The Burden of Isis Being the Laments of Isis Fand Nephthys
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WISDOM OF TH E EAST T H E BU RD EN O F I S I S BEING TH E LAMENTS OF I S I S f AN D N EP H T H Y S TRANS LATED FRO M TH E EGY PTIAN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAMES TEACKLE D ENNI S LOND ON R REE W O M RR ALB M LE T . J HN U AY, E A S T , SHARER OF D I N E Y P T AY S G , 18 LOVI N GLY D EDI CATED CON TEN TS INTROD UCTION OF ISIS NEPHTHY S HY MN TO OSI RIS -SOKAR EDI TORI AL NOTE HE Object of the Edit o rs of thi s series is a h e very definite one . T y desire above all hi t ngs that , in their humble way , these books shall be the ambassadors o f good- will and understanding between East and West— the old world of Thought and the new of Action . In o wn this endeavour , and in their sphere , they are but followers of the highest example in the h e e land . T y are confident that a de per know ledge o f the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit o fCharity which neither despises nor fears the nations of another creed and colour . Finally , in thanking press and public for the very cordial reception given to the E Wisdom of the ast Series , they wish to state that no pains have been spared to secure the best specialists fo r the treatment o fthe various subjects at hand . R M R-B L . C AN E YNG . K D S . A . APA IA . ORTHBROOK OCI E Y N S T , 185 PI CCAD I LLY , W. TH E BU RD EN OF I SI S INTRODUCTION OF all the Egyptian religious beliefs that existed from the Prehi storic period down into Roman o ne times , the oldest and the most held in venera tion was that connected with the worshi p of H i . Os ris , Isis and orus These three , though primarily only local gods , at an early period became prominent deities o f all Egypt ; and the cult of Isis , more particularly , remained a li o f favourite always , rival ng even that Osiris in later times . During the many thousand years o fEgyptian nl history , not o y did many changes occur in n the ceremonies con ected with these cults , but also the legends and origin of the Osirian faith received many additions and interpolations ; and thus the old faith lost much of its purity . Th e simplest form in which it is preserved to us states that Osiris was the son of Seb and Nut Earth and Heaven ; of whom were 9 10 INTRODUCTION Sutekh born also Isis , Nephthys and Set , or , a s he is also called . Osiris married his sister Isis , while Set chose e hth h a N p ys . It is probably due to t is fe ture of the legend that the Pharaohs often married c a . their sisters , and o c sionally also their daughters Osiris was the first divine ruler of Egypt whence he came is not told ; but when he came to that n country , he found it su k in barbarism and t ignorance , with no law but that of streng h , and poverty everywhere . He went through i n the land settling quarrels , organ zi g govern ment , teaching polite manners and customs , dictating laws and civilizing the people . Set , his brother , became jealous of the renown h e u o of Osiris , and at d him beca se of the go d he had done and resolved upon his destruction . t Assis ed by the evil spirits , or demons (the ! enemies or foes of the chants) , Set con structed a large chest exactly the size and shape of the body of his brother Osiris ; and at a ff feast given by the latter , he o ered to present hl the chest , which was ric y adorned , to the one whose body it best fitted . No one was i successful until Os ris entered the chest , when o f Set closed it , and with the help the evil spirits bore it from the banquet hall and cast it into the Nile . Thereupon Isis fled to the Delta , u taking with her Hor s , her son , whom she left be r to ca ed for in Buto , according to some THE LEGEND OF OSIRIS 11 Teh u ti legends ; others say he was left with , i o f n . or Thoth , god lear ng Isis then took a boat and searched the Nile for the body of her sh e husband , which ultimately found in the ul Delta . Before it co d be interred , however , it di was stolen by Set , who then vided the body into fourteen portions , and scattered them over A the whole of Egypt . gain the bereaved Isis commenced a search for the pieces o f her hus ’ h r band s body , and found t i teen the fourteenth piece , the phallus , she was unable to find , it having been eaten by fish . Wherever a fragment of the body of Osiris to was found , a temple was there erected his memory and as the head (or according to some authorities , the heart) was found at Abydos , s that city was con idered as especially sacred , and was the centre of his worship . o f Horus , son Osiris and Isis , avenged his ’ father s death by ultimately slaying Set ; while i ul u Osir s , mirac ously res rrected by Horus in un the regions of the dead , ruled over the der b . world and its inha itants Such , briefly , is the f legend o Osiris . But the cult could never have become national in character without changing o f in many ways . Every city and town any prominence in Egypt h a d its o wn especial local ! e deity , who received sp cial worship , even while a i other deities were dm tted to exist , though considered subordi nate to hi m : and at an 12 INTRODUCTION early date the priesthood of Osiris began sys tem a ti ca lly to identify th e leading characteristics of these various local gods with those of Osiris . - Hence in course of time we find Osiris Sokar , an identification of the local god Sokar with the - hi great deity of Abydos ; Osiris Apis , w ch in Greek times became Serapis , where the attributes of Osiris had become identified with those of a hi Memp te deity ; and in later times , Osiris became a solar deity , and is addressed by epithets and titles which seem to show an identification i o d . with Ra , the sun g By th s means , Abydos became the great early religious centre of Egypt . But these identifications of various deities were not confined to Osiris . Horus became mutated , - -Ra and gained new attributes as Horus , he became the midday sun ; and under the priest o f hood Heliopolis , he became Tum , the setting sun , even losing his name . Isis , also , received new qualifications , being often identified with Hathor (whom the Greeks in turn identified with Aphro dite) but the chi ef places where Hathor was worshipped were at Dend ereh and at Der el - o f Bahri , in the western portion Thebes ; whil e the worship of Isis centred around Abydos and Busiris , the latter being frequently mentioned in the liturgies and in later times also she was worshipped at Philae and her worshi p was so l popu ar , that long after Egypt had ceased to be b - a nation , and her gods had become a yword , EGYPTIAN TRINITIES 13 there were no less than three great temples erected f to her cult within the walls of Rome itsel . It is this merging of the attributes Of one o f ni god into those another , and their u fication into Osiris , to which the chants refer when speaki ng of th e attributes o f the deities . The eating o f the fourteenth fragment o f the body o f Osiris by fish is paralleled by a similar ” o f legend in the story Anpu and Bata , often ” o f Two . called . the Tale the Brothers The triad was not an unusual combination in the Egyptian belief ; for besides that of Osiris , Kh o ns u Isis and Horus , we find Amen , Mut and at Thebes ; and other lesser triads ; so that when Christianity reached Egypt , the trinitarian idea found ready adherents ; and this may partly account for the strides whi ch Christianity made in Egypt almost before it had obtained a foothold elsewhere . The resurrection of Osiris and his rul ing over the spirits o f the deceas ed is nearly a parallel to the story of the Cretan i K ng Minos , and possesses some points in common with the Christian belief ; whi le the worshi p of Isis paved the way for the worship of the V irgin Mary many centuries later , though this latter was repudiated by the Egyptian Christians o f the first four centuries , probably as being too reminiscent of paganism . (Budge , Paradise f o I . the Fathers , , II ) l The position o fSet is curious . Whi e he was 14 INTRODUCTION considered an evil deity , yet he had many temples hi and wors ppers in early times , strangely t o enough , in addition the Horus name , some Pharaohs had a Set name and the name of wa s Set used by several later Pharaohs , such as M r n ta h -a a - h i - Set I .