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MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGION.

The Osirian Myth.

The great Egyptian myth, the myth of Osiris, turns on the antagonism of Osiris and Set, and the persistence of the blood-feud between Set and the kindred of Osiris.^[1] To narrate, and as far as possible elucidate, this myth is the chief task of the student of Egyptian mythology.

Though the Osiris myth, according to Mr. Le Page Renouf, is "as old as Egyptian civilisation," and though M. Maspero finds the Osiris myth in all its details under the first dynasties, our accounts of it are by no means so early.^[2] They are mainly allusive,

↑ Herodotus, ii. 144.
↑ The principal native documents are the Magical Harris Papyrus, of the nineteenth or twentieth dynasty, translated by M. Chabas (Records of the Past, x. 137); the papyrus of Nebseni (eighteenth dynasty), translated by M. Naville, and in Records of Past, x. 159; the hymn to Osiris, on a stele (eighteenth dynasty), translated by M. Chabas (Rev. Archéol., 1857; Records of Past, iv. 99); "The Book of Respirations," mythically said to have been made by Isis to restore Osiris,—a "Book of the Breath of Life" (the papyrus is probably of the time of the Ptolemies—Records of Past, iv. 119); "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys," translated by M. de Horrack (Records of Past, ii. 117). There is also "The Book of the Dead:" the version of M. Pierret (Paris, 1882) is convenient in shape (also Birch, in Bunsen, vol. v.) M. de Naville's new edition is elaborate and costly, and without a translation. Sarcophagi and royal tombs (Champollion) also contain many representations of the incidents in the myth. "The myth of Osiris in its details, the laying out of his body by his wife Isis and his sister Nephthys, the reconstruction of his limbs, his mythical chest, and other incidents connected with his myth are represented in detail in the temple of Philæ" (Birch, ap. Wilkinson, iii. 84). The reverent awe of Herodotus prevents him from describing the mystery-play on the sufferings of Osiris, which he says was acted at Sais, ii. 171, and ii. 61, 67, 86. Probably the clearest and most consecutive modern account of the Osiris myth is given by M. Lefébure, in Les Yeux d'Horus et Osiris. M. Lefébure's translations are followed in the text; he is not, however,

[1] Herodotus, ii. 144.

[Osiris_myth-2] The principal native documents are the Magical Harris Papyrus, of the nineteenth or twentieth dynasty, translated by M. Chabas (Records of the Past, x. 137); the papyrus of Nebseni (eighteenth dynasty), translated by M. Naville, and in Records of Past, x. 159; the hymn to Osiris, on a stele (eighteenth dynasty), translated by M. Chabas (Rev. Archéol., 1857; Records of Past, iv. 99); "The Book of Respirations," mythically said to have been made by Isis to restore Osiris,—a "Book of the Breath of Life" (the papyrus is probably of the time of the Ptolemies—Records of Past, iv. 119); "The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys," translated by M. de Horrack (Records of Past, ii. 117). There is also "The Book of the Dead:" the version of M. Pierret (Paris, 1882) is convenient in shape (also Birch, in Bunsen, vol. v.) M. de Naville's new edition is elaborate and costly, and without a translation. Sarcophagi and royal tombs (Champollion) also contain many representations of the incidents in the myth. "The myth of Osiris in its details, the laying out of his body by his wife Isis and his sister Nephthys, the reconstruction of his limbs, his mythical chest, and other incidents connected with his myth are represented in detail in the temple of Philæ" (Birch, ap. Wilkinson, iii. 84). The reverent awe of Herodotus prevents him from describing the mystery-play on the sufferings of Osiris, which he says was acted at Sais, ii. 171, and ii. 61, 67, 86. Probably the clearest and most consecutive modern account of the Osiris myth is given by M. Lefébure, in Les Yeux d'Horus et Osiris. M. Lefébure's translations are followed in the text; he is not, however,

[1]

[2]