her, whilst

beat them

lament for

celebrated her festival, which was more magnificently AFRICA. observed than that of any other deity.' Bullocks CHAP. V. were sacrificed to her in the same way that sacri- Bullocks safices were made to the other deities.2 After how crificed to ever the bullocks were flayed and the prayers offered, the votaries the sacrificers took out all the intestines, and left the selves, and vitals together with the fat in the carcase; they Osiris. next cut off the legs and the extremity of the hip, and also the shoulders and neck; and then, last of all, they filled the body with fine bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and other perfumes, and burnt it, pouring over it a great quantity of oil. These sacrifices were performed after a fast, and whilst the offerings were being burnt, all the worshippers, to the number of many myriads, beat themselves; but Herodotus considered that it would be impious for him to divulge for whom it was that they thus acted: there can however be no doubt but that it was for Osiris. The Carian settlers in Aegypt also cut their foreheads with knives, and thus showed themselves to be foreigners. When the sacrifice and beating were all over, a banquet was spread of the remains of the victims.5 Cows Cows sacred and female calves were not sacrificed, as they were sacred to Isis, and more reverenced by the Aegyptians than any other cattle."

to her.

Isis consi

Osiris and The dered by the that to be the the rulers of

Osiris and Isis were said by the Aegyptians to hold the chief sway in the infernal regions. Aegyptians also were the first who maintained the soul of man was immortal, and that when

2 See page 471.

3 ii. 61.

1 ii. 59. Ibid. This self-wounding was undoubtedly a foreign custom, and probably of Phoenician origin. The worshippers of Baal are described as acting in a similar manner when opposed to Elijah-" And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them." (1 Kings xviii. 28.) Similar practices were however probably observed by the Aegyptians, for we find Moses directly forbidding them-"Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead." (Deut. xiv. 1.) Mr. Bowditch tells us that those persons in Ashantee, who pretend to sudden inspiration, or that the fetish has come upon them, lacerate themselves dreadfully by rolling over the sharp points of rocks, beating themselves, and tearing their flesh with their own hands, so as to present the most shocking spectacle.

5 ii. 40.

6 ii. 41.

Aegyptians

Hades. Im

AFRICA. body perished it entered into some animal; and CHAP. V. that thus it continued to exist until it had passed mortality of through the different kinds of creatures on the earth, the soul pro- in the sea, and in the air, after which it again asthe dogma sumed a human form, and thus completed a revoluof metemp- tion, which occupied three thousand years.'

pounded in

sychosis. Cycle of 3000 years.

illustration

of the Aegyptian ideas of

Hades, in the story

sinitus.

A specimen of the Aegyptian ideas connected with the infernal regions is to be found in the following strange story told by our author. Rhampsinitus, one of the ancient kings at Memphis, descended alive into Hades, and there played at dice with Isis, of Rhamp- and sometimes won, and at other times lost. When he returned to the surface of the earth, he brought with him a napkin of gold which had been presented to him by the goddess. Since then the Aegyptians, in memory of the extraordinary descent, had celebrated a festival, which was still held in the time of Herodotus. On a certain day the priests, having woven a cloak, placed it upon one of their number, and bound his eyes with a scarf, and then conducted him to the road leading to the temple of Isis, where they left him. According to the popular belief, two wolves subsequently led the priest with his eyes bandaged to the temple of Isis, which was situated twenty stadia from the city, and afterwards the same wolves led him back to the spot from whence he had started.2

Worship of
Osiris and

sal.

Its peculi

arities. Swine,

though con

sidered an mal, sacri

impure ani

The worship of Osiris and of Isis was not only Isis univer- universal throughout Aegypt, but also characterized by some remarkable peculiarities. Swine in general were considered by the Aegyptians to be so impure, that if a man in passing a pig only touched it with his garments, he was obliged to plunge into the Nile to purify himself; whilst swineherds, although native Aegyptians, were not allowed to enter any, of the temples, nor would a man give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, nor yet take a wife from that degraded caste. Swine however were sacrificed both to Isis and Osiris, but though Herodotus was acquainted with the Aegyptian tradition, which

ficed at the full moon to both

deities.

the tail,

caul of the

the rest

ed dough

tival of Osi

every door,

accounted for this incongruity, yet he considered it AFRICA. most becoming in him not to mention it. The sa- CHAP. V. crifices to the moon, or Isis, and to Dionysus, or At the fesOsiris, were performed at the same full moon. In tival of Isis the former festival the sacrificer slew the victim, and spleen, and then put together the tip of the tail with the spleen pig was and the caul, and covered them with the fat which burnt, but was found about the belly of the animal, and con- eaten. sumed them with fire. The rest of the flesh was eaten by the Aegyptians during the full moon in which the sacrifices were offered, but on no other day would they even taste it. The poorer classes of Pigs of bakpeople, who were unable to offer swine, were accus- offered by tomed to shape pigs out of dough and bake them, the poor." and offer them in sacrifice.' In the worship of Dio- At the fesnysus, or Osiris, every one slew a pig before his door on the eve of the festival, and then restored it to the slain at swineherd from whom he had bought it, and who there- and Dionyupon carried it away. The remainder of the festival, with the exception of that which regarded the pigs, was celebrated by the Aegyptians in much the same manner as the Dionysiac festival was kept by the Hellenes. Instead of phalli however the Aegyptians had invented certain images, about a cubit in height, which were moved by strings, and of which the aidoos was almost as large as the rest of the body. These images were carried about the villages by the women, who sang the praises of Dionysus, whilst a pipe led the way. Why the aidoos was so large and moved no other part of the body, was accounted for by a sacred story." The name and sacrifices of Dionysus, together with the procession of the phallus, were introduced by Melampus into Greece with only a few trifling alterations.3

2

siac orgies

celebrated.

APIS, in whom Osiris was supposed occasionally Herodotus's to manifest himself, is described by our author at account of greater length and with less reserve. Apis, or Epaphus,

1 ii. 47.

2 ii. 48.

Wilkinson thinks that Herodotus, in his description of the

Priapeian Osiris, had the deity Khem or Pan in his eye.

Apis.

3 ii. 49.

flash of

his black

square

forehead,

on his

double hairs

Public re

joicings on

ance.

conduct of

AFRICA. as he was called by the Greeks, was according to CHAP. V. him a young bull, whose mother could have no other Begotten on offspring. The Aegyptians said that he was begot a cow by a ten by a flash of lightning which descended from lightning. heaven. He was known by certain marks: his hair Known by was black, but on his forehead was a square spot of hair, white white, on his back the figure of an eagle, on his mark on his tongue a beetle, and in his tail the hairs were double. eagle on his He only appeared at distant intervals, but when back, beetle the manifestation took place, public rejoicings were tongue, and celebrated throughout Aegypt, and all the people in his tail. put on their best attire, and kept festive holiday. It was these festivities which excited the anger of his appear- Cambyses, for Apis appeared just at the failure of the Persian expeditions against Aethiopia and AmSacrilegious mon. Cambyses demanded the cause of the illCambyses. timed rejoicings; but on hearing the sacred legend from the magistrates of Memphis, he said they were liars, and put them to death." He next summoned the priests, and ordered them to bring Apis before him, but then, like one bereft of his senses, he drew his dagger and stabbed the animal in the thigh, and scoffed at the flesh and blood deity of the Aegyp tians. He then issued orders for the priests to be scourged, and for all the Aegyptians found feasting to be executed. Apis subsequently died, and was buried by the priests without the knowledge of Cambyses, who, according to the Aegyptians, went mad in consequence of his sacrilegious atrocity. A court for Apis was built by Psammitichus at Memat Memphis phis, opposite the southern portico of the temple of bammi- Hephaestus; and here Apis was fed whenever he appeared. The court was surrounded by a colonnade which was supported, not by pillars, but by statues twelve cubits high."

Court for
Apis built

by

tichus.

Further

notices of

Pliny, Stra

3

It is imposible to ascertain whether Herodotus is Apis from correct in his description of the peculiar marks of bo, and Dio- Apis; from bronzes however that have been discovered in Aegypt, we learn that the figure of a vul ture on his back, and not the eagle, was one of his

dorus.

iii. 28.

2 iii. 27.

3 iii. 28.

iii. 29, 30.

5 ii. 153.

characteristics, and was no doubt supplied by the AFRICA. priests themselves. He was kept at Memphis, and CHAP. V. at that city was most particularly worshipped. Attached to the court built by Psammitichus, were probably the two stables or thalami mentioned by Pliny; and Strabo says that the mother of Apis was kept in the vestibule leading to the court, and that here Apis himself was sometimes introduced in order to be shown to strangers.' When Apis died his obsequies were celebrated with the utmost magnificence, and sometimes almost occasioned the ruin of his keeper. After the funeral was over, the priests sought out for another calf marked with the sacred symbols. As soon as he was found they led him to the city of the Nile, and kept him there forty days. During this period none but women were permitted to see him, and they placed themselves full in his view, and immodestly exposed themselves. At its completion he was placed in a boat with a golden cabin, and transported in state to Memphis, and conducted to his sacred enclosure by the temple of Hephaestus.*

3

of Osiris.

We must now turn to the Aegyptian monuments, Acgyptian to see what further light can be thrown upon the conceptions history and character of Osiris. The Greeks identified him with Dionysus, from his conquests and adventures upon earth; and also with Pluto, from his office as Ruler of Hades, or Amenti. Upon the RepresentAegyptian monuments he is prominently brought forward in the latter character, namely, as a Judge as Judge of

1 Pliny, viii. 46.

2 Strabo, xvii. p. 555.

3 Some modern writers reject all statements which cast a slur on the humanity, the morality, or the decency of the Aegyptian people, on the ground that they cannot be reconciled with the mildness, the morals, and the purity which are presumed to have been the leading characteristics of the nation. Such arguments are however insufficient to controvert the plain and unanimous evidence of the ancient writers. A pantheistic idolatry like that of the Aegyptians always leads some men to indulge their natural tastes for cruelty and impurity, and such vices are contagious in the highest degree. It is a rejection of facts for the sake of theories, to argue otherwise, and we might as well say that a man endowed with common sense cannot do any wrong, because he must know how very wrong it would be for him to do it.

• Diod. i. 84.

ed on the monuments