The History of Antiquity Volume I Part 4

[42] Herod. 2, 61.

[43] Plut. "De Isid." c. 38.

[44] The identification of Neith with Athene (Herod. 2, 62; Plat. "Tim."

p. 21) rests on the similarity of the name, on the torch-races in honour of Pallas at Athens, and the feast of lamps at Sais. Gutschmid, "Beitrage zur Geschichte des alten Orients," s. 39, 45 ff., has shown that Neith and Athene cannot be brought into agreement in points of language. The inscription on the throne of Neith at Sais, given by Plutarch ("De Isid." c. 9), "I am all that has been, is, will be, and no mortal has lifted my robe," does not in the first part of it contradict certain applications of the oldest text of the "Book of the Dead" (see below). On the other hand, the second part is doubtful. In any case, the fact that the _peplos_ has not been raised does not refer to the inconceivable nature of the G.o.ddess, but to seclusion from s.e.xual intercourse. It can only mean that Neith was born from her own creative force.

[45] Herod. 2, 60, 137, 138.

[46] Horapoll. 1, 10.

[47] Brugsch, "Zeitschr. d. d. morgenland. Gesellschaft," 10, 683.

[48] De Rouge, "Revue archeolog." 1860, 1, 339.

[49] Plutarch, "De Isid." c. 63; cf. Eber's "Gosen," s. 484.

[50] Plut. "De Isid." c. 9.

[51] Bunsen, "aegypten," I, 446.

[52] Lepsius in "Zeitschrift fur aeg. Sprache," 1868, s. 127.

[53] Lepsius, "Aelteste Texte," s. 42, 48, 52; "Gotterkreis," s. 31-43.

[54] Plut. "De Isid." c. 11.

[55] Ibid. c. 21.

[56] Wilkinson, 4, 237, 242, 246.

[57] Parthey, "Abh. der Berl. Akademie," 1863; Minutoli, "Reise zum Tempel des Ammon;" cf. Herod. 4. 181.

[58] Bunsen, "aegypten," 1, 470; Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 105.

[59] Diod. 1, 13.

[60] Plut. "De Isid." c. 12-20.

[61] Herod. 2, 144; Diod. 1, 25, 44.

[62] Compare the beautiful explanation given by Lepsius of the game at dice between Hermes and Selene, narrated in Plutarch, _loc. cit._

[63] Lepsius, "Chronol." 1, 91. As to the meaning of Seb, I should be inclined to give the preference to the view of Brugsch.

[64] Brugsch and Lepsius in "Zeitschrift fur aeg. Sprache," 1868, s. 122 ff.

[65] Wilkinson, "Ancient Egypt," 4, 189.

[66] Lepsius, "Gotterkreis," s. 35; "Briefe," 106-111.

[67] Diod. 1, 22.

[68] Plut. "De Isid." c. 20

[69] Plut. _ib._ 12-20; Strab. p. 803.

[70] Herod. 2, 59; Plut. _loc. cit._ 21; Diod. 1, 88.

[71] Busiris was the name of several towns in Lower Egypt; we must a.s.sume that the chief town of the district of this name was the scene of the festival. How the Greeks turned the name of this town into a king Busiris who used to slay strangers, I cannot explain. Eratosthenes in Strabo, p. 802, says: "There never was a king Busiris; the story may have been invented owing to the inhospitality of the inhabitants of Busiris;" and Diodorus observes: "It was not a king who was called Busiris, but the grave of Osiris was so named in the native language"

(1, 88), which is near the truth.

[72] Herod. 2, 40, 42, 144.

[73] Plut. "De Isid." c. 35, 39.

[74] Plut. _loc. cit._ 12, 21, 42.

[75] Plut. _loc. cit._ c. 52. The inscriptions on the temple at Dendera prescribe a seven days' lamentation for Osiris, beginning on the 24th Choiak, and give full directions for the burial. Lauth, in the "Zeitschr. f. aeg. Sprache," 1866, s. 64 ff.

[76] Herod. 2, 41, 132.

[77] "De Isid." c. 42.

[78] Diod. 1, 88.

[79] Plutarch, _loc. cit._ c. 12.

[80] Lepsius, "Gotterkreis," s. 53.

[81] Plut. _loc. cit._ c. 32, 40, 50.

[82] Plut. _loc. cit._ c. 65.

[83] Parthey, on Plut. "De Isid." c. 12.

[84] Plut. _loc. cit._ 50.

[85] Wilkinson, _loc. cit._ 4, 436.

[86] Brugsch in the "Zeitschr. d. d. m. Gesellschaft," 9, 10, 68 c. ff.

[87] Plut. "De Isid." c. 33, 39, 40, 49, 53, 65, 71.

[88] Plut. "De Isid." c. 64.

[89] Diod. 1, 27; Plut. "De Isid." c. 9, 56, 63.

[90] Plut. _loc. cit._ c. 61.