The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 06 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 06 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
it that she buried an image of him in every city, pretending it was his
body, in order that Osiris might be worshipped in many places, and that if
Typhon searched for the real grave he might not be able to find it.(12)
However, the genital member of Osiris had been eaten by the fishes, so
Isis made an image of it instead, and the image is used by the Egyptians
at their festivals to this day.(13) “Isis,” writes the historian Diodorus
Siculus, “recovered all the parts of the body except the genitals; and
because she wished that her husband’s grave should be unknown and honoured
by all who dwell in the land of Egypt, she resorted to the following
device. She moulded human images out of wax and spices, corresponding to
the stature of Osiris, round each one of the parts of his body. Then she
called in the priests according to their families and took an oath of them
all that they would reveal to no man the trust she was about to repose in
them. So to each of them privately she said that to them alone she
entrusted the burial of the body, and reminding them of the benefits they
had received she exhorted them to bury the body in their own land and to
honour Osiris as a god. She also besought them to dedicate one of the
animals of their country, whichever they chose, and to honour it in life
as they had formerly honoured Osiris, and when it died to grant it
obsequies like his. And because she would encourage the priests in their
own interest to bestow the aforesaid honours, she gave them a third part
of the land to be used by them in the service and worship of the gods.
Accordingly it is said that the priests, mindful of the benefits of
Osiris, desirous of gratifying the queen, and moved by the prospect of
gain, carried out all the injunctions of Isis. Wherefore to this day each
of the priests imagines that Osiris is buried in his country, and they
honour the beasts that were consecrated in the beginning, and when the
animals die the priests renew at their burial the mourning for Osiris. But
the sacred bulls, the one called Apis and the other Mnevis, were dedicated
to Osiris, and it was ordained that they should be worshipped as gods in
common by all the Egyptians; since these animals above all others had
helped the discoverers of corn in sowing the seed and procuring the
universal benefits of agriculture.”(14)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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