searches. Isis and Osiris have, according to Herodotus and the genealogies on the monuments, their roots in the first, like the great deities of the second Order: but, according to the whole testimony of the monuments, and most particularly those of a later date, they are, in one word, also the first and second Order itself, so that some peculiar form of Isis or Osiris, or of both of them, almost invariably corresponds to each development, split up as it is into many different personifications. Isis and Osiris, alone and united, and Isis, Osiris, and Horus combined, can be shown to comprise in themselves the whole system of Egyptian mythology, with the exception, perhaps, of Ammon and Kneph, the concealed god and the creative power. These two deities stand alone, above and out of any series of development connected with the order of Osiris, as far as we can judge from extant records. In order to establish this by evidence deduced from our present sources, without transgressing the limits of this book, we shall adhere as strictly as possible to the method hitherto pursued. We shall consider Isis, Osiris, and Horus, as they stand before us in their more modern form, and endeavour to point out from the monuments themselves the earliest stages by which this position and form have been developed. But the lamentable defeet in the ordinary method-the want of a strict definition of epochs-is nowhere more strongly marked than here. All the Greek annalists belong to the latest times of Egypt, most of them to an age when the old myths were multiplied and adulterated. The "Book of the Dead" is still very partially deciphered; sufficiently, however, to prove that in it likewise the oldest and youngest forms stand side by side. I. The Osiris Order in general. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE MYTHUS AND THE MONUMENTS. ISIS-OSIRIS-HORUS. We take for granted here that our readers are acquainted with the subject matter of the mythus of Osiris, according to the version of it given by Plutarch in the most remarkable, in an historical point of view, and most learned of his works. The five great gods of this Order were, according to it, born in five days-the five additional days or Epact -all children of Rhea, but by different fathers. Helios had uttered a curse against Rhea, because she carried on a secret intercourse with Chronos. Hermes, who was also her lover, had by her five children corresponding to the number of days, which he is said to have won from the moon-goddess (Selene), i. e. the 70th (72nd) part of her days (360=5). The five children she produced were the following: On the first day: Osiris-son of Helios. Chronos gave him in charge to Pamyles (Pamylia Phallephoria). On the second day: Aruēris son of Helios, Apollo, the younger Horus. On the third day: Typhon-son of Chronos, who forcibly and untimely came out of her side (dies nefastus). On the fourth day: Isis-daughter of Hermes. Great festivities after the preceding inauspicious dayon which account she is said to be born in the Panegyries. 339 On the fifth day: Nephthys-daughter of Chronos. Her name signifies End, Victory.340 339 ἐν πανηγύρεσι (now erroneously read ἐν πανύγροις). 340 τελευτή, νίκη. According to other accounts in Plutarch, Rhea is the mother of Osiris and Isis. These in the womb of their mother generate Aruēris-or, instead of this procreation, Anubis is born the offspring of Osiris and Nephthys (c. 14. 38.). The most difficult question here is, who was Selene in the Egyptian sense, from whom Hermes won the five days. Isis is herself considered as a goddess, i. e. as Mistress of the Moon; Anubis accompanies Isis, Hermes (Anubis) travels about with the moon; i. e. the moon is considered as the mother of the world.341 But, as we have seen, according to the monuments and language, the Egyptian moon is always masculine. We have, therefore, hardly any alternative but to assume that this Selene was originally Rhea again. Before entering further into these questions, and the inquiry as to the import and origin of the myths, we must consult the monuments, how far they recognise and confirm them. 341 Plut. c. 43. Διὸ καὶ μητέρα τὴν σελήνην τοῦ κόσμου καλοῦσι, καὶ φύσιν ἔχειν ἀρσενόθηλυν οἴονται. Osiris, in a representation of Wilkinson's (Mat. Hier. xiii. 6.), where he appears with a barbaric countenance, the Nilometer, and large feathers of Ammon on his head, and holding the two sceptres which are peculiar to himself, is styled "Son of Nutpe, begotten by Seb." Isis, again, is called "the assistant, the guide of the brother, she who laments him," also, "the heart of her brother" (xv. i.). She is likewise represented suckling her child, and is styled "the good nurse of her child" (xiv. 6.). This child itself, Horus, is called Her as a child. But it is Her-her (Arueris) who has the ordinary name: Son of Isis and Osiris, Avenger of his father Osiris (xvii. 2. 3., Horus with the hawk-head like Phre). Here we have still the same myth, but not Plutarch's former genealogy, according to which Áruēris was the brother of Osiris. But there are still wider discrepancies. Osiris is also called the father of Isis (xiv. 1.). Horus the Strong (Aruēris) is called not only son of Isis, but also son of Hathor (xvii. 3.); and Isis herself appears with the cow's horns and Hathor-disk in many representations. Even her hieroglyphical sign is sometimes a so-called Typhonean figure (the hippopotamus), precisely like the one which we have already seen to be the symbol of Nutpe. Proceeding now to the second series Typhon, Nephthys, Anubis-we find Seth, which, according to Plutarch, is the Egyptian name of Typhon, on the oldest monuments, though it has been almost invariably chiselled out. This is the only trace of the Egyptians having given him, in a certain, historical period, the character of foe of Osiris, the Evil One, in which the later myth exhibits him. It is, however, likewise a clear proof of Seth's position having once been very different. He it is whose sign is changed for that of Osiris in the titles of the father of the great Ramses, and two other kings of that Dynasty. In the Templepalace of Ramses II. it is the same god with his ordinary monumental name, Nubi (the Golden or Nubian), who is pouring out life and power over the king. Nephthys, in like manner, the sister of Isis, "the sister," without any addition, is always described on the monuments in the character of "the great benevolent Goddess;" indeed she is expressly called "the benevolent saving sister." Her very name, as appears by the hieroglyphics, signifies "the Mistress," or "Mistress of the House" (Nebthi). She is, therefore, Hestia, Vesta, like Anuke (xvi. A. Comp. xxiv.). 66 Anubis (xviii.) is always represented as son of Osiris," except in one single instance, noticed by Salt, where he is called "son of Isis." The former alludes to his procreation by Osiris and Nephthys, in conformity with the Mythus; the latter, to the identity of Isis and Nephthys, which the monuments indicate clearly enough. For as Nephthys is connected genealogically with Typhon, so is Isis represented in the hieroglyphics in a hideous Typhonean shape (Wilk. Mat. Hier. xix. 14.). Anubis, on the other hand, is Hermes-Thoth. Upon these premises we think ourselves justified in concluding that the two series of gods were originally identical; and that in the Great Pair of gods all those attributes were concentrated, from the development of which, in various personifications, that mythological system sprung up which we have been already considering. We shall, therefore, first of all point out the identity of each of these deities, and then their coincidence with the cosmogonic series of development, as far as our very scanty sources of information permit up to the present moment, owing to the want of chronological data on the published monuments. As Isis is the sister, wife, daughter, and, apparently, from the connexion of the name, the mother of Osiris, and as the two deities are always inseparable, we shall |