian Egyptians found the"
prototype of Christ, and in the pictures and statues
of Isis suckling her son Horus, they perceived the
prototypes of the Virgin Mary and her Child. Never
did Christianity find elsewhere in the world a people
whose minds were so thoroughly well prepared to
receive its doctrines as the Egyptians. ^

This chapter may be fittingly ended by a few

1 See Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum , p. 59; Life of St. Anthony , by
Athanasius (Migne), Patrologise , Ser. Graec. tom. 2 G, col. 972,

82 SONGS OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS.

extracts from the Souc/s of Tsis ctnd Ncphthys, which
were sung in the Temple of Amen-Ba at Thebes by
two priestesses who personified the two goddesses.1

“Hail, thou lord of the underworld, thou Bull of
those who are therein, thou Image of Ba-Harmachis,
thou Babe of beautiful appearance, come thou to us
in peace. Thou didst repel thy disasters, thou didst
drive away evil hap ; Lord, come to us in peace.
0 Un-nefer, lord of food, thou chief, thou who art
of terrible majesty, thou God, president of the gods,
when thou dost inundate the land [all] things are
engendered. Thou art gentler than the gods. The
emanations of thy body make the dead and the living
to live, 0 thou lord of food, thou prince of green
herbs, thou mighty lord, thou staff of life, thou giver
of offerings to the gods, and of sepulchial meals to
the blessed dead. Thy soul flieth after Ba, thou
sliinest at dawn, thou settest at twilight, thou risest
every day ; thou shalt rise on the left hand of Atmu
for ever and ever. Thou art the glorious one, the
vicar of Ba ; the company of the gods cometh to thee
invoking thy face, the flame whereof reaclieth unto
thine enemies. We rejoice when thou gatherest together
thy bones, and when thou hast made whole thy body
daily. Anubis cometh to thee, and the two sisters
(U, Isis and Nephthys) come to thee. They have
obtained beautiful things for thee, and they gather

1 See my Hieratic Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu ( Archxologia , vol. lii.)

SONGS OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS.

together thy limbs for thee, and they seek to put
together the mutilated members of thy body. Wipe
thou the impurities which are on them upon our hair
and come thou to us having no recollection of that
which hath caused thee sorrow. Come thou in thy
attribute of ‘Prince of the earth/ lay aside thy trepi¬
dation and be at peace with us, 0 Lord. Thou shalt
be proclaimed heir of the world, and the One god,
and the ful filler of the designs of the gods. All the
gods invoke thee, come therefore to thy temple and
be not afraid. 0 Ea ( i.e ., Osiris), thou art beloved of
Isis and ISTephthys ; rest thou in thy habitation for
ever.”

( 84 )